Cellist Maya Belsitzman and pianist Tal Haim Samnon were recently appointed musical directors of the Tel Aviv Museum Music Series, replacing Ilan Rechtman, who held the position for 15 years.
“We are excited to be appointed musical directors of TAMA’s music series,” Belsitzman and Samnon said in a statement after their nomination in which they thanked Rechtman for his “great love and dedication” to the series. They said they considered their new role to be “a great mission” for “all classical music lovers.”
For the 2023–2024 season, they chose “the best artists from Israel and overseas, who will perform outstanding works.”
While they plan to “maintain the tradition of well-known and moving works of all times,” they also offer an innovation: artists who will play their favorite works and recount their personal tale through music.” This, they said, “can carry us to unique, fascinating worlds.”
The new season includes familiar classical works as well as lesser-known works waiting to be discovered by Israeli audiences. Other arts, such as dance, cinema, and visual arts will be part of the concert programs, including the Chamber Music Series, the Piano Series, and the Orchestras Series – each telling their own stories in a special “explained” concert series with Israel Prize recipient Prof. Arie Vardi and others.
The Chamber Series will open with a concert
The Chamber Series will open with a concert by childhood friends Roi Shiloah, Guy Ben Zioni, Ariel Tushinsky, and Miri Yampolsky.
Among the many exciting concerts in the new season is the chamber project program called Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. Another is a reconstruction of the first-ever concert that took place at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
There will be a concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Israeli Chamber Orchestra, as well as one marking the 20th anniversary of the Jazz Orchestra.
Pianist and composer Matan Porat will pay a double tribute to Bach and to his daughter, Zoe Porat. Cellist Hillel Zori will unite his cello students with soprano Keren Hadar in a tribute to Israeli musical canons Alexander Argov, Haim Hefer, Lea Goldberg, Yossi Banai, and Matti Caspi.
Esme, a Korean all-female string quartet, will offer an East-West program; also from Korea, Yeol Eum Son will present a recital of Chopin’s works.
The Katz family will present an evening dedicated to wind instruments with clarinet player Moran Katz, her cellist sister Linor Katz, her partner, oboe player Dudu Carmel, and pianist Amy Yang. They will play works by the early 19th-century composing duo, Robert and Clara Schuman.
Friends of the Katzes, Sergey Ostrovsky, Yevgeny Birkman, and Felix Nemirovsky will play a concert full of yearning for Mother Russia.
Piano trio Ethos will interpret works by child prodigies such as Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Korngold – including a work composed by Korngold at the age of nine. The Israeli Andalusian Orchestra-Ashdod will present their concert “Shorashim” (Roots), and the Ben-Haim trio together with opera singer Tali Ketzef are slated to perform an evening of romantic gypsy music from Eastern Europe.
Yael Kareth will bring together musical friends and genres.
Dorel Golan and the Miramis string quartet will play a Rachmaninov concerto, and the Silver Garburg piano duo and string ensemble will play a piano-duo concerto by Bach and more.
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Recanati Auditorium, Paulson Family Foundation Building. Ticket for a single concert, NIS 160. Season ticket, NIS 1,140. For more information: (03) 6077070