Lahav Shani conductor | Mischa Maisky cellist

To read the concert program, click here

Please note: At the Philharmonic in Jeans concert on October 22, Paul Ben-Haim’s work will not be performed, and the concert will take place without an
intermission.The concert will be hosted by Lahav Shani and violinist Sharon Cohen.

Every work in this concert is a portrait of sorts. In one, the composer’s life story and personal background are so deeply embedded in the music that it sounds almost like a biography. Another portrays an epic biblical figure, brought to life through the composer’s own musical voice and rooted in his family and collective heritage. The third is an outright musical autobiography, written by a composer about himself, with plenty of humor and self-awareness.

Together, these works tell not only the individual stories of their composers but also offer a thought-provoking musical exploration of the relationship between the artist and their art.

Paul Ben-Haim | Pastorale with Variations

Paul Ben-Haim fled Nazi Germany and arrived in Tel Aviv in 1933. Over the years, he searched for and developed his own distinctive artistic voice. The result was a fascinating blend of the German Romantic tradition he had absorbed growing up and the Mediterranean sounds he discovered in his new homeland, partly through collaborations with artists from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Pastorale with Variations, scored for string orchestra and solo clarinet, with our very own Ron Zalka as soloist, is a product of that search. It brings together different musical worlds, colors, and styles, reflecting, in many ways, the emergence of Israeli art music in the mid-20th century.

Ernest Bloch | Schelomo

Ernest Bloch paints a very different kind of portrait. His Schelomo is a musical depiction of one of the most epic biblical figures in Jewish tradition, given voice through the dark, warm tones of the cello.

Despite its biblical inspiration, Bloch did not approach the work as an ethnographer quoting “authentic” sources. He once wrote that this music sprang from “a voice within me, deep, insistent, ardent… a voice which seemed to come from far beyond myself, far beyond my parents.”

Solomon is not portrayed from the outside. He already exists within Bloch himself, as part of an ancient emotional inheritance that the composer listened to and gave new expression. The cello carries this entire emotional range, from the king’s grandeur and nobility to his vulnerable, deeply human, and poetic side.

Richard Strauss | Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life)

Richard Strauss, too, puts himself at the center of his music. His Ein Heldenleben is an unabashed musical self-portrait. Across six musical sections, he depicts his life as a hero: his adversaries, including a tongue-in-cheek portrayal of the music critics who had torn him to shreds in the newspapers; his wife Pauline, represented by the famous, flirtatious, and mercurial violin solo; his battles; his reconciliation with the world; and finally, his retreat from public life into the comfort of his family.

Strauss intended Ein Heldenleben to be performed alongside his satirical Don Quixote. Perhaps this was his way of telling audiences not to take him quite so seriously.