Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Turns 85, Fetes Intertwined History With the State

By Eileen Wingard
 
Eileen Wingard

LA JOLLA, California — The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) created a marvelous 85th anniversary celebration gala via Zoom on the last Sunday of 2021; the recording of the event remains on YoutTube. A spectacular opening, with various members of the orchestra playing at famous locations in Tel Aviv, introduced the program. It emphasized the intertwined history of the orchestra and the State of Israel, born 12 years later.

Shira Haas, the acclaimed actress of “Shtisel” and “Unorthodox,” served as host. She narrated the history of the orchestra as we saw clips of its founder, the great Polish-born violinist, Bronislaw Huberman, watched the orchestra’s first rehearsals and debut concert under Italian conductor, Arturo Toscanini, and heard excerpts from a recording of that 1936 performance. We heard brilliant sounding snippets of their Brahms Symphony #2. That 75-piece ensemble was made up of some of the best Jewish instrumental musicians from Europe, rescued from the Holocaust by Huberman to form this orchestra.

William Steinberg, who had conducted the Juedische Kultur Bund Orchestra in Frankfurt, Germany, rehearsed the group before Arturo Toscanini, considered the world’s greatest conductor, came to direct its opening concerts.
“I am doing this for humanity,” Toscanini declared.
“I was surprised how well they played,” commented Zubin Mehta, the IPO’s longest tenured conductor.
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

There was footage of the young Leonard Bernstein, with 35 IPO musicians in Beersheba, playing for the troops during the War of Liberation, excerpts from the Mt. Scopus concert after the liberation of Jerusalem, and of Isaac Stern playing in Jerusalem while missiles were being dropped during the 1991 Gulf War.

Three other memorable milestones in the orchestra’s history were documented, including the concert on the border with Lebanon, where the audience was comprised of citizens from both Lebanon and Israel. Mehta certainly tried to make the orchestra a harbinger of peace. His dream of the IPO playing in an Arab capital has never yet been realized.

Another concert under Mehta was at the foot of Masada, where the late statesman Shimon Peres introduced the program and actors Gregory Peck and Ives Montand narrated.

The all-Mozart concert in Buckingham Palace, under the sponsorship of Prince Philip, husband to the Queen, was most memorable. Hatikvah was played, with all its symbolism, considering the hostilities between the Yishuv and the British during the mandate period. Mehta was proud to have brought his orchestra to England.

This great maestro, a native of India, had been the conductor for over 50 years and resigned in 2019, when the dynamic young Israeli-born conductor and pianist, Lahav Shani, took over the orchestra. Shani is shown at the end of the gala, directing a movement of one of the most challenging pieces for conductors and orchestras, because it moves so rapidly and has so many metric changes and varying orchestral voices, Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.” It served as a glorious conclusion for the 85th anniversary gala of the IPO, a well-designed celebration. Don’t miss it!
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Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.  She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com