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Top:
the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Above: Zubin Mehta,
IPO music director for life.
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Israel has always managed to sing, thanks to the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO). Indeed, before the modern
state of Israel even existed, the world’s greatest
artists made it a point of honor to perform with this unique
musical institution. In 1936, Arturo Toscanini – the
era’s most celebrated maestro – rushed to conduct
the new ensemble then known as the Palestine Orchestra.
He refused payment for his services and made a conspicuous
return after Italy passed its infamous racial laws in 1938.
Time magazine reported of Toscanini’s Tel Aviv concert: “Open-shirted
German immigrants gathered in rowboats on the adjacent
Yarkon River. A few Arab fishermen paddled quietly toward
shore [and] listened respectfully outside the pavilion
walls.” In recent years, the Arab-Jewish Ensemble
of the IPO has brought the hope of healing to audiences
around the world.
“We don’t come onto the stage and say, ‘We
are playing for peace’ – we don’t exaggerate,” says
Zubin Mehta, the IPO’s music director, who leads
the orchestra in February’s 70th anniversary tour,
including a gala concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall
and stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles. “But
certainly at the end of a concert, there is a sense that
we have won over a certain number of people who know that
these 115 Israelis multiplied by hundreds, by thousands,
have a reason to exist.”
Elaine R. Wolfensohn, president of the American Friends
of the IPO, also emphasizes the orchestra’s singular
mission. “Music remains an international language.
It can be a unifying force between Jews of different backgrounds,
between Arabs and Jews. Already there are Arab-Jewish ensembles,
and we look forward to the day when the IPO will perform
with Arab orchestras.”
The IPO’s New York festivities include a black-tie
dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria and a benefit concert with
baritone Thomas Hampson on February 1. In Los Angeles,
the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion hosts a gala dinner on February
5. The Heartbeat of a Nation: The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
at 70, a 13-week WFMT radio network series hosted by Itzhak
Perlman, allows music lovers far and wide to join in the
celebrations.
Mehta, whose association with the IPO goes back some 45
years, recalls with joy the orchestra’s 1994 visits
to China and his native India, soon after those nations
established diplomatic ties with Israel. “The orchestra
played for free and raised a lot of money for Indian charities.
China and India – that’s half the world!” Where
statecraft can move slowly, the IPO wins friends instantly
with the vibrant embrace of its sound.
And what a sound it is. “I would say it’s a
Central European orchestra – a very warm, intimate
sound, since they play a lot of chamber music themselves,” observes
Mehta. “That’s a great advantage for the conductor,
because they learn to listen to one another differently.” Violinist
Joshua Bell remarks, “It’s a very passionate
orchestra, with a real soul.” Mehta notes an evolution
in the IPO’s style, as Israel has welcomed immigrants
from the former Soviet Union. “Certainly in the string
section, there has been a great virtuoso injection – they
are fantastic players.”
Music and social concerns stubbornly intertwine in the
IPO’s history. Bronislaw Huberman, the Polish-born
violinist (whose old fiddle, incidentally, Bell now plays),
founded the orchestra when the clouds of racism darkened
Europe. By the mid-1930s, so many Jewish musicians were
stripped of their livelihood that Huberman was able to
assemble a top-notch band in record time. Time marveled
in 1937, “So many first-desk musicians are playing
in [the orchestra] that critics expect [it] to rank soon
among the first four orchestras in the world.”
Violinist Joshua Bell with the orchestra
he describes as passionate, with “a real soul.”
Itzhak Perlman (above) and Lang Lang (below) with the IPO.
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December 17 – 31
Mann Auditorium, Tel Aviv
International Convention Center, Jerusalem
Haifa Auditorium, Haifa
700 70 30 30; www.ipo.co.il
December 26
70th Anniversary Gala Concert
Mann Auditorium, Tel Aviv
January 28 – February
6
Conductors: Zubin Mehta/Lorin Maazel
New York, January 30,
at Carnegie Hall
Lorin Maazel, conductor
Maxim Vengerov, violinist
New York, February 1,
at Carnegie Hall
Zubin Mehta, conductor
Thomas Hampson, baritone
AFIP Celebratory dinner at the
Waldorf-Astoria
212.697.2949; www.afipo.org
San Francisco, February
4,
at Davies Symphony Hall
Zubin Mehta, conductor
Los Angeles, February 5,
at Walt Disney Concert Hall
Zubin Mehta, conductor
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Gala dinner at the Dorothy
Chandler Pavilion, Grand Hall
310.445.8406; www.afipo.org
Los Angeles, February 6
Lorin Maazel, conductor |
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That prediction was on the mark. Early decades brought
not only Toscanini but also the young Leonard Bernstein
and Isaac Stern (both of whom maintained a lifelong association
with the orchestra), Jascha Heifetz and Serge Koussevitzky.
The current season’s formidable roster of artists – including
rising-star conductors Gianandrea Noseda and Gustavo Dudamel
and glittering pianists Lang Lang and Jean-Yves Thibaudet – shows
that the IPO’s luster glows brighter than ever. A
12-CD box set, available at www.israel-music.com, gathers
some of the orchestra’s memorable recordings under
Mehta, Bernstein and others.
The Middle East’s diplomatic situation has seldom
gravely hampered the IPO’s work. Insurance and security
are occasional concerns, but the indomitable band plays
on. In any event, many who seek peace feel that at times
of conflict, people must look more than ever to the healing
power of music. “I try to stay out of politics,” Bell
remarks, “but even if I disagreed with Israeli policy – and
I am not saying this is the case – not playing in
Israel for political reasons would be like not playing
with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington because
I disagree with President Bush’s policies in Iraq.
Cultural exchange is more important now than ever.”
Born to a Parsi family in Mumbai and educated as a musician
in Vienna, Mehta himself seems an unlikely leader for the
IPO. A former music director of the New York and Los Angeles
Philharmonic Orchestras and the principal conductor of
the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, this dapper globe-trotter – who
is being honored at the Kennedy Center in December – surely
could limit himself to engagements that don’t require
donning the occasional gas mask. He answers lightly when
asked to explain the tie between himself and the IPO, which
elected him music director for life in 1981.
“I started in 1961 as a guest conductor, and I’ve
conducted over 2,000 concerts – so that’s your
attachment!” he chuckles. “Of course, those
few times that I went to Israel during times of crisis
also help. I just feel I have to be there, because the
public needs music at such times – the Six-Day War,
the Yom Kippur War, the Gulf War. Each concert, each rehearsal
builds a bond. That’s what happens between a conductor
and musicians.”
Born seven decades ago in the 20th century’s darkest
hour, the IPO builds bonds of friendship across the world. |
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| Marion
Lignana Rosenberg writes about the arts for The
New York Times, Newsday, Time Out New York, Playbill and other publications. |
Photo
credit
Images 1,2: Courtesy of Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; image
3: Oded Antman;
image 4: Chris Lee
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