On the band-wagon

Revolution Orchestra brings Radiohead, dancing instruments onstage

Groundbreaking classical music troupe mixes Chopin and British alt-rock outfit in latest mashup

Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Members of the Revolution Orchestra rehearsing for their latest piece, 'Moods,' to be performed June 12, 2022 at the Tel Aviv opera house (Courtesy Revolution Orchestra YouTube screen shot)
Members of the Revolution Orchestra rehearsing for their latest piece, 'Moods,' to be performed June 12, 2022 at the Tel Aviv opera house (Courtesy Revolution Orchestra YouTube screen shot)

The Revolution Orchestra tends to look for new riffs on all sorts of classics, finding different ways to play and perform everything from Beethoven to The Roosters, a historic Israeli band.

Their latest brings together the works of Frédéric Chopin and English rock band Radiohead for “Moods,” under the guidance of orchestra directors Zohar Sharon and Roi Oppenheim, performing Sunday, June 12, at Tel Aviv’s New Israeli Opera house.

This time, the musicians will be playing without notes and the guidance of their conductors’ batons, instead playing and moving with their instruments onstage.

Sharon and Oppenheim, who met 20 years ago as students at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, have created a wide range of musical events that “changes from project to project,” said Oppenheim.

In “Moods,” Chopin is used as the basis for a musical metamorphosis written by Sharon, with the complex, alternative rock music of Radiohead — which may draw the attention of younger Israeli crowds, many of whom are longtime fans of the British band.

Radiohead last performed in Israel in 2017, and guitarist Johnny Greenwood, who is married to Israeli Sharona Katan, has collaborated several times with the Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur, including on the 2015 album “Junun.”

Tickets for “Moods” range from NIS 120 to NIS 180 ($36-$54) and are available on the Israeli Opera website.

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