Naya perfect

Opera singer Yaniv d’Or and his ensemble are attracting growing popularity as he connects the classical world with his Jewish heritage.

By BARRY DAVIS
opera singer Yaniv d'Or 370 (photo credit: http://www.yanivdor.com)
opera singer Yaniv d'Or 370
(photo credit: http://www.yanivdor.com)
Yaniv d’Or clearly exudes star quality. As we chat, the 37-year-old countertenor looks supremely self-assured, sitting in a relaxed half lotus position on the expansive sofa in his elegantly appointed Tel Aviv apartment.
That confidence will, presumably, come through in spades tomorrow, when d’Or joins forces with the other seven members of Ensemble Naya at the “The Melting Soul” concert at Jerusalem’s YMCA, as part of the Israel Festival.
There are plenty of boundary-leaping acts around these days, whose members cull sounds and rhythms from an ever-widening cultural swath. However, even in such a densely populated world-music arena, the breadth of disciplines incorporated in the Naya octet is remarkable. The ensemble is something of a cross-genre supergroup that takes in British harpsichordist James Longford, Swedish theorbo – long-necked lute – player Anders Ericson, and compatriot viola da gamba player Nora Roll, as well as some of our own top instrumentalists, including veteran oud player and violinist Yair Dalal, virtuoso mandolin player Avi Avital, sitar player Yotam Haimovitch and veteran percussionist Erez Mounk.
These days D’Or divides his time between Tel Aviv and his London residence, in the British capital’s swanky Covent Garden district that, conveniently, is also home to the Royal Opera House. Rather than note the hop, skip and jump proximity of the venerable venue – should he get the chance to display his talents there – the Israeli, perhaps characteristically, prefers to dwell on the aesthetics to be had there. “It is a lovely area to live in,” he notes in softly accented British English. “It is pedestrian, and you can see the Thames from there and St.
Paul’s Cathedral, and of course, there’s the wonderful market.”
The truth, however, is that d’Or does not have that much time to enjoy the view from his apartment in Covent Garden, spending a good slice of his year on the road. After completing his army service as a soloist with the Israel Air Force orchestra, d’Or got his formal education under way with a BA at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem, and then relocated to London, to do a master’s degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The latter program focused on vocal training and early music, although d’Or says there was more to his transition to a new cultural milieu. “It took me a while to adapt to Britain, especially arriving fresh from Israel when I was only 20,” he recalls, adding that he does not regret his two years in the IDF. “That was really good training for me.
I got to sing all those ballads and jazz, and perform in classical evenings and do lots of things I loved.”
The learning curve took in far more than just honing his vocal and performing skills. “I learned so much from the army. I learned what it really means to be an Israeli artist.
That means you travel to another spot in the country every day, you entertain people who may have just come in from a battle.
“It makes you understand what you do. The artist in you bursts out, because sometimes you find yourself in an impossible situation, like performing, say, in a hangar for 1,000 people who are hungry, it’s the middle of the winter, you are freezing cold and you have to sing.
“It’s great because you learn so much about yourself.
Instead of going to India and sitting in an ashram for three months, I was actually doing something very meaningful. I explored myself within the art.”
ALTHOUGH HE says he received a good musical grounding as a student in Jerusalem, d’Or increasingly felt the need to express himself in his own way. “It was good training for a while, but then you start to feel like, OK, what about my musicianship? It wants to come out now. That’s enough about technique. There’s more to music than technique.
That’s the point when you have to decide either to leave the country or try something else here.”
D’Or says he is happy he moved to London, where he has mostly been based for the last 16 years. “I think leaving the country was the best thing for me to do, because Britain was always my goal, in terms of the artistic approach there, and the British people I worked with – like [countertenor] Michael Chance and [countertenor] James Bowman and [soprano] Emma Kirkby. They all told me to move to Britain, that it was time for me to move there. I met them in Israel when I was a student and they invited me to go there.”
D’Or may have trained in early music but he has spread his wings since he left Guildhall, and says he likes to explore different areas of musical endeavor. First and foremost, though, the artistic execution has to be genuine.
“This is the journey of every versatile artist. If I watch an opera, I may not be enjoying it so much because I don’t believe what they are singing or acting. But, for example, I am singing an aria by Handel, if it touches me it will touch me 100%. It is like if [Georgian-born Israeli composer] Josef Bardanashvili composes a piece for me and, as I learn it, I’ll shiver because it really touches me.”
Bardanashvili is a case in point, as he created the role of Rabbi Elbaz in his opera Journey to the End of the Millennium with d’Or in mind. The work has, to date, been performed at the Israeli Opera and at the Teatro dell’- Opera di Roma.
D’Or may have physically left this country – although he says he spends more and more time working here, too – but he feels a strong bond with Middle Eastern culture. Ensemble Naya is a vehicle for keeping the singer’s cultural exploration in sync with his roots. “It is the link between the classical world and my Jewish heritage. You go on a journey in life, and you become a classical singer. You sing in opera houses and you sing lieder [German art songs], and everything is well-thought-out.
And suddenly you realize that the things you are singing, from those historic periods, can be linked to your Jewish heritage, whether it’s Monteverdi’s Pulchra Es, or all sorts of verses that come from the New Testament, which comes from the Old Testament. Everyone liked to compose music with these texts. It’s all still relevant. This is my identity, and this is my music.”
THE IDEA for Naya was conceived while d’Or was on one of his many touring excursions around the globe.
In fact, it was a heady concoction of music and booze that sowed the seed of the new venture. “I did a production of [Handel’s] Julius Caesar at the opera house in Gothenburg, Sweden,” recalls d’Or. “Next to the opera house was a bar which was open only for the musicians, after each show, until very late.
After a few beers I started talking to two musicians from the orchestra – the viola da gamba player and the theorbo player – and very quickly we realized we shared the same passion for classical music and for music from other cultures.”
The die was cast.
The instrumentalists in question were Roll and Ericson, and the three soon got together again. “A short while later I went to Stockholm and the three of us recorded some songs together, and there was this great buzz about,” d’Or explains. “We thought about getting another singer, but then we said no and I knew who I had to contact.”
The countertenor hooked up with Dalal. “He taught me some litanies, and I thought: ‘This makes sense.’ And then I remembered Bardanashvili and his opera I sang in, and the richness of the Georgian music.”
The incipient ensemble’s repertoire began to reach out to this part of the world. “I thought I wanted something from here and I came across Ladino,” continues d’Or. “I didn’t grow up with Ladino, even though both my parents came from Libya. I grew up with traditional Arabic music. That’s why it was so easy for me to connect with the litanies Yair [Dalal] taught me. I thought: ‘Hey! I can sing in microtones as well.’ And then I saw [veteran Israeli singer] Esther Ofarim singing [Ladino song] Adio Querida, and I thought that’s the mix. Monteverdi is one part, then you have the litanies from the East, and Ladino literally comes from all over the place – Portugal, Saloniki, all over.”
The next step was to gather all the cultural components and blend into a seamless brew. “I realized I had to make it all organic, and I thought, ‘I need percussion’ – that was Erez Mounk who plays all kind of percussion.
I think he’s a genius. Erez introduced me to Yotam Haimovitch, and the sitar was a perfect fit, because the sitar takes the whole thing far enough to the East.”
The last piece in the puzzle was highly versatile mandolin player Avital.
The group got off to a good start.
D’Or knew celebrated British harpsichordist and conductor Laurence Cummings, and he joined the rest of the Naya gang for the ensemble’s debut at the Wigmore Hall in London. That was in 2008 and the ensemble has toured extensively since then, and has released an eponymous album which was recorded at the very same major London venue. “They gave me a recording slot over Christmas,” says d’Or. “The acoustics are just sensational there.”
Since then, the prestigious classical music label Naxos has signed with d’Or and the ensemble, and after their Israel festival concert there are dates lined up for New York’s Carnegie Hall; another performance at Wigmore Hall; the Handel Festival in Halle, Germany; and the N a t i o n a l Festival of Croatia.
“ Naya bridges  East and West with a very proper classical approach,” notes the vocalist.
“You won’t hear me screeching, or doing anything with my voice that is flashy. This is a serious business.”
 For more information about the Ensemble Naya concert: www.israel-festival.org.il