After a year of corona-induced hibernation, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is returning to the stage with live performances.
“The year has not seen the orchestra idle,” explains IPO secretary-general Avi Shoshani. “The IPO showed its versatility by weekly streaming large and small ensemble performances via the Internet. We presented performances of popular music, programs for children and for the holidays, selections of symphonic music and a fantastic series of chamber concerts. However, the excitement and joy to be on stage with a live audience in front of us was missing.
“Now it is spring. After more than a year of forced time off, the health situation has improved. We have an opportunity and obligation to our subscribers for missed concerts. With OKs from the ministries of Health and Culture, we began in March a series of live concerts at no charge for subscribers, and selling remaining tickets to the public. The response has been fantastic and, regardless of masks, social distancing, and ‘green passport’ requirements, the excitement of being together in the halls is felt by one and all.”
The March concerts were led by Lahav Shani, the new resident conductor of the IPO, who showed not only his mastery on the podium but also fine leadership and precise communication skills. For the April concerts, guest conductor Daniel Cohen will lead the IPO in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa in two series.
Cohen, a young Israeli conductor and violinist, is one of the fastest rising stars on the music scene. He is currently the director of the orchestra and opera house in Darmstadt, Germany. Ten years ago, at age 26, he started leading full productions at the Israel Opera, and was appointed permanent guest conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra.
Quarantined and vaccinated in Israel during March, Cohen looks forward to the concerts with the IPO.
“I have not seen 1,000 people in an audience for a year,” he relates to The Jerusalem Post. “The corona situation in Europe at this time is not good. Nine months ago, with limits of no more than 50 people in the audience, we had to do several short concerts over successive days. We streamed many concerts online, but live performances are a challenge.
“Nevertheless,” Cohen reflects, “the year of corona has enabled me to take a breath after years of a non-stop schedule, reinvent myself, spend time with family, make arrangements of Mahler songs for small orchestra, and even get married to my long-time love, opera singer Shaked Bar.”
Looking toward the first series of IPO concerts, April 19 through 23, Cohen remarks collaborating with pianist Tom Borrow in performance of the Concerto No. 24 in C minor by Mozart is something he much anticipates. Borrow, age 20, began studies with Michal Tal at Givatayim Conservatory at age five, and now studies with Prof. Tomer Lev at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University. He has an impressive list of competition prizes as well as being a scholarship recipient from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation.
“Although this is the first time we play together,” says Cohen, “I have heard many good things about collaborating with him. Mozart’s piano concertos are particularly challenging. They are an intimate affair between soloist and orchestra. Mozart conceived them as one entity, which requires a special partnership.”
Completing this program is Dvorak’s Symphony No. 6.
“This symphony was last played in Israel two years after I was born,” explains Cohen. “It has, as we say in Hebrew, fallen between the chairs, but for me it is a perfect example of the architecture of the Viennese symphonies and the melodies of Dvorak’s homeland, Czechoslovakia .”
The second series of programs, April 26-28, include Concerto Românesc by Gyorgy Ligeti, Trittico Botticelliano (three movements inspired by the paintings of Botticelli) by Ottorino Resphigi, and the Pulcinella Suite by Igor Stravinsky.
“The Ligeti Concerto,” explains Cohen, “is one of his earliest pieces, inspired by his teachers, Bartok and Kodaly, and an example of the wide spectrum of emotions found in 20th music. Here we find no angst or despair, just a melodious, traditional piece, flavored by the sounds of Romania and gypsy.”