Fourteen years ago the Ministry of Culture, through its music department, devised a program for boosting local concert music: It created the Israeli Music Celebration, a festival of free performances at which Israeli ensembles and soloists would give concerts consisting exclusively of works by Israeli composers. The idea was a good one: Musicians who perform Israeli concert music are at the bottom of the ladder, institutionally and socially. This music is ignored by the country's educational institutions, from kindergarten to the universities, and neglected by orchestras and other performance bodies. The shot in the arm from the state was welcomed warmly.
Unfortunately, the implementation of the "celebration" served only to underline the sorry state of Israeli music. Only when composer Michael Wolpe was appointed artistic director of the festival that a change began to be felt. His personal stamp has been particularly evident over the past two years. This year will mark his sixth turn at the top, after which he will be succeeded as artistic director by composer Boaz Ben-Moshe. The 14th Israeli Music Celebration will take place from Saturday through Wednesday, with performances in Jerusalem, Haifa, Be'er Sheva, Dimona and Tel Aviv.
"I can feel the buzz created after years of work, before the start of the events and continuing throughout," Wolpe said. "In the past two years it is not only the 'captive audience' that comes, the kind we bring in ourselves such as students in high-school music programs, but also a regular crowd: In Haifa, in Be'er Sheva, people want to hear the music. There's a sense that something special is being created here, a multigenerational, pluralistic audience of all colors and stripes has been growing, and although there is still a great deal to be done, I am very happy with the results so far," Wolpe said.
His first two years were the most difficult. "There were wonderful events, such as Erich Walter Sternberg's 'The Twelve Tribes of Israel,' and less successful ones, such as an entire concert featuring the works of Mordechai Seter," Wolpe related. "From the latter I learned that works that earn a fantastic reception when spread over a number of events don't work well when placed together in one concert, which turned out to be too long and uncommunicative."
Two years into his term, Wolpe introduced the change that transformed the festival's image. Instead of holding the entire festival in Jerusalem, he opted to take it around the country.
"The variety of venues was joined by a variety of events and styles, a diversity in the music and in its means of performance, and to attract an audience that is usually not interested in such concerts I used a ploy: I brought in well-known music, such as works by David Zehavi and Moshe Wilensky, [Yoni] Rechter and [Shlomo] Gronich, and ethnic ensembles. Our collaboration with the Piyyut Festival, for example, proved that the combination of paytanim [performers of piyyutim, liturgical poetry set to music within a broad range of Jewish traditions] and composers such as [Josef] Bardanashvili and Paul Ben-Haim brings two kinds of audiences to Henry Crown Symphony Hall [in the Jersualem Theater] - and they listen to the music together. This plurality was also expressed in the character of the events, which included videos, explanations, lectures and discussions."
A look at the festival schedule does indeed reveal a heterogenous picture. It includes orchestral concerts (the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra ); discussions with composers and performers; chamber concerts (Ensemble Meitar, the Israel Contemporary String Quartet ) and award ceremonies. There are new groups such as the Fragment Ensemble, a woodwind quintet, and multimedia collaborations like the Revolution Orchestra's Animation Project, combining music by music-school alumni with animated films by graduates of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. There are avant-garde compositions on one hand and songs by Nachum Heiman songs performed by the Israel Sinfonietta Be'er Sheva - and that's just for starters.
Collective experienceWolpe's own work, and to a large degree his life, is characterized by a rich variety of styles. He was born in Tel Aviv, in 1960, but for nearly he 30 years has lived on Kibbutz Sde Boker, in the Negev, He cites the decision he made to live in a collective society. Wolpe earned a doctorate from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He studied composition there and at the University of Cambridge. His teachers included Haim Alexander, Tzvi Avni, Mark Kopytman and Alexander Goehr. His composing style combines East and West, and also includes popular music - he has created arrangements for Berry Sakharof, Corinne Allal and Harel Skaat.
"I like the confusion, the ambiguity, the feeling that anything is possible," he says of the combination of Harel Skaat and songs by Dubi Seltzer or Sara Levi-Tanai, for example, a combination that expresses his affinity for music that reflects a collective experience, which also includes the symphonic music that he composes. On the other hand, Wolpe sometimes prefers a different, even opposite approach, seeking an intimate connection with a small audience, with music that "is not for the popular radio stations or for major concerts at the Jerusalem Theater," but rather for a small circle of enthusiasts in an intimate setting. There, he says, he can "reveal more of myself as an artist, compose in polyphonous techniques and be more intellectual. Only someone who is familiar with this style and identifies with it can find himself in these concerts, in which I let myself speak with the audience as well and explain the work," Wolpe said.
"The main problem is the neglect of Israeli artistic music, in two respects," Wolpe said, explaining his ambition to elevate the status of Israeli music through the Music Celebration. "The first respect is simple, the ongoing budget cuts. But there is another critical aspect: the withdrawal of composers to the ivory tower and their renunciation of the desire to build an audience. What is more, one also hears the attitude, 'if the audience liked it, it means the work is bad' indicating that composers don't need an audience and moreover, don't want one. And that is anticultural, because culture is made for people.
"I succeeded in getting composers to talk, to explain; and when I was told, my music doesn't need any explanations, it interprets itself, I answered, you're wrong my friend, explain, interact with the audience, be a bit of a performer. The result was far beyond my expectations: Suddenly the composers enjoy it greatly, both explaining their works and having the audience crowd around them after the concert. There have even been concerts where kids came up to ask for their autographs!
"The orchestras have also slowly been showing a renewed interest in music by Israeli composers. This can be seen in the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Be'er Sheva orchestra - unlike a certain orchestra that goes abroad for an international tour and appears at a central world venue - but not with works by Israeli composers, but rather with works by national Spanish composers." Wolpe does not explicitly name the IPO and its current tour, the high point of which was its appearance at the prestigious BBC Proms. On the tour the IPO performed works from the global repertoire without including a single Israeli work. "I find that strange, and so do my colleagues. I'm asked, how can it be that this orchestra arrives, after we've waited for it with interest, and plays Tchaikovsky and Liszt? Why not Ben-Haim? Why not Arik Shapira?"
People say that contemporary music, including Israeli music, is uncommunicative, which is why it is not performed.
"That's a mistake. There are many Israeli contemporary works that can engage the listener's interest immediately, and they are relevant to an audience not familiar with this style. They say that tonal and romantic styles of music are communicative, but take Bruckner for instance - he's the opposite. As opposed to Arik Shapira's 'Sacrifice,' an avant-garde work that is communicative and thrilled the audience last year, and Menachem Zur's 'Free Sex-tet,' or Zipi Fleischer's fourth symphony, which drove the young crowd wild."
Wolpe explains his departure from the festival's directorship after six years by the need to introduce new outlooks and approaches: "I'm the one who insisted that the position be limited to a three-year term. There shouldn't be just one director, I should not become the minister of music. And the article in the regulations that says that the directorship can be extended for one term only was added under my pressure, I thought it imperative for me to have to retire and pass on the scepter to a different approach and way of thinking."
Another innovation introduced by Wolpe, based on the British model, is that of "composer of the year" - selecting an Israeli composer whose works are performed in different ensembles over the course of the year, accompanied by recordings, articles and booklets and the study of the composer's corpus in music schools.
"In Britain, in order to receive state support ensembles must perform a work by the composer of the year; they've gotten to the point of fighting for works because these performances make a statement and it's important for orchestras to participate in this project. Here as well - the moment they heard that performances would be recorded and broadcast, and that there would be a general program, orchestras found it important to take part. ACUM (the Israeli Music and Literary Rights Society ) donated funds for recordings and documentation, and other institutions provide public relations. We will start with Paul Ben-Haim: I prefer an artificial, arbitrary choice of composers from the fathers of Israeli music to a situation in which they are ignored. In this way, a narrative is created that will grow from year to year."
When the Music Celebration was founded, the intention was for ensembles to take part voluntarily as part of a special arrangement. "Today there is no arrangement," says Wolpe, "all the participants receive full payment, including the symphony orchestras; and a great many organizations have met us half-way: directors, performers, composers, copyright representatives, solo performers; and the Ministry of Culture, everybody has joined forces, the Broadcasting Authority records and broadcasts - and that's a sign of success."
The Music Celebration is just part of Wolpe's intense schedule. He also teaches at the Academy of Music in Jerusalem and is head of its composition department. He is the founding director of the Sounds in the Desert Festival, at Sde Boker. In addition, he says, he is always composing. His works are performed around the world, recently in Beijing, Italy, and Germany.
"I'm also studying electronic music for my personal enrichment, in order to broaden my means as a composer and a teacher of composition, and lead music-listening workshops in the south of the country, and am involved in a number of initiatives - I can hardly begin to describe everything."
Wolpe's activities stretch beyond the musical world: "The year began with the social protest and the great excitement it created, for me as well," says Wolpe, who wrote a public statement about the protest, "I'm active in an organization that works to release Gilad Shalit and political prisoners in general, I participate in demonstrations, I write, I speak - in recent years I have been very active politically." His dream, which is becoming a reality in collaboration with choreographer Nir Ben-Gal and his activity in Mitzpeh Ramon: "Sde Boker has become a place that attracts more and more musicians, and my dream is to establish a center for music and dance here, in a beautiful, eco-friendly building at the edge of the kibbutz, looking out over the desert landscape."
