A vocal event: The Abu Ghosh Festival opens this week

The same goes for the intriguing Voices and Perfumes concert, in which the Vocal Octet hosts multifaceted artist and researcher oud player Yair Dalal.

By MAXIM REIDER
The Simvol very choir. (photo credit: Courtesy)
The Simvol very choir.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The 52nd annual Abu Ghosh Festival of vocal music returns during Sukkot. About 50 soloists, 200 choir members and 60 instrumentalists, including three choirs from abroad, will participate in the country’s oldest vocal music event.
As always, the varied program appeals to a wide audience of music lovers. It features traditional vocal pieces by Bach, Mozart, Haydn and Verdi, to name but a few, as well as Beduin songs, Yiddish lullabies, accordion music and more.
The festival welcomes three choirs from abroad. The renowned Kammerchor from Stuttgart under Frieder Bernius will perform Mendelssohn’s Te Deum; songs and arias by Mahler and Grieg, as well as Bach’s motet Jesu, meine Freude. The Armenian Little Singers choir, conducted by Tigran Hekekyan, will present a program that combines music by Mozart, Bizet and Debussy with Armenian folk songs. While the Russian choir Simvol Very (Article of Faith), together with the Israeli Naama Women’s Choir, will perform liturgical pieces by Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky, as well as Russian songs.
Among the special festival events are Canto General by Mikis Theodorakis, an oratorio for soloists, choir and orchestra to poems by Pablo Neruda; and Diluvio, a Sicilian oratorio by Michelangelo Falvetti for soloists and orchestra, performed by Israeli vocalists and Ensemble Phoenix under the direction of Myrna Herzog.
In fact, all the concerts are special in some way. Take for example Stabat Mater, featuring music by Schubert, Haydn and Leonard Cohen, as well as spirituals performed by Israeli vocalists Hadas Faran, Avital Deri, Eitan Drori and Yair Polishook, together with the Ramat Gan Chamber Choir and the Israel Netanya Kibbutz Orchestra.
The same goes for the intriguing Voices and Perfumes concert, in which the Vocal Octet hosts multifaceted artist and researcher oud player Yair Dalal.
The concert features Bach’s Air on the G String; Into the Garden of Nuts by Sara Levi-Tanai on verses from The Song of Songs; as well as traditional Yemenite tunes.
Abu Gosh October 10-15, For more details, visit www.agfestival.co.il. For reservations: www.bimot.co.il or call *3221 or *6226


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