Classics for all classes

Israel is a wellspring of music diverse and multicultural. There are offshoots of the Mediterranean school, the avant garde of the 20th century, and rejection of the experimental in favor of ethnic traditions ranging from Eastern Europe to Andalusia.

All of the associations cited above and everything in between are expressed in symphonies, oratorios, cantatas, songs and instrumental chamber works. The director of the Israel Music Celibration festival, Michael Wolfa, says the flood of artistic, Israeli musical works would be enough even for larger countries like the United States or Brazil, based on their quantity and quality.

Ear-opening examples from all areas of Israeli music (including works with a noticeable pop connection) are being performed this week as part of the amazingly rich program of that festival, which began in Rishon Letzion and Haifa and will move today to Be'er Sheva before hitting Givatayim and Ramat Gan tomorrow.

The works have been put in the hands of some of the country's best musicians, including the Rishon Letzion Symphony, the Meitar Ensemble (a kind of house band for the festival), the Contemporary Quartet, and many choirs including the Collegium Ensemble, the Naked Voices Ensemble and the Jerusalem Academy Choir. Entrance to all events is free save Ephraim Kishon and Menachem Avidom's comic opera, "The Crook" ("Ha Ramai"), which will be performed tomorrow at the Ramat Gan Theater.

Wolfa is directing this festival for the fourth time and will also direct the next two years. His overriding concept can be described as determined versatility. This approach came, he says, after he was convinced that a concert drawn from one school is not riveting enough for the audience.

"The creative bouquet of Mediterranean musical pieces dry out [the audience] just like avant garde."

Naturally choosing among the many concerts in the Israeli Music Festival is a gamble, but it is certain that someone who attends a full day of concerts at the new Be'er Sheva cultural center or the Givatayim Theater will emerge struck by the tones and impressions left.

During the day, from 10:00 A.M., there will be chamber concerts; in the evenings, there will symphony concerts and oratorios with many participants.

In addition to the music, there will also be lectures: in Be'er Sheva, at 6:30 P.M., there will be an open discussion titled "Is simplicity a necessity for successful music in our time." Its stated objective is to clarify the difference between simple and simplistic, national and nationalistic, quality and commercial, with products such as TV show "A Star is Born," bearing the majority of the blame. However, culture researcher Ariel Hirschfield, so it has been leaked, plans on pointing to avant garde itself for the surge of vapid works and shallowness.

In Givatayim, at 2:00 P.M., there will be a discussion on a no less intriguing topic, "Who needs opera today." The festival program explains that in the backdrop to this question there is an accepted realization that "opera is very expensive, anachronistic, pompous and deals with obsolete content."

Among the participants in this discussion are opera composers such as Ari Ben-Shabetai and Gil Shohat.

Despite the huge variety, there is nevertheless an underlying thread uniting this year's festival, and that is a reliance on Hebrew poetry - from the Bible to Dahlia Ravikovitch. In addition, the many participating choirs in the festival received funding in order to commission new arrangements for classic Israeli songs. Dozens of new arrangements will therefore be heard at the festival.

Preparing a comprehensive overview of the Israeli Music Festival is not a realistic possibility, but here are a few of the highlights for today and tomorrow.

Today in Be'er Sheva: strings ensembles, flutist Eyal Ein-Habar, percussionist Zohar Fresco, and Saxophonist Daniel Zamir. Among the works to be performed: "A Cat Saved My Life" (Dahlia Ravikovitch, with music by Amit Gilutz), a work by Erel Paz with a video, "David and Goliath" by Aharon Harlap, an Andalusian concert for mandolin by Oded Zahavi (with soloist Shmuel Elbaz), Ron Weidberg's cantata "Leshalom Hanitzhi" and "Shti Va'erev" for orchestra by Hadas Goldschmidt.

Friday in Givatayim: The Naked Voices Ensemble and cellists will perform, among other works, a requiem by Gil Shohat and "Et She'ahava Nafshi" ("The Beloved of My Soul") by Gilad Hochman. In the morning, Moshe Zorman's arrangements for Sara Levy-Tanai's poems will be heard, featuring the Contemporary Quartet.

In the evening, Menachem Avidom's "The Crook, a chamber opera to lyrics by Ephraim Kishon, with solo singers and the Sinfonietta Orchestra, directed by Daniel Ehrlich will be performed in Ramat Gan.