With halls shuttered, orchestras offer online concerts for distraction
Cultural institutions upload performances and classes for Israelis stuck at home during Iranian missile crisis
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
With Israelis barred from attending public gatherings due to the ongoing missile threat from Iran, several cultural institutions are offering online entertainment to take people’s minds off the situation.
The Tel Aviv-based Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) said that with concert halls currently closed, it was uploading live-streamed concerts to help distract from the complex reality, until calmer days return.
The IPO offered a selection of concerts on their website, including children’s concerts, with one performance of the Superman theme and “Carnival of the Animals” with comedian Guri Alfi and conductor Lahav Shani.
There is also a selection of chamber music performances alongside full orchestra concerts with Shani conducting.
One of the uploaded concerts is the “Salute to Israel” performance, a 1968 Independence Day show conducted by Leonard Bernstein, and Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished.”
The always unusual Revolution Orchestra, which mixes orchestral music with other performing arts, uploaded one of its most loved concerts, the hour-and-a-half-long “Concerto for Gashash and Orchestra,” an ode to HaGashash HaHiver, the iconic Israeli comedy trio.
The concerto brought the comedy trio back to the stage some 20 years after they stopped performing, using a mosaic of original orchestral works and arrangements interwoven with video and sound samples from their skits and songs.
“It’s an hour and a half of music and hope, to watch, to listen and to take a moment to breathe,” said the statement from the orchestra.
Jerusalem cultural center Beit Avi Chai, which has hosted online talks, conversations, podcasts and concerts for years, has a selection of online events this week for children. Schools are expected to remain closed for the entire week.
One event is Thursday’s podcast with Yuval Malchi, who will speak about the history of Iran, and about the earlier period when Israel and Iran were friends, before the Iranian Revolution.
Other Beit Avi Chai events include art classes, storytelling and musical performances.
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