Holon plays to the younger sector

The Holon Theater will be alive with the sounds of music for Sounds of Childhood 2008, the music festival geared to the younger set.

By HELEN KAYE
The Holon Theater will be alive with the sounds of music for Sounds of Childhood 2008, the music festival geared to the younger set, running during Succot from October 15 through 18. The festival opens with a gala benefit for the children's department at Wolfson Hospital. Festival artistic director Gil Shohat will conduct the Ra'anana Symphonette playing a program of music by Grieg. The festival will also present veteran actor Yossi Graber with the Childhood Sounds Notable award, honoring him for decades spent enriching the cultural lives of children through his work in radio, TV, film and on the stage. Musical goodies especially commissioned for the festival include a new presentation with Tal Musseri of Prokoviev's immortal Peter and the Wolf, also featuring Graber, which will be followed on the same program by Leopold Mozart's delightful Toy Symphony; a performance of Saint-Saens The Carnival of the Animals with the talents of actor Gideon Ezra and others; and Vivaldolina, in which the musicians of the Ensemble Novilla playing period instruments bring to life Vivaldi's glorious music. There are no fewer than five musical theater premieres, including The Absent-Minded Professor from the National Youth Theater based on the beloved tale by Leah Goldberg, A Journey to Musicland, created by Gido Koren and Shlomo Artzi that introduces children to music basics, and from the Balbaloo Theater, a new production of The Blue Bird. Balbaloo also presents the free events on the plaza where young visitors can interact with such characters as Mozart, the Tin Man and Sipurelius the storyteller. Tickets cost from NIS 35 to 90.