2013 is the bicentennial of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth: it’s quite fitting that after a year away, the Israeli Opera Festival at Masada will be returning next June with a staging of the composer’s best loved opera, La Traviata as the centerpiece of the 2014 Opera at Masada season.
Setting is central to the grandeur and opulence of opera, and there aren’t many venues that can match the imposing majesty of the monolith by the Dead Sea. Premiered at La Fenice, in Venice, in 1853 and based on the bestselling La Dame …

The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance presents “From Brahms to the New Middle East,” a new concert premiering on December 10, 2013. The Mendi Rodan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Prof. Eitan Globerson, will feature the works of Johannes Brahms and a new composition by Tzvi Avni – New Middle East, with soloists Roy Shiloah (violin) and Zvi Plesser (cello).
On the program:
Tzvi Avni – New Middle East
Johannes Brahms – Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102, for violin, cello, and orchestra. Soloists: Roy Shiloah and Zvi Plesser.
Johannes Brahms – Symphony …

He studied with poet Delmore Schwartz, founded the Velvet Underground with John Cale, Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker, told Rolling Stone Magazine in 1987 that he wanted “to bring the sensitivities of the novel to rock music,” and made a documentary film Red Shirley (2010) about his cousin Shirley Novick.
Walk on the Wild Side: In Memory of Lou Reed is a celebration of his life and work that will take place at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque on December 13, 2013, at 21:00.
On the program:
Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart …

For many music lovers, making music is the greatest pleasure and privilege one can aspire to. For musicians, it’s a need, just like the need for air. For the musicians of the Moshavot Orchestra, the twenty-member ensemble of the Benyamina-Givat Ada Music Center, the passion for music is what brings them to practice, alongside jobs, school and other responsibilities, every week, rain or shine. On December 19, you can hear them in a gala concert in Benyamina.
The Moshavot Orchestra was founded in 2011, and gave many of these musicians a …

Beginning on December 12, the Israel Opera will host the Budapest Operetta Theater for a grand production of Kálmán’s The Czardas Princess, a light-hearted, hilarious operetta that, despite initial troubles, allows true love to conquer all.
This work is one the best examples of the operetta tradition, which differs both from traditional opera and musical theater and has a unique language of its own. It features large-scale chorus numbers with traditional dances, beautiful duets and arias, and an infectious happy energy that will have you tapping your feet minutes after the …

“The high ones die, die. They die, you look up and who’s there?” John Berryman – Dream Song 36
Arik Einstein died last night. He is gone, but his presence is everywhere. I hear his voice on the radio in song after song, and online everyone is sharing their sadness, memories and favorite songs.
Singer, songwriter and actor, Arik Einstein always seemed to go his own way, and yet somehow through this, he gave voice to the feelings of so many people. There are poems in Hebrew that I know will always …

The next Tzlilim concert at the Open University, this Thursday at 20:30, will focus on the music of Brahms, along with additional compositions by Mozart and Schumann. Pianist Steven Vanhauwaert will join soloists of the Israel Philharmonic and commentary will be given by Anat Sharon, director of the Tzlilim (“Sounds”) series.
The popularity of Johannes Brahms, both today and during his lifetime, is considerable. He is often referred to as one of the Three B’s – Bach, Brahms and Beethoven. This week’s concert will feature two of his works: the Violin …

November 29th is a significant date for Israelis, the day when the UN General Assembly voted to adopt the partition plan for Palestine and end the British Mandate, intended to lead to the creation of two independent states, an Arab state and a Jewish state. Many years have gone by, and other than the British Mandate, many of the controversial issues of 1947 remain controversial in 2013.  Yet the vote that took place that day determined the existence of the State of Israel, changing the course of history.
Renana Raz has …

This is where I live, in the music, dance, worlds of thought, feeling and images, as much as in any geographic location. There is the world of the streets and sea around me, the scent of the familiar, the people I know and love; and there is that other, wider world out there, what used to be a flight away, now literally at my fingertips: music from everywhere. These worlds are coming together more and more, and I love it!
I love hearing new bands, songs, something or someone I have …

Israel is known for being the host of the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition. However, another competition for young pianists takes place annually in Ashdod, bringing musicians as young as 6 to the stage. The competition takes place every year at Hanukkah, and will be held this year between November 11 and December 5. The competition will be held at the Monart Center in Ashdod. Admission to the competition events is free, so take this opportunity to get to know Israel’s next generation of pianists.
Competitions are a necessary hardship …