A Milch-Sheriff premiere; The many faces of ‘R&J’ in Ra’anana.
By JERUSALEM POST READERSA Milch-Sheriff premiere The Saturday morning program 11:11 at Tzavta Tel Aviv will host the local premiere of Ella Milch-Sheriff's piano trio Credo for piano, cello and violin on March 5.Commissioned by Virginia’s prestigious Chautauqua Festival, Credo premiered there in 2008. Milch-Sheriff says the work was inspired by a song that was based on a poem by Shaul Tchernikovsky called “I Believe,” which spoke of the poet’s dreams for a State of Israel. The premiere of Credo celebrated Israel’s 60th anniversary.•Jerusalem Post staff The many faces of ‘R&J’ in Ra’anana The star of the Ra’anana Symphonette’s Romeo and Juliet program on March 9, 10 and 12 is the Israeli premiere of The Butterfly Lovers, a concerto for violin and orchestra by Chinese composers Chen Gang and He Zhanhao. Based on an ancient Chinese folk tale, The Butterfly Lovers resembles Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, except that in the end the lovers turn into butterflies.Composed in 1959, the work wasn’t performed until the late 1970s, after the Cultural Revolution, and became immediately popular. The Symphonette commissioned video artist Elinor Milchan to create a video complement to the piece. The soloist is Ra’anana Symphonette concertmaster Nitai Zori and the conductor is the Barcelonaborn composer and conductor Salvador Brotons.Another world premiere is Gil Shohat’s Seven Blessings with cantor Adi Arad. It’s based on traditional Jewish wedding melodies. The program also includes works by Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Bellini, all based on Romeo and Juliet. Concerts are at the Ra’anana Music Center.• Helen Kaye