Israel Philharmonic Orchestra season to debut in shadow of Oct. 7 anniversary

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) opens its 88th season on October 8 and 9 at the Tel Aviv Culture Center, October 10 in the Haifa Auditorium, and October 13 at the Jerusalem Theater with news music commissioned in honor of the hostages still being held in Gaza.

Last year, the IPO opening concert was a televised production, with empty seats “occupied” by the pictures, and perhaps the spirits, of the more than two hundred hostages taken captive by Hamas.

Musically, the IPO concert season parallels our lives past and present, as well as hopes for the future. The individual programs are filled with the music of past masters, Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert, and balanced with compositions written during the 20th and 21st centuries by composers such as Shostakovich, Schulhoff, and Mahler. There will be ten first IPO performances of music ranging from the contemporary Violin Concerto by Thomas de Hartmann, to be played by Joshua Bell in a January concert led by Music Director Lahav Shani, to the first IPO performance of the dearly loved semi-staged opera Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni to be conducted by maestro Andrea Battistoni.

“Our goal is to make every concert special and give the audience a distinct highlight to take home,” said Alisa Meves, who is beginning her second season as artistic director of the IPO.

She pointed out that the season begins the day after the October 7 Hamas massacre anniversary, saying, “The opening programs reflect the year which has passed and our hopes for the future.”

Shani will open the season with two works from different ends of the Romantic period’s spectrum: Gustave Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 (The Tragic) and Felix Mendelsohn’s Violin Concerto, played by the celebrated violinist Maxim Vengerov, who is among the most sought – after soloists in the world of classical music, and a loyal friend of the IPO. 

Mendelsohn’s Violin Concerto, written early in the Romantic era, begins with a wistful, searching melody, which it sheds to build into a breathtaking, determined conclusion. Mahler, one of the later Romantics, wrote his Symphony No. 6 during a relatively happy period in his personal and professional life. His trademark was to delve musically into an exploration of the world of the human spirit, a journey of self-examination. Nevertheless, the spirit he creates in the Symphony No. 6 remains strong and undaunted in spite of doubts and fears.

Second series of concerts

The second series of concerts will have maestro Shani on the podium performing Prayer by Tzvi Avni and Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky/Ravel. Solo cellist Pablo Ferrandez will also perform Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1. Also scheduled for this concert are original works commissioned in memory of October 7 in association with the Nassima Landau Art Foundation.

The third series of performances will bring maestro Semyon Bychkov to lead the IPO in Ma Vlast (My Fatherland) by Bedrich Smetana. “Maestro Bychkov volunteered to come to Israel last December to perform with the IPO and stand by our side despite the war,” points out Artistic Director Meves.

Israeli conductor maestro Asher Fisch will lead the fourth set of concerts at the end of November with soloist soprano Chen Reiss in performances of the music of Richard Strauss.

“Maestro Fisch suggested the music of Richard Strauss, whose works have been part of the IPO repertoire for the last thirty years,” explains Meves. “While looking for another selection for the program, we discovered the piece Metamorphosen, a brilliant work for 23 solo strings also by Richard Strauss, had never been performed by the IPO. It was only natural to include it, and we immediately placed it on the program. Having the chance to perform with Chen Reiss, Four Last Songs was an obvious choice as the IPO hasn’t performed it since 2010. Making it a full Strauss evening by putting Also sprach Zarathustra in the second half might have been a daring decision, but at the same time, it is an evening of three masterpieces of the 20th century.”

Meves explains that building programs for an orchestral season involves many details. “Choosing repertoire is a dialogue. I like to start with the thoughts of the conductor. To hear his or her ideas first. At the same time, going with the ideas is not always possible because the works might have been “taken” by someone else or have been recently performed. Then, the dialogue between us starts: What other works go well with the main work? Are we looking for contrast or similarities? Who is the right soloist? It is a search for the perfect match. It doesn’t always work out, but when it does, it is magic!”

“I think this will be a beautiful season of many musical highlights,” Meves points out, “There will be performances of a number of young artists who have already established a world career balanced with concerts by world-renowned soloists and conductors. In addition, performances starring the IPO family’s musicians make each season so special. In addition, this year’s concerts include many Israeli artists and composers, such as Bracha Bdil, who was commissioned by the IPO to write a new work especially for the orchestra.”

Meves was born in Germany and came to Israel in 1986 to study viola with teachers Daniel Benyamini and Gad Levertov at the Rubin Academy of Music. She later went to New York for one year and then to St. Petersburg, Russia, where she worked in the field of music management for 27 years.

She posits that her choice to return to Israel and the IPO is based on her first experiences in Israel as a student.

“In my first year in Israel,” she reflects, “I was lucky enough to come to many concerts of the Philharmonic during their 50th anniversary season. What a season! The level of orchestra and the long list of famous artists simply swept me off my feet. Music at its best! Today, although the orchestra has much changed, their strive for excellence makes this orchestra so very special, and I am happy to be part of it! In addition, I look forward to working alongside maestro Lahav Shani at the beginning of his IPO tenure.

Shani remains constant in his commitment and active involvement with the IPO. Even though he holds the position of principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and has many guest engagements to fulfill, he will lead the IPO in eight out of 32 series of performances in Israel and take them on international tours to Switzerland and Germany. In March 2025, the IPO will perform for the first time since 2022 in a six-city tour in Florida and California in the United States. This year, under the baton of former Music Director Zubin Mehta, the orchestra will perform two concerts in Bucharest, coinciding with the 145th anniversary of Jewish citizenship in Romania.

The final 2024/25 season tour will be a joint project in May with the Munich Philharmonic, as the two orchestras will join forces and perform Avni’s Prayer, followed by Mahler’s Symphony No. 6.

“The IPO is looking forward to a busy and rewarding season,” says Meves, “giving audiences the opportunity to enjoy fine live performances, which, in these challenging times, is a highlight and delight in itself.”

For further information: ipo.co.il     *3766