Deeply moving - Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra at re-opening concert

The members of the JSO were all spaced about a meter apart from each other, with strings each playing on a separate music stand. The winds played behind clear plastic shields.

By MAX STERN
The JSO in concert (photo credit: Courtesy)
The JSO in concert
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra
Special re-opening concert
Binyenei Ha’uma, Jerusalem
Reduced in numbers but not in spirit, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra began its 82nd season, following two months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The orchestra was led by Doron Solomon, who two weeks ago was involved in a protest against the closure of artistic institutions in Israel. Now he has reopened the season at the Jerusalem Theater to a reduced audience, all wearing face masks and sitting two seats or more apart from each other.
The members of the JSO were all spaced about a meter apart from each other, with strings each playing on a separate music stand. The winds played behind clear plastic shields to prevent potential spread of the virus.
It was a classical program opening with Bartok’s Romanian Dances, and a notable piccolo solo by Yael Tevett. That was followed by the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto in A minor, No. 1 Op. 33 performed by Nahar Eliaz, a 14-year-old master of the cello. Her technical facility and interpretive maturity would have been remarkable at any age, but to see and hear this standard work played by a young girl was astounding. The audience gave her well-deserved and rousing standing ovation.
Deeply moving was the orchestra’s rendition of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. After being closed in for so long, the players played the work with all the fire of spring contained within it. It was such committed involvement, as if their lives depended on it. Solomon didn’t conduct rhythms or dynamics, he just threw the musical impulse of the work at the players and they responded with animation, like a life force bursting out from inside, again bringing the audience to its feet.