Israeli Music > Events
Musical Dialogues of East and West
Sunday 28 November 2004, 10am—10pm 
Read
the Review by Malcolm Miller
JMI Jewish Culture Day at the South Bank, celebrating the confluence
of Jewish, Arabic and European traditions in classical and world music.
Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room
The Royal Festival Hall: 
www.rfh.org.uk
10.00am—12.00 noon
The Voice Box
Discussion with composers Menachem Wiesenberg (Jerusalem Academy),
Adam Gorb (Royal Northern College of Music) and performer of traditional
Arabic and Arabic-Israeli music George Samaan, chaired by musicologist
Malcolm Miller.
10.00am—12.00 noon
The Chelsfield Room
Dance Workshop, Israel Folk Dance Institute
Learn middle-eastern Jewish and Arabic style
dances with the experts. Suitable for ages 8 and over. No experience needed.
12.30—2.00pm
Purcell Room
Ben-Haim in his Time
Gila Goldstein, piano
Ruti Halvani, mezzo soprano
Ofer Falk, violin
This concert marks the twentieth anniversary of the death
of Paul Ben-Haim, widely considered the leading Israeli classical composer,
and one of the most important in the context of musical dialogues. Born
in Munich in 1897, Paul Frankenburger (as he then was) graduated from the
Munich Academy of Music as pianist, composer and conductor. He was appointed
assistant conductor of the Munich Opera and then Kapellmeister of Augsburg
Opera. He began composing songs, chamber, choral and orchestral works
in the late romantic style. However, his career in Germany was cut short
and in 1933 he left Germany for Palestine to escape Nazi persecution.
Here he changed his name to Ben-Haim and although his idol was Bach,
and his direct sources of influence were Debussy and Ravel, Richard Strauss
and Mahler, he strongly absorbed influences from his adopted country.
He also produced many arrangements of folk-songs of the communities of
the Middle East whose melodies also found their way into his classical
works. His music strongly reflects the diversity of the landscape and
people of Israel. The programme includes his sonatas for solo violin
and solo piano, Improvisation and Dance for violin and piano and works
by colleagues, contemporaries and followers including Ernest Bloch, Ami
Maayani, Haim Alexander, Menachem Wiesenberg, Mordechai Zeira, Naomi
Shemer, Yoel Engel and Maurice Ravel.
2.30—4.00pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Klezmer, Choir and
Cantor
She'koyokh Klezmer Band
The
Zemel Choir
The Wallace Ensemble, chamber orchestra
Robert Brody, tenor
Ann Sadan,
alto
Benjamin Seifert, baritone
Alice Woodbridge, soprano
Benjamin Wolf, conductor
An afternoon concert starting with traditional melodies of the Eastern
European Jewish klezmorim and featuring the first performance of Rohan
Kriwaczek's concerto for klezmer band and orchestra, followed by music
by Israeli composers:
Paul Ben-Haim (choir only) Yehezkel Braun and Mordecai
Seter (choir, cantor, soloists and orchestra).
Sponsored by the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation
5.00—6.30pm
Purcell Room
Dances and Suites from The Balkans to Baghdad
Goldstone and Clemmow,
piano duo
Dance suites for piano duet interpreting Eastern European, Balkan,
Arabic and Jewish styles by Adam Gorb (première), Alexander Boskovich,
Hans Gál and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
Pre-concert talk: 7.00pm, The Voice Box
On the oratorio and the Bible
story.
7.45—10.15pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Handel's Judas Maccabaeus
The London Chorus and New London
Orchestra and soloists Ronald Corp and Rudolf Goldsmith, conductors
The climax of the day is Handel's version of the story of Judah
the Maccabee, who led the Jewish resistance against religious persecution
in the second century BCE. The reclaiming and re-dedication of the Temple
in Jerusalem is celebrated in the Jewish festival of Chanukah. Handel's
magnificent oratorio includes some of his best-known arias such as See
the Conquering Hero and O Lovely Peace.
Sponsored by The Goldsmith Charitable Trust
8.00—10.00pm
Purcell Room
Different Points on the Same Line
Daphna Sadeh, double bass
George Youssef Samaan, vocals, Arabic violin,
oud, saz
Stewart Curtis, saxophones, clarinet, flutes
Koby Israelite, accordion
Nim Schwartz, oud
Paul Clarvis, Middle Eastern percussion
World music concert. This multi-national ensemble: composer and arranger Daphna Sadeh with George Youssef Samaan, backed by The Voyagers, evokes the landscapes of the Negev and the Galilee with traditional Jewish and Arab music and folk songs as well as Middle Eastern-influenced compositions by Sadeh.
This day's events organised in co-operation with the
JMI Forum
for Israeli music. Supported by the Jewish Chronicle.
Tickets:
The Voice Box, discussion: £7.00* pre-concert talk: free to ticket holders for any other events otherwise £3.00
The Chelsfield Room, £12.50* (children £7.50)
Purcell Room, £15.00* £12.50* £9.50*
Queen Elizabeth Hall, £19.50* £16.00* £12.50*
* £2.50 off each ticket when booking for more than one event, for groups of 10 or more, for children, seniors and students (only one discount applies).
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