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This year’s Rishon Lezion Festival marks the event’s 25th year and also the town’s 130th anniversary.

By BARRY DAVIS
Musical Entertainment (photo credit: Wikicommons)
Musical Entertainment
(photo credit: Wikicommons)
Noa’s beautiful life
This year’s Rishon Lezion Festival will mark the event’s 25th year and also the town’s 130th anniversary. The festival closes tomorrow evening at 8:30 with a gala concert fronted by internationally acclaimed singer Ahinoam Nini (Noa), who will be backed by the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon Lezion in a program of some of her bestloved numbers.
The concert also features famous Italian composer-conductor Nicola Piovani, best known for the sound track he wrote for Roberto Begnini’s Oscar Award-winning movie Life Is Beautiful. Piovani will conduct the orchestra in a medley of some of his soundtracks.
Piovani will later be joined by Noa and, with the ensemble, the two will perform works they wrote together.
For more information: www.rishonlezion.muni.il
Tamir’s salute to Marceau
Pantomime artist and actress Rutie Tamir will offer her salute to the iconic master of the field, late legendary French mime Marcel Marceau, in a special production called Behind the Words, which will take place at the Givatayim Theater on October 23 and November 21.
Behind the Words is described as “an evening of wordless short stories and a poetic original comic event” in which Tamir will explore body language and the absence of words in the world of pantomime. Tamir is the granddaughter of Ya’acov Taiman, one of the founders of the Metateh (Broom) Theater, the first local satirical theater company, which operated between 1928 and 1954.
Tamir says the show is also offered as something of an antidote to the relentless pace of modern life and that she feels that audiences are looking for more peaceful forms of entertainment. In addition to Marceau-based miming, Tamir will attempt to illustrate the history of the art form to the audience and compare wordless theater with dance and pantomime.
Behind the Words will present a range of themes, including women, Pygmalion, felafel and international shopping. Tamir will also offer her take on the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale, in which she plays all four characters.
For tickets and more information: (03) 732-5340
Looking back over fashion in Rehovot
The Rehovot Shopping Mall will host the Eternal Fashion exhibition from October 15. The show will present items from the collections of some of the country’s leading retail clothing chains.
The exhibition also includes a display window section, which will run from October 10 to 30, and will show fashion pieces inspired by the front covers of La’isha women’s magazine from 1948 up to the present day.
Kids’ stuff at the Opera
A new season of Opera Time for Children, for youngsters aged three to eight, has opened at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv. The event is held in the Opera House foyer and enables young children to watch exciting Hebrew-language operatic productions with the cast in full dress.
The series includes such timeless favorites as Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which will take place on October 23 at 5 p.m., while the composer’s The Marriage of Figaro will be performed on Tuesday at 5 p.m. There will be something of a magical musical mystery tour on October 16 (5 p.m.) in the form of Mozart’s Box of Surprises, which encompasses many of the elements that made Mozart’s works so popular.
For tickets and more information: (03) 692-777 and www.israel-opera.co.il
Spring music
The last two slots in this year’s Festival of Springs, in the Valley of the Springs area near Beit She’an, features a highly experienced cast of singers and musicians.
Today’s 11:30 a.m. Long Road concert will be performed by the Fields of the Valley vocal troupe conducted by Haim Asner. It is based on material from a new CD with songs by Thelma Eligon-Rose. The concert will take place at the Idan Center in the Jordan Valley.
Tomorrow evening’s closing concert (8:30 p.m.) is called Voyage to the Scriptures, with veteran singer-songwriter Shlomo Gronich performing a program of songs that incorporate a wide range of musical styles and influences.
For tickets and more information: (04) 606-5860 and www.maianot.co.il