The key to success

For renowned pianist Kirill Gerstein, the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival is ‘the dearest’ of them all.

‘I love chamber music and I never miss an opportunity to play it,” says 30-year-old Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival participant, pianist Kirill Gerstein.

Coming full circle

‘For me, it’s almost obsessive – creating music, arranging music, making it mine. It’s an immense pleasure,” says singer/songwriter Tami Machnai, as she sips orange juice in a Tel Aviv street cafe. The Israeli performer based out of New York has found some success abroad with her crossover style, influenced by Sephardic and Middle Eastern, British Folk and orchestral progressive rock.

String of good luck

There are many ways to measure a musician’s progress, and the instrument he or she plays is positively one of them.

“As a boy I hated practicing, and I remember throwing the cello case – with the cello in it – into the air on my way to music school one day. To my regret, the cello was repaired very soon – and this simple factory-made instrument sounded even better,” recollects Israeli cellist Kyril Zlotnikov, speaking over the phone from his home in Lisbon.

Making ancient music modern

Now that the movement for authentic performance of early music is some 40 years old, ensemnbles must find their own special niche to survive.

The highly successful L’Arpeggiata ensemble, making its Israeli debut Tuesday and Wednesday at the Felicja Blumental International Music Festival at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, is a prime example.

A different kind of music

The Israeli Bach Soloists play the gamut from Trecento to Baroque, but aren’t afraid to tackle contemporary music as well

Political pawns

Mozart’s opera ‘La Clemenza di Tito’ is transposed from ancient Rome to modern-day Washington, D.C

“It all started from an e-mail,” recalls young Israeli Opera director Niv Hoffman as he speaks of the new production of the rarely performed (at least in Israel) of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, which will be performed throughout the country between October 16 – 30. “I suggested to the Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra’s artistic director Yaron Gottfried to stage it, and he immediately agreed.”