Talking to Gideon Meir - harpsichordist and organist

On February 19th 2011, I met harpsichordist and organist Gideon Meir in a café in the bustling city of Tel Aviv. Born in Tel Aviv in 1962, Gidi continues to reside there.

PH: Gidi, do you come from a musical family?

Gideon Meir: Most definitely. My late mother was one of the most musical people I have known. She studied music as a child but did not continue with it as an adult. My father is a ‘cellist, having performed and taught for many years. He studied with some of the 20th century’s greatest ‘cellists – Antonio Janigro, Pablo Casals and Diran Alexanian. Through him I feel a certain link to the “older school” and I see myself as a member of the “old school” (for better and for worse.) My father is my greatest critic. In fact, I have had the privilege of both my mother and father not just being “proud parents” of an artist: if they liked my playing they said so and if they did not, I would receive detailed criticism. That is something I really appreciate.

There was always music at home – a lot of chamber music played by my father and his colleagues – and a lot of discussion about music between them. My father was also director of the Tel Aviv Conservatory for ten years. So I interacted not only with my own piano teacher but knew many of the other local music teachers and gained a lot from that, some of them also attending my recitals. My grandmother was also a devoted music-lover. She loved music more than anything else and went to as many concerts as her busy schedule permitted, often taking her grandchildren with her. Many children receive a concert-going education from their grandparents, but if your grandmother is Golda Meir (world leader and the first woman prime minister of Israel) you are in for a special kind of experience. As a child, I met many great musicians with her, both hearing them as performing artists and at her home. When she lived next door to us, she frequently came in to hear my father’s chamber music groups or to enjoy my playing. And she bought me my first harpsichord. Golda Meir was a tremendous public speaker, speaking freely from the heart, never reading her speeches off the page. When I asked her how she did it, she said “I take time and quietly think about what I want to say. Then I look at those sitting there and get a feel of my audience.” I do the same with my musical preparation. I often think of her when addressing my audiences freely and personally.

PH: What are your earliest musical experiences?

GM: My mother used to say that as a small child I would stand at the piano, hardly tall enough to see above the keyboard, plunk notes and announce that I would now “play something in the manner of Debussy” or “in the manner of Scarlatti”. She said my playing was true to those styles but I don’t remember it.

The earliest recordings I remember hearing were Handel’s “Water Music” (to which I would dance) and my acute love of the Wanda Landowska’s playing of Scarlatti and Bach stems from hearing recordings of hers from the age of three or four. So I already loved harpsichord music – music that did not exist anywhere near us; it was a faraway dream.

I remember, at age three, how the French pianist Gisele Kuhn, a colleague of my father’s staying in our house, sat me on her knee and taught me to play “Au clair de la lune”. And I have memories of my father playing the Bach solo ‘cello suites; I love these pieces.

PH: At what age did your music studies begin?

GM: At age four I had expressed the desire to play the harp, but what Tel Aviv family would consider giving a four-year-old harp lessons? I started learning to play the piano at the age of eight, which was a little late for me. I had wanted to start earlier, but we were in the USA for three years and I began to take lessons on our return. On television I had seen children playing the violin by the Suzuki method and was attracted to it, but my father disliked the harshness of tone and poor intonation of their playing and refused to have me taught like that. I wanted to dance ballet and was also not granted that. My father decided it would be best for me to start with the keyboard.

For ten years I studied piano with Malka Mevorach, a very great person and educator. I really loved her, and we maintained a warm friendship till her death five years ago. She believed in music education as an end in itself and that everybody had the right to music education. She enjoyed teaching everyone, not just the best and most talented. I spent many hours around her, not only in my own lessons. She never forced me to play pieces I did not like, nor did she make me play scales (which I loathed) or technical exercises, other than working on the technical aspects of pieces being studied. And she never ridiculed her pupils; if I wanted to make the piano sound like a harpsichord or like Landowska’s Pleyel harpsichord, she never saw it as funny. I was in the habit of ornamenting Mozart’s slow movements (I had learned from reading Landowska’s book) to the amusement of some of the teachers of the Conservatory, who regarded it as useless. She also helped me choose repertoire that interested me. When I played 16th century pieces that demanded ornaments with which she was not familiar, we would together look them up in the table of ornaments. She was not a teacher who simply dictated to her students how to play. At age 12, I brought a copy of Bach’s Goldberg Variations to a lesson, requesting to learn to play them. Malka did not say they were beyond me, but just that they take a long time to learn. We started with the bass line theme, analyzing it, then learning the ornaments and, eventually, I was able to play some of the movements.

From Malka I learned a lot about methodology: that each student is different, needing a separate approach, that you have to love all your students, that if teaching someone is hard-going you can always find a way and that you can always find something in each person you teach or touch through your music. She taught us that if you love your music you love your audience and that music should be simple and immediate in its communication with the listener, never sounding beyond the listener’s understanding or capability and that music is a message from heart to heart and should be direct, simple and free of mannerisms; that performance is not about you but about what you communicate. In fact, she said that performance was all about the listener.

PH: Where did you take further studies?

GM: In 1980, between finishing school and doing my compulsory army service, I went to London and studied harpsichord with Maggie Cole, a wonderful player and a no less wonderful person. I was fortunate in being able to practice on the collection of incredible antique instruments at Fenton House. (I always play on antique instruments wherever and whenever possible.) There was an early music concert in London almost every day - at the Wigmore Hall and other venues - and they featured top artists in the emerging early music scene in London. It was there in London that I first heard the viola da gamba played, the young Emma Kirkby and Sigiswald Kuijken; this was very different to the music I had heard in concerts growing up in Tel Aviv. Years later, on returning to London, I visited Fenton House and I was granted permission to play Handel’s own harpsichord for an hour. That was a great joy and I hope to return to play a concert there on it. I am very fond of the instrument and of Handel’s music.

In 1984, a friend informed me that the American harpsichordist Laurette Goldberg was coming to Israel from San Francisco to conduct master classes at the Jerusalem Music Centre and suggested I play for her. I prepared a Bach suite and Couperin “ordre” (suite) on my own and played them to her. She was enthusiastic about my playing and, after a couple of weeks, suggested I come to study with her in the USA. A year later, I became her assistant: that meant assisting her with the Baroque program, doing secretarial work, running after people for rehearsals, also teaching harpsichord to pianists and playing examples in her classes. All of this provided me with valuable experience. I worked with some incredibly gifted students. Laurette Goldberg was an interesting person. Not an old-school conventional, she would address concert audiences and she taught me to explain about music to audiences, to sing them a theme or a ballad on which a work might be based. Laurette also dabbled in musical productions – mostly concert series in the Bay Area – and I learned much from those (sometimes the hard way.) The Bay Area was a rich haven of Baroque- and early music. Laurette was the musical director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and I attended most of its rehearsals and all of its concerts (sometimes as an usher.) I would go to Laurette’s recitals, sometimes turning pages for her. In 1987, I returned to Israel.

PH: Would you like to mention other harpsichordists who have influenced you?

GM: Yes. In San Francisco, I became friendly with harpsichordist Katherine Silver. She was a “fiery” player, who, like me, preferred the exciting personal approach to playing to “dry, historical performance practice.” She always suggested I meet Lisa Crawford and hear her playing. Some years later, in 1992, I went to the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin, Ohio, to attend the summer program there, but especially to meet Lisa. I first heard Lisa Crawford’s playing when she performed a Bach sonata for violin and harpsichord: the harpsichord was so alive, so perky…like fireworks, like sparks flying! I needed to learn how she produced those sounds. So I took some private lessons with her. She was the first tutor I had studied with to use technical explanations in reference to sound: her approach was that you look for the sound you want to hear and you find a way of producing it, rather than just accepting the way the harpsichord sounds. She spoke of the rich possibilities of the instrument. After two weeks of chamber music coaching and lessons with her, I told her I must come and study with her! She was planning on taking a sabbatical and said we would have to be quick about it. “Wait here a moment” she said and went off to talk to the dean. She came back and asked if I could return in two months to study for an Artist’s Diploma. Some people complete it in one year. Lisa let me to do it over two years, which was a great privilege. I received the Dean’s Talent Award of the Oberlin College Conservatory. Oberlin was a very rich experience. And I thought it would be heaven to be in a small town, with nothing more to do than practice and play.

But things did not start too smoothly in Oberlin: during the first month I was there, I was in a car accident, broke my neck and could not play for a while. Starting to play again, I chose Handel, but could only play a few notes at a time. That year, Israeli composer Yeheskel Braun had presented me with a wonderful gift – his “Four Pieces for Keyboard” that he had written for me and I had promised him I would premiere the pieces. (After my performance of them, Yeheskel Braun dedicated the pieces to me. I love them and make a point of playing them in concert every couple of years.) But here I was recovering from my injuries! The Artist’s Diploma program required four recitals in two years. (As a result of those demands, I am now able to perform five different recitals per year.) As an Artist’s Diploma student, all I had to do was play: I took harpsichord lessons and attended a studio class which required students to perform and criticize the playing of other students. Students usually played once a month; I played every week. One very useful workshop was the “continuo clinic”. I was also available to play with whatever players or ensembles needed a harpsichord player and this offered me the opportunity to get plenty of experience. I also took secondary organ lessons with Mr. David Boe. He is a marvelous organist. There, I fell in love with the organ.

For years, I had wanted to return to playing the organ and now study with Arin Maisky, organist of the Immanuel Church in Jaffa. I remember hearing Arin’s late father Valery Maisky playing the organ there.

PH: Let’s go back in time to the beginning of your harpsichord performing career.

GM: Yes. My first harpsichord recital was in the San Francisco Bay area in the fall of 1985. My Israeli debut was at the Immanuel Church in Jaffa, with my teacher, friend, by then, also my colleague, Malka Mevorach present.

PH: Why the harpsichord?

GM: I love much of the piano repertoire – in particular, music of Mozart, Haydn, Schumann, Brahms, Debussy and Ravel, but was never in love with the piano timbre. I am fascinated by that wiry, twangy harpsichord sound, of which I never tire, the subtleties that can be achieved with imagination and the endless search for physical ways of drawing different sounds from its plucked strings. It means tapping into my own personal vocabulary of imagery: associations like water, oil, sand, parchment, silver, gold, bronze, leather, paper, silk, warmth, cold, etc. The repertoire of the harpsichord has always been my out-and out favorite – Bach, Scarlatti, Rameau, Couperin, and more.

PH: Would you like to give an outline of harpsichord concerts you have performed over the last 25 years?

GM: Yes. I must have played over 60 programs over the last 25 years, mostly solo recitals, some focusing on a single composer, others on a theme. I have performed several single composer programs of works of J.S.Bach, D. Scarlatti and Handel. Some of the themes I have used in concerts are: “Music from Paris”, “Music of 1733 – Bach, Handel, Scarlatti and more”, “Intimate Music from the Rooms of Louis XIV”, “Friends – Scarlatti and Handel”, “German Music of the 17th Century”, “Kuhnau’s Biblical Sonatas”, “Homage to Landowska”, “Homage to Malka Mevorach” (my piano teacher. This included Mozart and Haydn sonatas played on the harpsichord) and “Homage to Katherine Silver”. (After learning of Katherine’s death, I remembered all the pieces we had played to each other and I had the need to play them and remember her through them.) I have performed three different programs of Elizabethan virginal music (in which I sang ballads set by Bull and Farnaby and recited Shakespeare texts). Then there were programs of duets for two harpsichords, multiple harpsichord concerti, Bach viola da gamba sonatas, Bach flute sonatas, Bach and Handel oboe sonatas, Scarlatti and Flamenco, French music on the subject of birds, and more.


PH: You create programs with a difference, not the run-of-the-mill recital. The last concert of yours I heard included a strong Spanish element.

GM: Yes. I love Spanish music, dance and culture. For years I have been dreaming of putting together Spanish music with Spanish dance. In fact, this idea inspired me to start learning flamenco dance myself and I have become a very devout amateur flamenco dancer. I have had the privilege of working with the best of the flamenco dancers here – with Sonia Garcia and Dana Arnon - in the Felicja Blumenthal Festival and the Guitar Festival. Putting Spanish dance together with music is painstaking work, even to find the right music. Now that I myself dance, having studied and worked with Sonia Garcia and cooperated with Dana Arnon, I know what works and what does not – what music wants to be wed with dance and what already has all it needs within it.

PH: What do you mean by that?

GM: With Domenici Scarlatti’s works, I believe some of his simpler pieces were intended as dance pieces and some, even, as sight-singing exercises. His patron, Princess Maria Barbara, who became queen of Spain, was considered a great singer and dancer in her circle. It is difficult to imagine that Scarlatti, who was so close to her as music master and in friendship, did not provide her with top class pieces to which to dance. The more elaborate sonatas have so much sound-painting of dance and movement within them that they are too dense for choreography, or in Sonia Gracia’s words, “no necesitan adornos” (in no need of further embellishment). Pieces that are suited to dance gain an extra dimension through choreography.

PH: Playing with dancers must be different to playing solo.

GM: Indeed. It becomes chamber music: you have the percussion element of the footwork (zapateado) and, sometimes, castanets, creating rich rhythmic counterpoint. The physical movement, itself, changes, becoming very rich. What I find very special about working with dancers in the Spanish programs is that we begin by practising in my living room with the harpsichord, an intimate experience of playing and dancing, but when we bring it to the concert hall, we seem to maintain the same kind of intimate feeling of this meeting of art forms; I hope audiences get a sense of that. Working with a dancer makes me play the pieces differently. When you play for dancers, you have to be incredibly accurate with rhythm and tempo to give the dancers the stability to allow them to be expressive, to give them the confidence to do the utmost with their bodies. You need to sense to where the movement is taking you. There is a building up of tension in flamenco dance and one can not let this intensity drop! In addition, the player needs to know and understand dance gestures and the style of dance, in effect, to be a part of the choreography. Actually, I hope some day to do my own choreography of some of the pieces. When playing the same pieces alone on the harpsichord, I use much more rubato and flexibility of tempo in order to convey the shapes inherent in dance. It is certainly interesting to do both.

PH: Do you teach harpsichord?

GM: Yes. Some of my students have done well, winning scholarships and taking studies at music academies in Israel and abroad. I am proud of them and we remain friends for life.

PH: Would you like to talk about Baroque music in Israel nowadays?

GM: I am very pleased to see its development; there are many people in the field and the quality of performance is improving. I find it frustrating that there is not yet enough variety of different instruments being played and I am sorry there are not enough opportunities to teach it.

As to its performance, playing period instruments, reading from early editions or the use of historical performance practice is certainly not enough. Some aspects of the “old school” need to be present - as in Bach or Frescobaldi’s time - where interpretation is a deep study, encompassing not only musical- and technical preparation, but also an understanding of social history, literature, appreciation of the fine arts, a love of nature and, above all, an interest in human nature and all things human. A one-rehearsal concert can never give musicians the chance to express this and themselves and will “rob” the audience of what it deserves.

PH: Do you think local audiences are developing a taste for Baroque music?

GM: I think so. In fact, I think local audiences have always liked Baroque music, but they are now beginning to understand more: they hear many performers and are now deciding what they like and what they do not like. A problem in Israel is the business aspect, making it difficult to put together a program with more than two or three performers. As a keyboardist, I particularly like large ensemble playing. I, however, do not feel comfortable inviting people to play a concert and sharing losses! And if you are not a non-profit organization, you are not eligible to receive financial support. Also, the media tends to write more about larger ensembles than about the solo artist. I always transport my own harpsichord to recitals, because I care about the quality of sound and playing.

PH: Are you giving organ recitals?

GM: My debut as a concert organ recitalist was with four works which opened the protest concert in the Redeemer Church, Jerusalem, on February 16th 2011. Hopefully next year I will be doing some chamber music that will include organ solos. To play a whole solo organ recital means including larger works. That will take some time yet.

PH: What are your future plans?

GM: To become an organ recitalist. Also, I have been studying flamenco dancing for the last three years and have all intentions of continuing it for many years to come. Having only studied some Baroque- and Renaissance dance (with Carol Teten), I would like to study it in depth, read dance notation and to be able to draw my own conclusions as to how to dance it. And there is so much more instrumental repertoire to learn and perform.

PH: And your personal “credo”?

GM: When I work with colleagues, I like to experiment. I think of everything in art as experimental. For example, I was happy with how I played the heavy, virile Sarabande of the Buxtehude Variations in the organ recital at the Redeemer Church. However, on my way home and on the following day I started to think about playing it entirely differently – perhaps gently, with a softer registration. What I say to colleagues or students is that, when warming up in a different hall, do not try to reproduce the tempo at which you have rehearsed – acoustics change and with them, tempi. I can not help but agree with my father and his colleagues that the same piece will be played differently each time you play it.

I teach my students to listen to themselves. Listening to one sonority influences how you place the next, creating music that grows from one moment to the next. The written text is not an end in itself. In fact, once playing it, you do not know how it is going to end. I like learning from actors, painters and dancers. I worked on a performance with the actress Shula Adar – it was a one-woman show based on the writings of poet, author and playwright Leah Goldberg; I played pieces between her monologues. Shula said that knowing one’s lines and the plot still does not mean you know that, in character, how the plot will develop. And so it is with music – an interesting interval or a contrapuntal moment will take you somewhere new.

So, practising is never boring. My father taught me that one should practice very, very slowly but with all the music’s expression. A performer should never become cynical. The tempo should suit the instrument: some harpsichord pieces should be played very fast in order to get that jangly harpsichord effect, especially French repertoire, and we often hear this music played too slowly. On the other hand, too much harpsichord music is played too fast, not allowing for the appropriate sound to develop. Rhythm should be “forged in steel” before you can allow it to fluctuate. Each phrase has a high point and a weight of gravity. So this must be manipulated. I try to avoid regular metric accents: they are too obvious and obstruct the flow of the music. The right accent at the right time makes a phrase bloom; too many accents can kill a phrase.

We can not play if we do not allow ourselves to be moved by the music we play – I sometimes shed a tear, myself. You must hear and only then play. Sound travels fast but silence must be created. (Landowska said you need to observe rests plus add a breath.)

A concert is a festive affair. The artist should dress accordingly. I have memories of my father taking trouble to be well dressed before going on stage. And the performer must always be aware of the fact that the audience is hearing the concert for the first time. Lisa Crawford said that a concert was only a moment in time and (to quiet our nerves) that “a concert is only a concert”. For me, the next concert is always the most important one!

PH: When it is not music, how do you like to spend your time?

GM: Apart from dancing and reading, I paint in oils and work with stained glass. I love animals and can spend hours with my cat. I love travelling and meeting up with friends. I even go to concerts here and there!

PH: Gidi, many thanks for your time and for sharing so much of your experience, wisdom and insight.

British tenor Nicholas Mulroy back in Israel to sing Bach

On February 3rd 2011, I interviewed British tenor Nicholas Mulroy. Nicholas performs a wide repertoire, from early music, Baroque oratorio and opera to recitals and contemporary works. Nicholas Mulroy will be in Israel to solo with the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra in J.S.Bach’s B Minor Mass under the baton of the orchestra’s honorary conductor Andrew Parrott on March 13th at the Enav Centre (Tel Aviv) and March 14th at the Henry Crown Auditorium of the Jerusalem Theatre. Nicholas Mulroy will be in Eilat at the end of March, to perform Bach’s St John Passion. Today he lives in London with wife Annie, an opera singer, and their 10-month-old daughter, Catherine.

PH: Nicholas, what are your earliest musical experiences?

Nicholas Mulroy: I was born in Liverpool. My grandfather was a very keen amateur violinist. Perhaps more importantly, he was a teacher who believed that music was for everyone, and I remember him as a keen listener of just about anything. I started singing as a chorister at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral at around age eight, and sang there for five or six years. Several other choristers from my time there are now professional musicians; choirmaster Phillip Duffy had great enthusiasm for music and instilled in us the joy of singing.

I also played the oboe in the local youth orchestra and was a keen pianist in a school jazz quartet and a Doors tribute band. (The Doors was an American rock band of the ‘60s.) I also played more standard repertoire. I performed much at school, where music was enthusiastically promoted.

PH: Where did you go from there?

NM: I went on to Clare College, Cambridge, where I read Modern Languages. It was there that I got involved in singing again, mostly with the choir, with which we toured to all sorts of places, but also doing consort singing and some solo recitals.

I went on to take a Lay Clerkship at St. George’s, Windsor.

I then took four years of postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music, London. At Clare College and the Royal Academy of Music I studied singing with David Lowe and later with Philip Doghan, both of whom have given me enormous help and support.

PH: Would you like to talk about ensemble versus solo singing?

NM: Yes. I joined I Fagiolini (directed by Robert Hollingworth) around the same time I was beginning studies at the Royal Academy of Music and sang, whilst there, with other British consorts like The Tallis Scholars and The Cardinall’s Musick; I focused on solo singing (of all kinds, really) at the RAM, whilst keeping the consort side of things going in the “outside world”. I have always enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) both kinds of music-making. I find singing vocal chamber music in those kinds of groups very fulfilling and it provides opportunities to sing Renaissance- and early Baroque repertoire – like Byrd, Victoria and madrigals of Monteverdi – which I have always loved.

I was in Israel with I Fagiolini in the 2005 Israel Festival, singing a concert comprising of Monteverdi’s 4th Book of Madrigals. It was called “The Full Monteverdi”. The program was pretty gruelling, both in terms of scheduling and vocal demands. Taking it to many countries, we performed the program some 80 times, never getting tired of just how rewarding the marriage of text and music is in those pieces.

PH: You perform much Baroque music.

NM: Yes. Baroque music is, I suppose, what takes up the majority of my schedule. I never really planned it that way, and feel it is good to be conversant in as many styles as can fit one’s voice, personality and temperament. I have sung a lot of Bach, particularly the Evangelist roles, and also Handel. I love how these two giants of Baroque music are so different – Bach’s eyes always seem to be raised heavenwards, while Handel’s music is, I suppose, much more terrestrial; Handel is capable of extraordinary insight into humanity.

PH: You will be singing the tenor solo in Bach’s B minor Mass in Jerusalem. How does that feel?

NM: It is, indeed, special to perform a piece like this in Jerusalem, where I found, last time, that the immediacy of the geography of the Christian story is so striking. It is also a supreme manifesto of faith by Bach and so it is interesting to perform it in a place which is so central to many strands of faith. But I’m also inclined to think that the important thing is to give the optimal performance and that the audiences find in it the most fulfillment, however they choose to do so. This, I think, is important in music generally and especially in performing Bach where, I believe, the performer must always be mindful of being a vessel for the music and the truth (and whatever else there is) within it, rather than imposing too much of one’s self or one’s musical ego on it.

PH: What about opera and modern music?

NM: I do some opera. Have just finished a run of Monteverdi’s “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” for Glyndebourne. And yes, modern music is important, of course. In fact, when I get back from Jerusalem, I go straight to Scotland to premiere four new works with a terrific group there called “Mr. McFall’s Chamber”. I have performed new works of many composers and feel that there is a particularly rich pool of British contemporary composers.

PH: Do you feel performances get enough rehearsal time nowadays?

NM: Certainly in the UK the answer is that we’re generally under-rehearsed, from my experience. Most musicians in the Baroque field, for whatever reason, tend to have the capacity to work very quickly. (Many also work in churches where one rehearses maybe 20 minutes before an hour-long service.) This gets taken advantage of to an extent, there often lacking the spirit of investigation or getting under the skin of the music; it becomes an exercise in getting through it in time. While this can produce exciting results, I think the most rewarding and memorable musical experiences I have had have been when we have had time to develop an understanding of the music, the text and our musical colleagues. This is true especially in music as richly textured and meaningful as that of Bach and I am looking forward to spending some quality time with it in Jerusalem.

PH: Nicholas, when it is not music, how do you like to spend your time?

NM: My spare time has become mere limited than it was since the birth of our daughter Catherine; however, I enjoy reading (I have a special weakness for William Boyd and Gabriel Garcia Marquez) and films and I am a keen sports fan. – Liverpool is my football team.

PH: Nicholas, many thanks. We are very much looking forward to your performances in Israel soon.

Talking to opera singer Enas Massalha

On December 29th 2010, I had the pleasure of talking to operatic soprano Enas Massalha. Born in Deboriah, Israel, Enas is a graduate of the vocal department of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.

PH: Enas, do you come from a musical family?

Enas Massalha: We have always had a tradition of singing at home – my immediate family as well as aunts, uncles and grandparents all like to sing. Singing was an important part of life, as was discussion about music. To cite just one incident, my maternal grandfather suffered a stroke and heart attack and his condition caused him to have a major loss of memory. To calm him, we would sing songs he had known and loved; he would remember the lyrics and sing with us. This was our way of communicating with him and the way he engaged with us. He would be enthusiastic to sing more with us and would request songs. This is always a constant reminder to me of how important music is in life.

PH: When and where did your musical training begin?

EM: When I was five years old, my mother wanted me to learn the piano. I loved music but was not keen to play piano. What I had always wanted to play was the harp, but there was no harp teacher in our vicinity. I had always loved singing and sang classical Arabic music at school and for school events, also performing as a singer of traditional music. A friend told me about a conservatory in Emek Yizre’el (Jezreel Valley) close to where we lived. At age 17 or 18, I enrolled to take voice lessons there, although I had no idea about European classical singing. I figured that by taking lessons I would improve my singing of Arabic music. Nancy Nagan was my first teacher. However, when I started lessons, I discovered a whole new world of singing – the technique, the sounds - a totally new method of voice production.

PH: Were did you go from there?

EM: I had a lot of thoughts and questions running round my mind but had not considered taking up music as a profession. However, when I was studying at the conservatory, the principal suggested I audition for the Academy of Music. Not confident I would be accepted, I decided to discuss the matter with my father. He said he did not know what the life of an opera singer would hold, but if that was what I wanted, we should give it a go! Together he and I went to Jerusalem, I auditioned and was more than surprised to be accepted.

PH: So you had chosen to be an opera singer.

EM: I always feel that the life of a classical opera singer had “chosen me” and now my life was to shape itself around this new opportunity. My teachers at the Jerusalem Academy were Gila Yaron, Miriam Meltzer and Marina Levit. The Academy was a warm and supportive school, connecting me to the life of professional singing; it gave me so much confidence and opened doors for me; in short, it was much more than just a place to study.

PH: You came to the Academy with a very different background to that of other students.

EM: Yes, indeed. I was one of very few Arab girls studying there and I was away from my own culture. I was often asked why I was studying opera and whether my own music was not good enough. Today, they are proud of the first Arab opera singer trained there. I do feel I am an ambassador of my people.

PH: What followed your graduation?

EM: I took part in the Aviv Competitions. I did not win, but the manager of the Israeli Opera was present when I sang there and invited me to join the Opera Studio of the Israeli Opera. After passing the audition I was given a two-year contract to sing at the Opera Studio. They were to be a very interesting two years for me. However, life becomes more difficult when you take a leap up from being a student to a singer dealing with all the responsibilities of being on stage, from having “potential” to getting work, to finding one’s own niche and understanding what one wants. The classical repertoire is so broad and complex; I needed to know “who I was”, where my voice wanted to go and what I was looking for. The Opera Workshop was my first important professional experience and it provided me with many professional tools.

PH: Enas, you talk about “finding your own voice”.

EM: I am constantly looking for what this voice wants to say and asking myself where I am going. No longer the same person, I am now a collage of cultures – international, more sophisticated, more aware of the world. I was raised to be open to music and cultures, as a girl I spoke languages (today I speak five) and I was prepared to be part of a new experience. But being exposed to all these different cultural experiences does change one.

PH: You had left the Opera Workshop. What next?

EM: It was 2006. Once again, I was looking for direction. I now had a voice teacher in Berlin – Mrs. Abbie Formansky. She mentioned a program for young artists at the Berlin Staatsoper (State Opera) and suggested I give it a try. This situation found me at a crossroads in life and I needed to make a decision. Should I return home to the way of life expected of me – marriage and children – or continue with my singing career? I felt the need to further my career and called the Staatsoper Berlin to request an audition with its musical director, Daniel Barenboim. Barenboim, they said, was not there: he was in Ramallah. I decided to go to Ramallah. A few days later, I was at the conservatory in Ramallah. I was working in a rehearsal room with Barenboim’s assistant when Barenboim entered. He listened to my singing and then asked me three questions: what were my plans for August, what were my plans for tomorrow and would I accompany him to the Salzburg Festival. (At the Salzburg Festival, Barenboim was organizing a concert featuring some of the world’s greatest singers – Dorothea Roschmann, Waltraud Meier and Thomas Hansen. I also sang there; in fact, I sang two Mendelssohn songs, with Barenboim, himself, accompanying me at the piano.) I swallowed my tongue! The next day I was to sing for Barenboim and Zubin Mehta during a break at a rehearsal for the concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. All the musicians had left the stage; it was just Barenboim, Mehta, myself and television crews from all over the world! This was my audition and I felt it was a matter of “life or death”, but I managed to control my nerves. Following that, Barenboim organized a scholarship of two months of lessons for me with people working at the Staatsoper. I was then a member of the Staatsoper Studio from 2007 to 2009.

PH: Would you like to tell something of your time at the Berlin Staatsoper?

EM: I was one of the first to make a debut there as Papagena. A bigger role was in the world premiere of Prokofiev’s “The Gambler”. A few months after the premiere, we spent a month performing “The Gambler” seven times at La Scala in Milan.

PH: What are you doing now?

EM: I live in Berlin and freelance in projects that interest me. And the search for direction goes on. It is ironic that all a singer’s work and life revolves around the voice: you listen to it constantly and ask yourself what you want of it. The present and future mean reinventing oneself, searching and thinking. On one hand, I am a woman with the desire for a family and a “normal life”; on the other hand, I want more. The journey of ideas is to take the singer where he/she wants to go, but one does not know where it will lead. And it’s a tricky journey, demanding courage. The performer is a “nomad”, traveling where his/her voice or instrument will travel.

PH: One final question: what do you enjoy doing in your free time?

EM: I love to cook and am very keen on attending movies and theatre.

PH: Enas, many thanks for your time and sharing your thoughts and the many sides of your singing career. I wish you continued joy and success.

Talking to violinist Boris Begelman

Boris Begelman is one of today’s most promising Baroque violinists. As a soloist or ensemble member, he participates in ensembles all over Europe, has recorded on Russian- and Italian television and for radio stations in the Netherlands, the Vatican, in Finland and Norway. Boris also does much performing in Israel. I had the pleasure of talking to him on December 30th, 2010.

PH: Boris, where were you born? Do you come from a musical family?

BB; I was born in 1983 in an outer suburb of Moscow. My parents are not musicians. My mother played the violin as a child but my father has never played an instrument, nor has he sung or composed. My mom’s violin career did not last long, but apparently she wanted someone in the family to play the violin. My maternal grandfather was a self-taught violinist. He had a day job but loved to play the violin in his spare time. He died two years before I was born. His name was Boris, I was called after him, and my mother wanted me to make her father’s dream come true.

PH: When did you begin your music studies?

BB: I started with violin lessons when I was almost seven, perhaps a little earlier…I don’t really remember. I was sent to a simple music school; there are thousands of those kinds of schools in Russia. However, a year later, my parents sent me to the school of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

PH: And more advanced studies?

BB: Continuing at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, I studied with Dmitry Sinkovsky from 2002 to 2007, taking postgraduate studies with Alexei Lubimov. From 2007 to 2010, I completed the groundwork for a third degree. I am currently doing postgraduate studies at the V.Bellini Conservatory in Palermo (Italy) under the supervision of Enrico Onofri (violin) and Ricardo Minasi (chamber music).

PH: When did you begin performing?

BB: I can’t remember exactly when I started playing concerts. Performing is included in the curriculum in the Moscow Conservatory, right from first grade. I was always preparing for some performance – public exams, term concerts for grades, my teacher’s students’ concerts, and so on. My professional concerts began in my first year of undergraduate school.

Today I am one of the concertmasters of Il Complesso Barocco and Ensemble Antonio Il Verso (both in Italy.) I have soloed with orchestras under the baton of Antonini, Onofri and others. I was appointed concertmaster of the Academia Montis Regalis Youth Orchestra (2009) and to be concertmaster of the Baroque Orchestra of the d’Aix-en-Provence Festival (2011). And I play with the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra.

PH: What inspired you to take up Baroque violin?

BB: It was purely by accident. My studies obliged me to play some Baroque violin but I had no intention of taking it up seriously. My diploma from the Moscow Conservatory is in both Baroque- and modern violin. However, I fell in love with early music, especially early 17th century music. At the moment I am playing only Baroque violin although I do not wish to limit myself to this or any other style. That is how it has worked out but I hope to get back to other repertoire some time later on.

PH: Would you like to talk about the violins you have?

BB: Yes. I have a modern violin made by the Ukrainian luthier called Vladimir Solodzhuk. Then I have two Baroque violins. One is an instrument made by the Klotz family of violin makers; it was made at the end of the 18th century. The other, on which I play most of the time now, is a violin I acquired just over a year ago, thanks to my friend Dmitry Sinkovsky. It had not been kept in good condition, but I was aware of its potential. It has undergone a lot of hard work with different luthiers, but I am now really happy with the result. Its origins are somewhat of an enigma. It is probably Italian, possibly an 18th century instrument from northern Italy. It is a very “different” instrument and difficult to categorize. I sometimes play on other instruments. Some time ago I spent three weeks playing on a violin made by Antonio Graniani that I had borrowed from Riccardo Minasi.

PH: How do you see the development of Baroque music in Israel?

BB: I have not been here for long enough to be able to judge but it seems to be on the up, from what I can tell

PH: Are you now a permanent player with the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra?

BB: I am not sure that the definition “permanent player” is applicable to instrumentalists in the 21st century. Nowadays, in the field of early music, everyone plays in many locations and there are no permanent players in any one ensemble. However, I have played in three of the JBO’s programs this season and will play another in March. I would be happy to play in all the JBO’s concerts, but, unfortunately, there are only 365 days in a year! And, of course, I do also play in other groups.

PH: What about solo recitals in Israel?

BB: I played a solo recital in Tel Aviv two weeks ago at the Felicja Blumenthal Music Center. It was titled “Baroque Violin Virtuoso”. David Shemer played continuo. The first half consisted of all Italian music – Castello, Veracini and Montanari (the latter probably never performed previously in Israel); our aim was to show Italian music from different points of view. The second half of the program was dedicated to German and Austrian music – Schmelzer, Handel, Bach.

I have some chamber music concerts coming up in March with David Shemer, Drora Bruck and J.S.Bach’s “Musical Offering” with Myrna Herzog.

PH: And when it is not music, what interests and hobbies do you have?

BB: I have a lot of interests. I am a very keen chess-player and have even played in tournaments. I adore playing billiards, especially Russian billiards; I have been in Russia very little over the last five years and really miss this game; one can not find it anywhere else. And, like most people, I like watching movies, reading, walking and sports. I also love good food! As a musician, I travel a lot, so eating well fits in with my lifestyle. However, as my career gets busier, my other hobbies and interests suffer.

PH: Boris, it has been most enjoyable talking to you. I wish you much joy and continued success in your career.

Meeting with Hed Sella, executive director of the Jerusalem Music Centre

On September 12th I met with Hed Sella, executive director of the Jerusalem Music Centre. The building is situated in the leafy Yemin Moshe quarter in a position offering a view to the Tower of David, the Old City walls and the Judean Desert.

PH: Hed, let’s start with your own personal music experiences. When did your involvement with music begin?

Hed Sella: You may be surprised to hear that I am not a professional musician, have never studied music on an academic level nor have I ever had my eye on a musical career.

PH: What is your academic background?

HS: I graduated with a B.A. in Linguistics from Tel Aviv University. This was followed by M.A. studies at the Hebrew University (Jerusalem) in Communications and Translation. I proceeded to work in that field – translating, editing, teaching, etc. I taught at the Hebrew University and worked there as a research assistant; at the Open University I was the science editor of materials for Mass Media studies. (I may well return to that area of my professional life one day.) But, early on, I was already spending some of my time and energy in directing musical projects

PH: So when did you start managing music projects?

HS: Inspired by my great love of the world of music and my experience as an amateur player, I had begun directing musical projects and organizations. After completing my compulsory army service, I was approached by the person directing the Yuval Café in Ramat Hasharon. This was a venue where much chamber music was played in an intimate and informal setting, with those attending events seated around tables sipping a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. A great number of Israeli artists performed there: some were beginning musical careers and looking for performing experience, others were among Israel’s best-known and most experienced chamber- and orchestral musicians. The artists received no payment – they just enjoyed the atmosphere and the audience’s interest. There were unforgettable evenings at the café when musicians sat down and spontaneously sight-read works. Café Yuval was a vibrant centre of musical activity, with some 100 concerts taking place there every year! I directed the venue’s musical program for four years, during which time I got to know many of Israel’s performing musicians.

PH: To where did this lead?

HS: In time, the organizational projects I took on were larger and more time-consuming and my professional life was focused around them. I organized musical activities at the Tel Aviv Museum, an important venue for chamber music- and chamber orchestra concerts. After that, I spent two years directing the Givatayim Music Conservatory. This conservatory, with a history of excellent teaching, has produced some of Israel’s finest musicians. From 1993 to 2000 I was director of programs at the JMC. Then, at the end of 2005, I was offered the job of directing the Jerusalem Music Centre itself.

PH: How did you see taking on the running of the JMC?

HS: I saw my role as furthering and continuing existing projects as well as broadening and developing new ones. The JMC has achieved much and is an important institution contributing to the enrichment of Israel’s musical life. I have been concentrating much effort on the Outstanding Young Musicians Program; a highly successful project that has been going for some 30 years, geared mostly to 14- to 18-year-olds, a program placing emphasis on the playing of chamber music and the theory of performance, it has nurtured tens and hundreds of young players from all over Israel. Many of our graduates have gone on to make fine concert careers – take, for example, the Jerusalem Quartet, the Ariel Quartet, the Jerusalem Trio, to name just three ensembles. I have been working on developing this program and we are fortunate in having recently received generous support for it from the Goldman family (UK).

PH: And the JMC’s educational outreach programs?

HS: We do much of that. We work in schools. We finance a program teaching violin and ‘cello to 500 2nd-, 3rd- and 4th grade children in different parts of Israel. We are, however, witnessing how difficult it is to persuade a child to try learning an instrument and then to persevere with it. With popular taste currently not pointing in that direction, it is our job to think of how we can encourage children to learn to play music and make this program work smoothly. I want to stress that we do not work alone: we always have a number of partners in educational projects – orchestras, conservatories, the academies of music, schools. We try to work with other institutions so that the end result is more meaningful. In this way, we wish to educate the younger generation and provide the necessary opportunities for outstanding pupils.

PH: Would you like to talk about new projects at the JMC?

HS: Yes. We have “adopted” the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Actually, this was quite a natural move as many of its players – string players in particular - are young people who have received their chamber music training here at the JMC. Several sponsors have helped to make this new strategy a reality – the Marc Rich Foundation, Bruno Landesberg, the Hanan Szuz Foundation, other organizations and, of course, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra itself. The IPO is interested in offering these young players the opportunity to enjoy playing orchestral music, not just solo- or chamber music. The Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra meets two or three times a year for intensive rehearsal sessions under the baton of top visiting- or Israeli conductors. They work on a full-scale orchestral program for a week or two and perform it at the Mann Auditorium (Tel Aviv) and in the Henry Crown Symphony Hall (Jerusalem Theatre), or sometimes at the Jerusalem YMCA. (Nowadays there are several European orchestras and ensembles who work in this way.)

In connection with this, I have established a department of wind playing at the JMC. There had always been sporadic activities for wind players here: some of the best-known wind players have held master classes at the centre – flautists Jean-Pierre Rampal and Aurele Nicolet, clarinetist Mitchell Lurie, and more. However, I enlisted the help of Yossi Arnheim, principal flautist of the IPO and previous head of the wind department at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (Tel Aviv), to join us and to head the JMC’s department of wind playing on an on-going basis. We had never addressed wind-playing in a methodical way till then. Isaac Stern, who founded the JMC in 1973, was a violinist. His focus was on chamber music – strings and piano. The truth is that wind instruments play fewer roles in chamber music. However, with our new project with the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, nurturing young wind players had taken on greater importance. I am really happy and proud of this project. When we established the wind department at the JMC five years ago, the standard of the young wind players was much inferior to that of the string players and pianists, but, year by year, we have been noticing a huge improvement in the wind players’ tone, their intonation and their ability to play with others. The department has set its sight at excellence and we and the YIPO are enjoying the results. Also, it is important to encourage young people to play instruments of which there are not enough players – bassoon and French horn, in particular. We are offering teenagers who choose to learn these instruments, and show promise, as much professional guidance as possible in the form of workshops, master classers and opportunities to play with others. This is a real “grass roots” effort, concentrated on young people from all over Israel, the results of which we are already hearing in the concerts of the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. There is no greater satisfaction than hearing them, for example, performing Schubert’s 9th Symphony at the Mann Auditorium. There were people who, on hearing the concert broadcast on the radio, said they would not have guessed they were listening to a youth orchestra! This is the greatest compliment.

Another new project of ours is in the field of Arabic music, offering musical and cultural dialogue between Arabs and Jews in Israel. Our connection here is with Professor Taisir Elias, a musician and violinist of outstanding quality. We have collaborated with Elias, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and the Israeli Jeunesses Musicales to establish an ensemble of young Jewish- and Arabic musicians. Despite our not having large funds for the project, the ensemble is doing well and Elias brings together players from all over Israel to rehearse twice a month. The group performs in concerts and in festivals of ethnic music, with the occasional overseas concert tour. Two years ago, the ensemble was awarded a prize at an international festival in Germany.

Another Arab-Jewish program we have begun is at the Max Rayne Hand in Hand Center for Jewish-Arab Education, a bilingual primary school in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Foundation, which supports the school, approached us with a request to create a music program for the children. The program we established there, now running for some years, is quite special: children can learn to play oud or mandolin, these instruments representing both cultures.

PH: What projects are on your drawing board for the future?

HS: Actually, one that ties in with the above two programs I mentioned is a plan to run a week-long Mediterranean music festival that includes not just Israeli music and that of various Arab cultures but also music from countries such as Greece. Begun by Professor Edwin Seroussi, but stalled because of lack of finances, Murray Perahia has suggested we renew the project, taking a few days a year to familiarize ourselves with this body of music that is not “classical” in a conventional sense but that certainly qualifies as art music. Performers of western classical music have much to learn from these other musical traditions – their use of improvisation and technical virtuosity of different styles are a way of opening the students’ ears and developing fantasy. Of course, early musicians were experts in improvisation, as, for example, in continuo playing; Maestro Perahia is of the opinion that exposing today’s young classical musicians to Mediterranean music might awaken the above-mentioned skills, as do good theoretical training and experience in playing jazz. We would also like to have experts run jazz- and improvisation workshops for classical pianists; so many pianists, spending their lives learning works note for note from the score (and I have every respect for the musical text) lack the freedom to improvise, a skill enjoyed spontaneously by early music performers.


PH: And on the subject of early music, what about the Early Music Workshop?

HS: In 2002, after several years of fruitful activity of this workshop, in which the JMC was involved, we were obliged to stop running it. When I took over the role of director of the JMC, we managed to have two more years of the course (2007,2008) hosting many local- and overseas early music specialists and offering tuition in early music performance practice to 150 young players and singers. The tutors also performed concerts that were open to the general public. Once again we have had to put the Early Music Workshop on hold for reasons of finance. Resulting from the world financial downturn, the American Israel Cultural Foundation, one of our supporters, was almost destroyed. Other financial institutions were also no longer able to help the JMC. But I really hope to renew the activities of this very worthwhile study week in the not-too-distant future.

PH: Where does chamber music stand nowadays in today’s JMC activities?

HS: Chamber music has always been and still is the JMC’s “flagship” activity. For many years the chamber musicians met, rehearsed and performed in the intimate surroundings of the JMC. However, this seemed wrong from both financial- and community considerations. The artists were playing to small audiences and not receiving enough exposure. The illustrious Jerusalem Quartet, for example, played a few concerts here every year, filling the auditorium to capacity. I took this infrastructure and decided to build on it to include some 12 chamber music concerts a year taking place in the concert hall of the Jerusalem YMCA, the backbone of which would still be the Jerusalem Quartet. When I talked about this plan this four years ago, I was met with reactions that the idea was a pipe dream, that a well-attended chamber music series (meaning 300 to 400 audience members) was out of the question. I approached the project with trepidation; the series, however, took off immediately, with concert-goers interested in buying subscriptions. We were now able to host well-known chamber ensembles from New York, Paris and London and to offer overseas groups coming to perform in Tel Aviv the opportunity to also play in Jerusalem. So we are now embarking on the fourth chamber concert season, a series offering concerts played by Israel’s finest chamber groups as well as outstanding groups from outside of Israel. Many chamber music lovers are investing in subscriptions (we sold 400 subscriptions to the 2009-2010 series) while others prefer to buy occasional tickets to the concerts. What is clear is that people in Jerusalem are interested in chamber music and our aim at the JMC is to bring this music to these audiences. The 2010-2011 season promises to be especially interesting, with some of the best ensembles performing – the Ebene Quartet (France) for example and the great German tenor Christoph Pregardien singing Schubert’s “Winter’s Journey” with a Canadian wind ensemble and accordion accompanying him, and more.

And, on the subject of chamber music, there is, of course, the Carmel Quartet’s own series here in the auditorium of the JMC (also in Tel Aviv and in Haifa.) There has been much talk of the demand for narrated concerts and how important it is to give concert-goers more information as to what they are going to here, but few do it as well, as elegantly and tastefully as the Carmel Quartet. Violist Yoel Greenberg organizes and provides most of the explanations. Each concert is performed twice, once narrated in Hebrew and a second time, in English. This series is quite special, catering to the needs of music lovers who are always interested to know more and, of course, to Jerusalem’s vibrant English-speaking community.

PH: Hed, contemporary music has also been a part of the JMC’s program.

HS: Yes, and it continues to be important. But it is an ongoing- and uphill struggle. We, at the JMC, have an obligation to present concerts of music composed in the present. When I was involved in program planning at the JMC from 1993 to 2000, I included a good amount of modern music. But today it is difficult to find an audience or financing for this in conservative Jerusalem. (We even find it tricky to program a modern work or one that is not totally mainstream in our highly successful chamber music series!) We continue to perform modern music here in the JMC auditorium but with less success than in past years. However, we do have our Discoveries series – with the Ensemble of the 21st century presenting concerts of a very high level produced by Dan Yuhas and Zmira Lutzky, these events being broadcast on Israeli radio. We endeavor to host the superb Kaprisma Ensemble (director, Israel Sharon) at least once a year as well as the Meitar Ensemble, a group of young players directed by Amit Dolberg. The Meitar Ensemble makes a point of including lesser-known works of Jewish- and Israeli composers in their programs.

We would like the JMC to hold more concerts of contemporary works. It is hard to find sponsors for these projects, these projects being of the kind to appeal to a younger audience than do conventional concerts. However, we certainly are not giving up, for the strength of the JMC has always been its ability to produce events that are not simply “more of the same”. Not being government subsidized or under the auspices of the Jerusalem Municipality, we have always been an independent institution with financial support from overseas, enabling us to be independent in our approach, enabling us to dare to be different. This latter aim has become more difficult to implement. All supporters want to play safe and this means being over-conservative, a strategy which, in my opinion, is a step in the wrong direction. I, personally, believe we must find new ways to win the hearts of the concert-going public: to be more creative and initiate fresher approaches and innovations and to risk performing less conventional works in styles of performance that might attract certain other groups of listeners back to our concerts. We must not stagnate.

We include contemporary music in our work in education; our students are given the opportunity of meeting and talking to today’s Israeli composers


PH: The JMC has long been associated with master classes.

HS: Yes. For many years master classes were the JMC’s “claim to fame”. But this must now be seen in the wider context. The JMC was planned in the 1960’s and it opened its doors in 1973. Israel was a “smaller” and poorer country; for Israelis, traveling overseas was expensive and difficult. Inviting overseas artists to give master classes here was not quite as easy as it is today, but musicians were certainly very keen to come here. Israel was not as open to the world outside as it is today and there was a great need to bring well-known musicians to Israel. But things have changed. Outstanding young musicians travel overseas to summer schools and to more extended studies. And different Israeli musical organizations all over the country offer a variety of workshops and master classes, as do the academies of music themselves. So the need to constantly bring overseas artists to give master classes has become less urgent than it was once, inspiring as it is to host these musicians here. Some of our own teachers have studied and taught in the best music schools overseas and have returned with rich experience and teaching knowledge. All the same, we have not stopped offering master classes at the JMC and they will, indeed, be continuing; they are still a valuable teaching tool but are no longer the central activity they were in the past. Let’s not forget the wonderful master classes given recently by the Emerson Quartet, Andreas Scholl, Miriam Fried, Shmuel Ashkenazy, James Galway, Antony Pay, Richard Goode and Murray Perahia himself, of course. In the 2010-2011 season we will have master classes given by violinist Gyorgy Pauk, ‘cellist Raphael Wallfisch, clarinetist Wolfgang Meyer, choral conductor Brady Allred and pianist Arieh Vardi. We hope pianist Victor Rosenbaum, who has been here several times in the past, will also be at the JMC. Rosenbaum’s visit will be in cooperation with the Aldwell Center. We are hoping to bring one or two of the Rubenstein Piano Competition judges to the JMC to hold master classes.



PH: Hed, this discussion would not be complete without a few words about Murray Perahia.

HS: In 2001, the JMC’s founder and president Isaac Stern died and we were left “orphaned” of our great mentor. The centre began the process of searching for an international figure who would function ethically in a position of authority and lead the JMC on to new achievements, to new standards, to more international exposure, etc. To replace the founder with someone who would move forward in his own different way was no small task. My predecessor Benny Gal-Ed and I both searched and approached people who might take on the job. In 2008 Murray Perahia, one of today’s very greatest pianists, agreed to take on the position. Perahia, who resides in London, has strong connections with Israel, has family here and visits frequently. For many years, Murray Perahia has shown much interest in music education for young people. He assists us in several capacities – in raising money for our various projects, in establishing new musical goals and in deciding how to contribute more to the music education of our young players. In particular, Perahia has infused new energy and focus into our training of young pianists. An outstanding personality and devoted musician, his presence and wisdom are and will continue to be an enriching element in the life and work of the JMC.

PH: Hed Sella, thank you for your time and for shedding light on so many aspects of the Jerusalem Music Centre.

Talking to Jonathan Watts in England about his career as a freelance keyboard player

On August 6th 2010 I spoke to pianist, organist and harpsichord player Jonathan Watts at Dartington Hall,

Devon, UK.

PH: Jonathan, when did your interest in music begin?

Jonathan Watts: I remember, at age two, sitting on my aunt’s knee when she played the piano. I grew up in South Wales where everyone sings or plays an instrument. My family, all amateur musicians, would stand around the piano singing works such as Mendelssohn’s “Elijah”. In fact, my 89-year-old mother still plays the organ and sings in her local choral society. Yet, despite my musical upbringing, I am not blasé about music.

I started piano lessons at age five and was already showing interest in learning the organ. When I was about 12 or 13, tall enough for my feet to reach the pedals, I began taking organ lessons at the local church. So my life then revolved around school, chapel, organ lessons and piano lessons. Music was the natural thing to be doing.

PH: On completing school where did you study?

JW: I went to Cardiff University to study Music. I had a wonderful time there as I played piano, organ and harpsichord. There I took part in performances of early Handel works, repertoire that was new to me, but it was not performed in the authentic approach. I also enjoyed singing in a large choir. I completed a masters degree at Cardiff University – my master’s submission was an edition of organ concertos by William Felton, an 18th century English composer - and was organist at the local church, but was still not sure whether or not I would be making music my profession.

PH: What did you decide to do on graduating from Cardiff University?

JW: I left Wales and moved to Devon, where I started to teach school music. I was interested in giving young people guidance and a love of music. I found teaching music in a state school stimulating; however, the lack of resources, accommodation, the lack of post 16 courses and the indifference I encountered in some pupils caused me to make a change in direction.

PH: Did you leave the music profession?

JW: Yes and no. I went to work for a medical company and became its sales and marketing manager, travelling the world for 12 years. But music was still an important part of my life as a performer and it was the increasing conflict of time between one and the other that caused me to take the decision to return to music full time.

PH: So what work actually brought you back to full time music?

JW: I was approached by Dartington Hall International Summer School in 2005: they needed an accompanist to fill in for someone. I started immediately, accompanying singers in countertenor Nicholas Clapton’s master classes. I live locally and this offer came just at the right time. It was time to make a decision, to give up on one job. So I gave up on the salaried position and went back to music full time.

PH: Would you like to mention what that entails?

JW: I freelance, work without an agent and am free to take on any jobs that interest me. I like challenges. If the music has something to say it is worth doing. Projects come to me via word-of-mouth. As an accompanist I have the advantage of being at home on organ, piano and harpsichord. I work as the third conductor of the Dartington Community Choir. I enjoy a large choir – this choir has 150 singers. I play in churches at Dartmouth and Dittisham, accompany choirs and play for weddings, funerals, workshops and exams. And I occasionally play for guests on a cruise ship.

I give organ recitals and enjoy addressing the listeners and talking about works on the program. The audience needs to have some background information in the form of history, a story, anecdotes. This makes people listen with heightened interest. I am used to talking to an audience; I did a lot of that in my days with the medical company.

The Dartington Hall International Summer School is a challenge and presents much variety. It is a fine opportunity to get away from the rat-race and reassess. And it is here I have had so much joy with the opportunity to work with some of the world's best musicians, giving me the confidence that what I do is of equal validity.

PH: Do you improvise?

JW: Yes I do. It is part and parcel of being an organist. The better the instrument I am playing, the more adventurous my improvising becomes! I enjoy doing that.

PH: Do you sing?

JW: Yes. Well, obviously I sing to my choir members to help them in learning their parts, but I also sing in a specialist group called “Voces”, based in Devon.

PH: Do you write music?

JW: No, I don't. I have done a bit of arranging and may occasionally write a fanfare for organ. I do not have the compulsion to compose. I would much rather perform.

PH: What composers are you interested in playing at the moment?

JW: Composers from the Baroque period, particularly J.S.Bach. But I have certainly enjoyed hearing and playing new repertoire at the Dartington Hall International Summer School.

PH: What are your interests outside music?

JW: I am busy rebuilding a small organ in my house. I love gardening and cooking. Am very keen on going into the countryside to find things – mostly things to eat. And I am still excited about travel and being in new places.

On July 30th 2014, I met with Jonathan Watts again at Dartingon Hall, where he was involved in much accompanying and performing at the annual Dartington Hall International Summer School.

PH: So Jonathan, what has been happening in your professional life since our previous meeting?

JW: Having established myself with the summer school and with the Dartington Community Choir, a choir numbering some 170 voices and doing three concerts a year, I was approached to take over a period instrument orchestra called "Devon Baroque". The orchestra was set up about 14 years ago when Margaret Faultless was invited to give workshops on how to approach string-playing from the Baroque period. The orchestra existed as a band and, three years ago, when Maggie's commitments in London and Cambridge became too great, a new director was needed and I took on the job, directing from the keyboard. One advantage was that I was familiar with the ensemble, having used players from Devon Baroque for my choir concerts. So for the last two years I have been artistic director of Devon Baroque. We put on weekend concerts, where the players come together.

PH: From where do the players come?

JW: Half are from Devon and the other half - mostly string players and brass players - come from London usually. We make up our ensemble according to the program we are putting on (and budgeting), from four players to, maybe, twenty.

PH: When do you meet?

JW: We tend to do it over a weekend, with a concert on the Saturday night and a repeat performance in a different venue on the Sunday afternoon. We often perform at Dartington Hall. Our last concert was "Bach & Sons", because of various anniversaries. It was good to have the contrasts between the composers and to hear what the younger Bachs had learned from their father.

PH: And I believe there is another new project.

JW: Yes. Eighteen months ago, I was approached to become the musical director of Devon Opera, which is one of the many county-based semi-professional opera companies in Britain. We are now in our second year.

PH: What kind of performances does Devon Opera put on?

JW: At the moment we are not performing a full-blown operas. Plenty of other people are doing that so we have decided for the moment to be more of an educative company, in which we put on scenes from operas. Last year we did something called "Viva Verdi"; we looked at Verdi's relationships with women. Women played a big part in his life, mainly in a tragic way. We did five big scenes from three or four of his operas.

PH: What is the program for this year?

JW: We are calling our production "The Magic of Mozart". The first half will present the historical transition of Mozart's relationship with opera, from his earliest forays into opera to his last. In the second half of the program, we will do two big scenes - one from "Figaro" and one from "Don Giovanni". The production will be in October and we will go into rehearsal a week or so beforehand.

PH: This is certainly a very different kind of program for an opera company.

JW: Yes. What we are trying to do with audiences is not to give them a complete opera but an insight into how a composer has related to opera in his career.

PH: Who are the members of Devon Opera?

JW: They are professional singers living either locally or a bit further away, members of regional- rather than London-based opera companies. We are very lucky to have some very good singers to draw on.

PH: So you do just do the one production each year?

JW: Not exactly. We also get asked to do, for example, an opera evening at a hotel or we do a gala performance for fund-raising to make the opera work. Opera is very expensive to run and, particularly in this part of the world, sponsorship is not very forthcoming. So Devon Opera is in a new, good growth period.

PH: Does the company have any support?

JW: Yes. We have got corporal support from an investment company, which is good, and I guess that as soon as they see that what we are doing is good, as well as their getting new clients through the publicity, we are hoping they might become even bigger investors in the future. In which case, maybe we can put on a full-blown opera with orchestra and with professional chorus as well.

PH: Does Devon Opera have a chorus?

JW: Not at the moment. We have deliberately decided not to mix professional- and amateur voices because there is quite a clash when you do that. When the chorus will come into it, perhaps what we would like to do is to go to some of the London colleges where they have an opera studio and invite young singers to come down here to become a chorus - perhaps only eight of them - to make a really good sound and they would blend with the soloists really well.

PH: Jonathan, you really have many new projects!

JW: It feels right at this stage of my life, in my mid-fifties. When you are younger you experiment. Now you know where your heart is. My heart lies in choral music, in period instruments, in style and also in operatic voices. These things make me tick, which is essential. You certainly can not teach and inspire amateurs or professionals if you do not believe it yourself.

PH: Jonathan,it has been most interesting talking to you once again. Many thanks.

Talking to Marina Minkin about the 2010 Renaissance Festival (September 26th to 28th) at the Yehiam Fortress

On September 4th 2010 I spoke to Dr. Marina Minkin about the Renaissance Festival to be held September 26th, 27th and 28th at the Yehiam Fortress in the Western Galilee. In its 18th season this year, Marina Minkin took over as the festival’s musical director in 2009. Sponsored by the Matei Asher Regional Council and the Jewish National Fund, the event offers interest and entertainment for all ages and is a festive attraction for families. The theme for this year’s festival is “Mediterranean Culture”, focusing on that of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Turkey as well as on Jewish tradition. As in former years, music performed will not be only from the Renaissance period but will also that of the Middle Ages, the early Baroque and even contemporary music that has been influenced by Renaissance styles or modern arrangements of Renaissance works. There is an entrance fee of 30 shekels per person; this covers entry to all events (excepting the opening night’s concert September 26th) with daily performances taking place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Last year’s festival attracted seven and a half thousand visitors.

PH: Marina, you are known to Israeli music-lovers as a performer, early music specialist researcher and educator. In this festival you are bringing much music but are also reaching out to other arts.

Marina Minkin: Yes. A Renaissance event will always bring together several art forms and will include arts and crafts, too. The Renaissance Festival at Yehiam traditionally features a wide variety of activities. There are creative workshops, craft stalls and workshops for children where they can try their hand at making Renaissance clothes, puppets and flutes. This years activities will also include glass-blowing.

And there will be musical instruments on display. Yaron Naor will bring an exhibition of early instruments and Ami Schneider from Rosh Pina will sell recorders and provide explanations about the instrument.

PH: I understand there will be much activity in the open.

MM: Yes, as in any Renaissance fair. There will be street theatre events all around the grounds. They will not be full productions; however, actors and actresses from the Balbalou Theatre will present Italian Renaissance characters and act small scenes. Another group of young actors will present scenes from Shakespeare plays. My aim is to familiarize the many children attending with this theatrical tradition. Actors will provide explanations about theatre in Renaissance times. The “wandering actors” will be accompanied by young musicians who will team up with them in various places.

We have also invited two actors from the Beersheba School of Theatre to give a display of fencing. Their dress will be in Renaissance style.

PH: Would you like to talk about the venue and events taking place in the fortress itself?

MM: Yes. The fortress actually has three wonderful halls: the Knights’ Hall, the Tower Hall and the Crusaders’ Hall. The opening event – “Celtic Fire” - will take place on the fortress balcony September 26th at 20:30 and will feature the Irish Dance Group, a local company that blends Irish music with Mediterranean “flavors”. Yair Werdyger will be their soloist. Joining them will be belly dancer Abigail Klein.

PH: Would you like to mention some of the vocal events?

MM: Yes. Most of this year’s performances are vocal. They begin on the morning of September 27th with the Thalamus Quartet; this will be a performance of madrigals especially for children. It will also include some Hebrew songs arranged in the style of the madrigal. In fact, the festival will offer several performances that are suitable for children and, indeed, the whole family. The organizers aim to keep these young visitors as interested and involved as the adults attending.

Visitors can hear the Bat Kol Girls’ Choir (Tel Aviv) conducted by Anat Morahg and the Shani Choir from the Jezreel Valley. The Shani Choir, conducted by Pnina Inbar, is a multi-cultural choir whose members are Jewish, Christian and Moslem girls from towns and villages in the central Galilee.

Among the Israeli singers appearing are Einat Aronstein, Jill Rogoff, Michal Okon and Bracha Kol. Bracha Kol will be joined by guitarist Oded Shoub to perform a program of Spanish music spanning from Renaissance to modern music.

The PHOENIX Ensemble (Myrna Herzog, director) is no newcomer to the Renaissance Festival. We will hear PHOENIX instrumentalists and singer Michal Okon in “This Night I Dance” - a rich and fascinating program of music from the streets and palaces of Baroque Latin America.

PH: What about instrumental works?

MM: Visitors will have a variety of instrumental ensembles from which to choose. “Fancy for Two”, for example, will feature Natalie Rotenberg and Alex Rosenblatt on two harpsichords. Boris Begelman (Baroque violin), Tal Arbel (viola da gamba) and Yizhar Karshon (harpsichord) will present “Portraying Marin Marais”. Listeners are invited to join an interesting journey “Following Dona Gracia”, outlined by Doret Florentin (recorders), Gil Evron (guitar) and Riki Peled (viola da gamba). Riki Peled has written the script and will be the narrator. Flautist Moshe Epstein will present Baroque music for flute solo.

PH: The festival always includes ensembles of young players and vocalists.

MM: Yes. Drora Bruck, the previous director, began this tradition and I am interested in continuing it. Young instrumentalists, mostly recorder players, from several music conservatories will perform on the “open stage”.

We will also host two interesting student groups who are already making their mark on the local scene. One is “Notnim Baroque” (Presenting Baroque”) in the program “Viva Italia”. This enterprising ensemble (recorder players Tali Rubinstein and Inbar Solomon and harpsichord player Gilad Katznelson) makes its own arrangement of madrigals and improvises on them!

Another is a group that calls itself “In Camera XV”, a wonderful group of eight students who are passionate about Baroque music. They meet in the Baroque studio (Room 15) of the Buchmann Mehta School of Music (Tel Aviv), hence their name.. They play harpsichord, strings and recorders; Einat Aronstein is their singer. In Camera XV will present “From the Italian Ball to Cleopatra’s Tears”, a program including music of Rossi, Marini, Marain Marais and Handel.

PH: I believe you will be hosting artists from overseas.

MM: Yes. A new guest at the festival, on her first visit to Israel, will be French mezzo-soprano Mariam Sarkissian. She will perform a program of French- and Italian music.

Another visitor is Pablo Lerner, originally from Argentina, now living in Budapest. He will be playing the hurdy gurdy and will hold workshops on how to play it. How many hurdy gurdy players do we hear in Israel?

We will also welcome other artists who divide their time between Israel and Europe: viol-player Tal Arbel, flautist Moshe Epstein and violinist Boris Begelman.

PH: What event will close the 2011 Renaissance Festival?

MM: We will sign off with a most festive performance in the Knights’ Hall – “The Princess, the King and the White Clown”. It will be in the style of the Commedia dell’Arte and is a joint production of actors from the Tiberias Theatre, the Coincidence Puppet Theatre, various musicians and, also, young members of the Lauda Ensemble (Jezreel Valley Arts Centre). The Lauda Ensemble is a Jewish-Arab group; we will hear them playing the oud, qanun and darbuka.

PH: You certainly have a fine line-up of attractive events.

MM: I believe so. All are welcome.

http://www.lagalil.com/festival_HE_1.asp