The Argentine-Israeli conductor Yeruham Scharovsky and the program of “The Voice of Israel Symphony Orchestra”

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestrabased at the Henry Crown Auditorium in Jerusalem, will be presented at the Teatro Colón on Monday 22 August, in the fourth concert of the 70th anniversary season of the Argentine Mozarteum.

With a vast repertoire, the orchestra toured Europe and the United States and appeared on various stages, such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Philharmonie in Cologne and Carnegie Hall in New York. Mstislav Rostropovich,

Isaac Stern, Pierre Boulez, Martha Argerich and Maxim Vengerov have collaborated with the orchestra, among many others.

The Argentine-Israeli director Yeruham Scharovsky, chosen in 1990 by Zubin Mehta as winner of the “Young Artist of the Year” award.spoke by phone before his presentation at the Colón.

-The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra celebrates the 84th anniversary of its foundation this year. How was its origin and how would you describe its idiosyncrasies?

-This orchestra was founded ten years before the creation of the country of Israel, in 1938. Imagine a place in the desert, which is at war, threatened with disappearance from all neighboring countries. And what did they do in that context? They founded a symphony orchestra. It sounds ridiculous, but it is so important. Because it is a testimony of the spirit of a people.

It is a testimony of people who understood that it was important to fight, to fight to survive, to work the land to have something to eat, but also to found an orchestra so that people have their spiritual food.

-A whole philosophy of life.

-Yup. People living in a restricted country – an egg, half a tomato and a slice of bread a day were distributed, the minimum to survive – grabbed food and went to listen to a Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra concert in the afternoon. For me, this says it all.

-And what changed in the orchestra when the State of Israel was founded?

-The first thing that was done was to found a national radio station, broadcasting news from all over the country and classical music. The Orchestra joined the radio because they played live. It has worked like this for many years. Then they built a theater, with isolation, so that the orchestra could record.

The concerts were broadcast live on the radio network called “The Voice of Israel”. And the orchestra was renamed “The Voice of Israel Symphony Orchestra” for many years.

Yeruham Scharovsky’s career

-When did you start directing?

-I started conducting the orchestra in recording when I was a student in 1982. There was a recording policy every week, two days, especially for modern Israeli composers.

– Did the orchestra specialize in any repertoire?

-It is an orchestra that plays everything from Bach to modern music: John Cage, György Ligeti, Luciano Berio and Pierre Boulez. In addition, he also plays contemporary repertoire.

The repertoire at the Colón

-In the program you will present in Buenos Aires, do you include a work by a contemporary Israeli composer, Paul Ben-Haim, could you comment on his work?

-I am a bit sentimental and I like to play works from that period. Paul Ben-Haim fled Germany at the time of Nazism and went to Israel. He listened to European classical music but also oriental music and combined the two styles. He created a style that was called “Mediterranean”, which means western music with a little oriental flavor; local, as I would say.

The work we are going to do, Fanfare for Israel, It sounds like the music of a movie. It starts with a big hype, as if describing people from all over the world rushing to the country that is calling them. But that’s where the ordeal begins, with the difficulties of reaching a country that has nothing and doesn’t have much to survive on. And the music tells that story, it describes a bit of Israel from the ’48 to ’58.

-The program is completed with Tchaikovsky’s “Fourth Symphony” and Elgar’s “Cello Concerto”, with the young interpreter Danielle Akta. Was there any particular reason that led you to choose those works?

Do you know why I chose the Fourth Symphony by Tchaikovsky?

-I have no idea.

-I lost my seat! (laughs). I wanted to play a romantic and monumental symphony, like the Quarter. She has it all: melody, nostalgia, emotion and even virtuosity. The orchestra musicians are very virtuous.

The highlight of the program is the Concert by Elgar. Danielle Akta is 19, I’ve known her since she was little; She was discovered at the age of 12 by Zubin Mehta, then by Daniel Barenboim, and then by the great Russian director Dimitri Spivokove, who took her on tour to the United States at the age of 15.

On that tour they wrote that he was in the top five international artists of that season in the United States.

-The famous Jacqueline du Pré recording is still inevitable when Elgar’s “Concerto” is played, right?

-Yes, the recording you made with Barenboim has been immortalized as the interpretation of the century. When he fell ill and died, many stopped playing the concert. When Barenboim heard Danielle Akta play it, he said it was what reminded him most of that famous performance. She is one of the great artists of the future.

File

4th concert of the 70th anniversary season of the Argentine Mozarteum

Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Director: Yeruham Scharovsky. Cello: Danielle Akta.

Program: Paul Ben-Haim (1897-1984), Fanfare for Israel Edward Elgar (1857-1934) Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Symphony n. 4 in F minor, op. 36

Colon Theater. Monday 22 August at 8pm

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