Several musical highlights: the Toujours Mozart Festival for Everyone, Berliner's symphonic poem for narrator and orchestra and Hannie's “Kaddish” Ricardo for his daughter Oriya.
Mozart Days Festival
The festival «The days of Mozart» (Mozart always) will celebrate Mozart’s 268th birthday over three days with his best-known and lesser-known works, full of charm and humor. With a program of concerts, recitals, master classes, lectures and a dance workshop performed by top Israeli and international artists, they came together to establish the Israel Mozart Orchestra, and to play in the spirit of Mozart’s time: Without a conductor, with restored period instruments in a historical style. The festival takes place over three days of creativity, magic, innovation and history. An event suitable for anyone, even if they have never heard the work of Mozart. And also for lovers of classical music, from young to old. With many free activities and others at very affordable prices. Artistic Director: Zvi Maniker. From 26 to 28 September at the renovated Tel Aviv-Iafo Municipal Music Center, near Bloomfield Stadium. More information: https://did.li/YXTCN
“Melody is the essence of music” said Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and this event promises to be a melodic-musical experience full of charm and humour with the works of the brilliant composer performed by the best orchestras, ensembles and soloists and with the richness of these works. The festival was born in 1997 on the initiative of Erich Fischer, founder of the International Foundation for the Promotion of Art and Culture in Munich. Fischer's vision was to revive Mozart's music for audiences both young and old through concerts of the highest artistic level but in an "unbuttoned" presentation and a sympathetic and free atmosphere. Zvi Maniker, artistic director said: “Mozart composed more than 800 works. The festival highlights the fresh, new style he brought to the classical period.”
Yair Polishook
This year, the festival will offer 27 events of all kinds. It opens with a festive concert in which the “Israeli Mozart Orchestra” will perform Mozart’s major work, the Symphony in E flat major. The festival program includes unique concerts, including: a cycle of all Mozart’s chamber works including piano (triads, quartets and quintessences), intimate “home” music for piano, violin and voice, and the unique concert “64 Things” with audience participation, which brings the world of Mozart closer from different aspects of music, theater, poetry and social context.
“Mozart in the Living Room” featuring short piano music and more. Concerts with period instruments.
The festival, with the generous support of the Erich Fischer Foundation, offers another special aspect: concerts under the title “Everyone's Mozart,” in which ensembles and groups of amateur musicians and singers play and sing. Among the artists taking part: bassist Yair Polishook, conductor and pianist Maniker, a leading figure in the study of music and a teacher at leading institutions, students of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and many more.
“Genesis” by Baruch Berliner
Rotem Nir
The orchestra Rishon LeZion Symphony Under the direction of Maestro Rotem Nir, the piece “Genesis” (Briat HaOlam) by Baruch Berliner will be performed. After having been performed in more than 39 countries, 4 continents and in 3 Muslim countries, the verses of the Torah return to Israel. It is a symphonic poem for narrator and orchestra that is being revived at the request of the music-loving public in Israel. The works of Israeli composer Baruch Berliner have been reproduced to this day all over the world. The text will be read by actress Rodia Kozlovsky. The concert will be accompanied by special electronic effects and a spectacular video art, the work of Yaron Shin known as “JEWBOY”. On September 24 at the Meir Nitzan Cultural Hall, Rishon LeZion. More information: https://ww.kartisim.co.il/announce/79558
The last concert in Israel of Berliner's works took place in Jerusalem in 2016, and now after a great success on world stages and in view of Rosh Hashanah and the beginning of the Book of Genesis, this work, produced by Nahum Slutsker, returns to Israel. The symphonic poem for narrator and orchestra “Briat Haolam” (in Hebrew) is a wonderful journey from the creation of the world, Adam and Eve, the expulsion from Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah's ark and the flood to the rainbow covenant. Berliner's works deal with biblical themes, with a current and universal context. The main issue is the right to choose between good and evil. The works include narration sections in the content, where in each country the narrator reads in the local language. Baruch Berliner's YouTube channel has more than 5 million views.
Kaddish, Oriya and the Terezin Ghetto
Oriya
An emotional debut concert featuring the music of Hannie Ricardo, mother of Oriya murdered on October 7 at the Nova Festival. After Oriya Ricardo, a young girl full of light and joy, who loved music and loved to dance, was murdered at the tragic Nova Festival, her mother realized that the piece “Kaddish,” which she had begun composing months before October 7 in memory of the composers from the Theresienstadt ghetto who perished in the Holocaust, would be dedicated to her daughter Oriya. Hannie is a musician and historian who has been performing works by composers from the Theresienstadt ghetto for decades. The concert is part of the battle against anti-Semitism and raises awareness about the Holocaust and the 7.10/7.10 massacre. Conducted by Talia Ilan and soloists: Ariel Shapira (soprano), Shahaf Regev (baritone). It will be presented on 15.10 at the Opera – Performing Arts Center, and on XNUMX at the Jerusalem Theater. More information: https://www.to-mix.co.il/product/kadish-oria-vaterezin/?swcfpc=1
Jewish history is extremely tumultuous: Before World War II, Hannie’s great-grandfather, Benjamin Israel Ricardo, was a rabbi at the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam; his family was nearly decimated at Auschwitz. Hannie wove Sabbath songs her grandfather had taught her as a child into the Kaddish, thus forming a connecting line between the Holocaust and the October 7 massacre, a tragedy that chillingly echoed the horrors of the Holocaust. Music was a source of strength for the composers and musicians imprisoned in the ghetto, giving them a reason to live and the resilience to survive another day.
Hannie believes in the power of music and cultural life to help rise from the ashes. Her new work forms a link between past, present and future. It expresses and confronts pain, challenging the growing anti-Semitism and as a way of combating it. The first part of the concert will be dedicated to works for choir and soloists, mostly written in the ghetto, while the second part will feature the Kaddish, written for soloists, choir, wind instruments and timpani.