SAN DIEGO — The first two of a series of ten chamber music concerts, by members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, took place Sunday, August 23 and August 30. You can still enjoy some past presentations of the IPO via the video above.
The concerts take place on the stage of the new concert hall in Tel Aviv. I am pleased to report that in the first two concerts, the musicians were socially distanced, although they were not wearing masks. Of course, that would have been impossible for the clarinetist in the first concert, which featured Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet.
The clarinetist, Ron Selka, was born in Israel and a student of a former IPO principal clarinet, American Richard Lesser. Selka enhanced the performance with his beautiful phrasing of Mozart’s masterpiece.
That Israel is a country of immigrants is highlighted by the make-up of the ensemble. First violinist, Saida Bar-Lev, grew up in Switzerland and came to Israel as a teenager, studying with Haim Taub, former concertmaster of the IPO. Second violinist, Sivan Maayani, is from England, where she studied at the Royal Academy in London. The violist, Amir van der Hal, who serves as assistant violist of the IPO, was born in Jerusalem, and Emanuele Silvestri, current principal cellist of the IPO, was born in Italy. He came to Israel in 2011.
The quintet blended beautifully. In spite of their distancing, their ensemble was precise and they gave a memorable performance of Mozart’s four movement work.
The following Sunday, the Toscanini Quartet performed works by Rameau, Mendelssohn, Tschaikovsky and Gershwin.
They are all members of the IPO. First violinist, Yvgenia Pikovsky, who serves as Principal Second Violin of the IPO, and violist Dmitry Ratush, who is the Principal Violist of the IPO, are a married couple. They paired with second violinist, Asaf Maoz and cellist, Felix Menirovsky to present a concert with interesting variety, ending with a light-hearted arrangement of George Gershwin’s “The Man I Love.”
I found particularly charming, the opening six Rameau dances, arranged for string quartet by Robert Mozes and the four-movement Mendelssohn Quartet.
The Tchaikovsky Andante Cantabile had all the necessary Russian warmth and vibrant beauty.
In the Toscanini Quartet, Yvgenia, Dmitry and Felix all came to Israel in 1990, from the former Soviet Union. Yvgenia and Dmitry studied in Israel, Yvgenia with Haim Taub and Dmitry with Michael Kugler. Felix studied at the Gneissen Music Academy in Moscow and served as the principal cellist of the Moldavian Opera Theater and the Moldavian Radio Chamber Orchestra before coming to Israel.
The second violinist, Asaf Maoz, is the only sabra in the group. A graduate of the Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv, he went on to study at the Rostock Hochschule of Musik in Germany, when his mother alerted him to the IPO opening. He returned to Israel to become a member of the IPO. He also is the capable moderator of the interviews with the musicians, which follow each performance.
Having the orchestra musicians showcased in chamber music ensembles is a wonderful way of bringing beautiful classical music into our lives during this period of isolation, and keeping the musicians practicing and performing, so that when they can gather together again as an orchestra, they will all still be in top form.
I strongly recommend listening to these concerts, streamed from Israel, over the next eight Sundays.
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Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in the coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com