Israel, Dutch philharmonic orchestras to perform joint memorial concert
The performance will be available, at 1 p.m., on the Facebook pages and other digital platforms of both orchestras.
By BARRY DAVISThe Israel Philharmonic Orchestra(photo credit: ODED ANTMAN)
Just because we can’t get out to concert halls around the country doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy some high-class classical musical fare.Over the past couple of months or so, we have all discovered, or rediscovered, the benefits of digital platforms for the purposes of communicating with family and friends, taking part in classes or business meetings, and such like.And there has been a pretty wide variety of entertainment facilitated by advanced online means. Naturally, most of the latter has been artists performing solo or, at most, small groups somehow coordinating their instrumental and vocal efforts via Zoom or some other similar video application. But orchestral endeavor is an entirely different, and far more intricate, kettle of cultural fish.Members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra will join forces at 1 p.m. Monday in a special memorial collaboration designed to mark our Remembrance Day and the Dutch Dodenherdenking (Remembrance of the Dead), which is held annually in the Netherlands on May 4. The latter commemorates all civilians and members of the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who have died in wars or peacekeeping missions since the beginning of the Second World War.The bilateral musical initiative was instigated by Lahav Shani, the new musical director of the IPO, who also serves as chief conductor of the RPhO. For the occasion the 31 instrumentalists in Israel and the Netherlands will play an excerpt from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, one of the last works the feted Austrian classical composer wrote before he died in December 1791, at the age of 35.“No composer can express the sense of pining in such a simple and touching way as Mozart,” Shani noted. “I am delighted about the cooperation between the two orchestras, particularly at this time of remoteness and isolation.” The performance will be available, at 1 p.m., on the Facebook pages and other digital platforms of both orchestras.
