Marc Bouchkov “Performing in Israel with IPO has been Dream of Mine Since I Was a Child”

In October  and November 2024, the acclaimed Belgian violinist Marc Bouchkov is set to take to the stage alongside the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra for a series of five concerts spanning three different cities in the country. 

First Prize winner at the Montreal International Violin Competition, silver medallist of the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition and recipient of the London Music Masters Award and Kulturstiftung Dortmund music prize, to mention a few, Bouchkov is globally-celebrated soloist of the highest level, and one who takes great pride in his Jewish heritage. 

“I have been asked just within the last few days to perform in Israel with the Israeli Philharmonic which has been a dream of mine since I was a child”, he remarked, speaking ahead of the event. “Being brought up and educated in a Jewish family – not traditional Jewish in a believer sense, but originally a Jewish family – it is a big, big honour for me to be able to perform finally with an orchestra like the Israeli Philharmonic.”

Taking place from the 28th of October to the 4th of November, this concert series opened in Haifa, with Bouchkov and the orchestra, led by conductor Lahav Shani, taking the stage of the Baruch and Ruth Rappaport Center for Art and Culture. Then, the following day, they travelled to Jerusalem for a concert at The Sherover Hall in the Jerusalem Theatre. Finally, the musicians will conclude the tour in Tel Aviv, delivering three performances at the Lowy Concert Hall in the city’s renowned Charles Bronfman Auditorium, with two taking place on the 30th and 31st of October, and a final entry on November 4th.

Across the five concerts, audiences will be able to experience renditions of two seminal entries within the classical genre, starting with Felix Mendelssohn's famed Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, where Bouchkov will be taking centrestage. After a brief interval, Shani and the orchestra will then return, presenting the beloved Symphony No. 6 in A minor from Gustav Mahler to close off proceedings.

With tickets for the concerts already available for sale, the violinist also acknowledged the current volatile state of affairs in Israel, observing that “the ongoing situation is obviously extremely dangerous and scary”, but adding that “on a humane level, this is something that is extremely important to me. In fact, I also tried to perform in Ukraine as well since the war started there, and I also have Ukrainian origins as well so I would really like to, but I have not been able to.”

In all, it looks like it will be a very busy few weeks for Bouchkov, with the maestro noting that this trip to Israel shall itself be bookended by two separate exciting endeavours. “On the way to Israel I will also have the opportunity to perform at the Stradivari festival in Cremona”, he remarked, “which is quite interesting because I’ve never performed in Cremona and most of the violins I played with or owned where actually Cremonese instruments by Antonio Stradivari. And then after all of this I have an upcoming tour in Germany with David Aaron Carpenter, with whom we will perform the Sinfonia Concertante by Mozart and also a piece which in a way was written and dedicated to both of us by Alexey Shor. So we’re going to make this incredible mixture of one of the most renowned classical music pieces by Mozart and at the same time propose a piece which was written just now by a composer who’s still living and who is proposing a completely different aspect of music than Mozart. I’m very excited about this project and that we’ve managed to make it happen.”

“With regard to the concerto by Alexey Shor”, he continued, “I would say it’s always exciting when somebody’s willing to write something in your direction. That’s a huge compliment and that’s something that makes you feel really appreciated. I believe that that is what happened between Mr Shor and myself and David Aaron Carpenter, and it of course asks you to deliver your performance in a very, very passionate way and to try to do your very, very best in order to, not necessarily please the composer, but work to find the common ground. The fact that we were granted this opportunity and these possibilities is definitely a wonderful thing because I can see that many artists are playing his music today, and the fact that he still has a certain affinity towards my playing and my performance and my interpretation is of course a big compliment to me. 

I’m also happy about it because in this way I am not only performing what I’ve always learnt to perform – the vast majority of the classical music repertoire – but also something a little bit newer in a classical music world that has so much to offer today. And it’s a very different work; it’s a very different approach to music, it’s a very different approach to composition, and it’s something where I always find that even a few notes that I play can connect directly to what the composer intended. Of course, I try to make it more than just a few notes, but obviously some of them speak to me very distinctly which may also be because I believe we share some cultural traditions in common. I am a Ukrainian-origin Jew, and some of the melodies, some of the intentions that he writes are speaking directly to me I feel, which lets me make that direct connection.”

For more information about Marc Bouchkov and his upcoming events, please visit his official website here.

This article was written in cooperation with Shira Cohen