Jerusalem to chime with the sounds of chamber music

Beautiful chamber music will resonate at the Jerusalem YMCA in early September during the International Chamber Music Festival. 

Elena Bashkirova, the festival’s founder and artistic director, explains that this 27th version, running from September 3-7 is “designed to boost spirits and uplift souls.” “Twenty-seven years ago, we started as an experiment that has worked out splendidly.” 

Bashkirova, known as one of the world’s finest pianists and sought-after chamber musicians adds, “My dream was to enrich the cultural life of Jerusalem, and each year our audience grows and loves it.”

For her, “it is an exciting experience to see how our audiences and performers interact. There is a wonderful mix of new faces and faithful friends who fill the hall, as well as a delightful mix of accomplished artists who grace the stage. Most of the performers are from outside Israel, and they come with a special enthusiasm which permeates the performances.”

She points out that most of the artists will be meeting with the small ensembles for the first time, adding a special excitement to their music-making.

“Due to busy schedules, we have only a short time for rehearsals prior to the concerts. Therefore, our music-making is happening in what musicians call ‘real-time.’ This is listener-friendly music and the ensembles are a blend of seasoned older musicians and younger artists, which gives a wonderful opportunity to play, learn, and share,” she says.

“We are privileged to have friends who have performed with us repeatedly over the years, namely pianist Denis Kozhin, violinists Michaela Martin Madeleine Carruzzo, and Mark Karlinsky, violist Adrien La Marche, cellists Frans Helmerson and Tim Park, and clarinetist Pablo Bergen.

This year, the festival also welcomes new faces such as pianists Giorgis Oskonis, Itamar Carmeli, and Igor Levit, joined by violinists Nitzan Bartana and Fedor Rodin; violists Nega Shachem, Catherine Spiegel, Roman Spitzer, cellist Haran Meltzer, and oboe player Christina Gomez Godoy.

Different features 

The centerpiece this season will be music written for the quintet and played by an array of ensembles. For added variety, Bashkirova has interspersed performances of art songs by critically praised singers, such as Thomas A. Bauer and Dietrich Henschel, with a special performance featuring Thomas Hampson and Elena Bashkirova at the piano for “Winter Journey.” 

Noted baritone and pedagogue Thomas A. Bauer will sing “Lieder Eines Fahrenden” (“Songs of a Traveler”) by Gustav Mahler and “An Die Ferne Geliebte” (“To the Faraway Lover”) by Ludwig van Beethoven.

“The two songs are milestones of the genre,” Bauer told the Post. 

“They were composed at the beginning and end of musical Romanticism. This music is always about unfulfilled longing and, above all, the question of “Am I loved?” It also asks: “Where do I go when I leave this world?”

Bauer proudly states that he has been to Israel many times and knows and loves the country. As a German citizen, he gives it his utmost support, and personally speaking, he is happy to be at this prestigious festival because he always tries to gain new insights.

 “These masterpieces always reveal new things and have helped me understand something about my life and the lives of others. I want to be honest with my listeners and, of course, I will give it my all,” he says.

“Chamber music, in its many forms, is the soul of Classical music,” explains Bashkirova. “In seven different programs, we will combine well-known and beloved masterpieces with pieces that are fascinating but rarely heard.”

A  diverse selection of quintets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be performed, among them his String Quintet in G Minor K516; String Quintet no. 6 in B Flat Major K614; Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in B Flat Major K581; and the Quintet for Piano and Woodwind K452.  

Spanning the musical eras will be programs featuring quintets by Ludwig von Beethoven and Johannes Brahms, as well as Anton Bruckner and Alfred Schnittke. The Tel Aviv Quintet will play Small Chamber Music by Paul Hindemith, and Bela Bartok’s Piano Quintet in C Major.

Bashkirova believes the reason for the popularity of chamber music is that it is “active music which requires a different kind of listening.”

Uniqueness of Jerusalem

Born in Moscow to an eminently respected musical family who later made aliya, she lives in Germany today and is married to internationally renowned pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim. Music, especially chamber music, has always been an integral part of Bashkirova’s life. She is a busy soloist in addition to founder of the Metropolis Ensemble in Berlin and the International Chamber Music Festival in Jerusalem.

“Chamber music is not the grandeur of the symphony which envelopes the audience,” she posits. “Listening to small ensembles requires a different kind of concentration. It is intimate. You must come to the music. Furthermore, when it is performed in Jerusalem, it is a unique experience because Jerusalem is a unique city.”

“The role of music is to bridge gaps and connect people wherever they are. It uplifts the soul,” she affirms.

With classical music proven to be therapeutic in surviving our contemporary reality, Bashkirova invites audiences to join in the festival’s evenings of collaboration, communication, and beauty. 

For further information: jcmf.org.il/ For tickets: jcmf.smarticket.co.il/