The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates its Diamond Jubilee, as well as
the 60th birthday of its Music Director Zubin Mehta, with internationally
renowned musicians and 12 sell-out celebrations around Israel.
The internationally renowned musicians who began their careers with the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) loyally returned home for its 60th
anniversary celebrations in December 1996. The artists included Yitzhak
Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zuckerman, Yefim Bronfman, Shlomo Mintz
and the young virtuoso Gil Shaham.
Coincidentally, or perhaps not so because their fates have been so
intertwined, the ]PO celebrated its 60th birthday together with conductor
and Music Director for life, Zubin Mehta, the Indian-born maestro who took
charge of the IPO in 1968, and who also turned 60 last year.
It was Arturo Toscanini, the greatest conductor of his time, who presided
over the orchestra's first performance in 1936. Italian-born Toscanini, who
was not Jewish, despised Nazism and saw the formation of a Jewish orchestra
as an act of defiance against Hitler. Most of the original members of the
orchestra, then called the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra, were assembled
by the Polish Jewish violinist Bronislaw Huberman, and were fortunate enough
to get out of Europe before the Holocaust began.
Re-named the IPO after the establishment of Israel in 1948, the orchestra
has always acted as the country's foremost cultural ambassador, carrying the
joy of music and the message of peace from Israel to music lovers around the
world.
Zubin Mehta recalls that one of his most moving moments was when the IPO
agreed to play in Germany in 1971 and he was able to conduct "Hatikvah,"
Israel's national anthem, in the country that had unintentionally caused the
establishment of the IPO through its persecution of Jews. In the late 1980s,
the IPO visited Auschwitz on a concert tour of Poland, Hungary and the
former Soviet Union. And in 1994 Mehta was able to lead the IPO to China and
his native India, shortly after Israel established diplomatic relations with
the two Asian powers.
The sell-out success of the 12 celebration concerts around Israel
characterizes the local popularity of the IPO, which has the largest
subscription public per capita in the world. In its 60th year the IPO
recruited 6,200 new subscribers, a world record for a symphony orchestra. In
fact, the IPO has always managed to break even without the need for
government subsidies.
With plentiful local talent, the IPO has never needed to offer fabulous
salaries to entice musicians from overseas. About half of the orchestra's
110 musicians are native-born Israelis, 35% were born in the former Soviet
Union and Eastern Europe, and 15% hail from North America. In addition, the
IPO's many worldwide friends, such as the late Leonard Bernstein, conductors
Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel, and violinists Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menuhin,
have been frequent guest players.
The IPO also regularly records for leading companies such as Sony Classical,
Teldec, EMI and Deutsche Grammophon. Recent recordings include the best of
the IPO's concert repertoire such as Brahms' four symphonies, Prokofiev's
Piano Concertos and Mahler's symphonies. Based in Tel Aviv at the Mann
Auditorium, the challenge facing the IPO over the next 60 years is to
maintain and enhance the high standards that have been established. The
Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, supported by scholarship funds, should
ensure that the next generation of musicians is no less talented than the
present.