The annual Piano Festival is back, live. After an exclusively televised roll out last year, the 23rd edition of the annual music event, one of the main features of the cultural calendar in Tel Aviv, is due to take place October 27-30 with, as usual, a star-studded variegated spread of acts.
All told, 250 artists feature in the lineup, across 56 shows, taking in project-launches and slots created specifically for the festival. This year’s program spotlights the work of female singer-songwriters, with 24 concerts fronted by Israeli women artists. That covers a broad sweep of styles, genres and cultural baggage, across a wide generational range. There are seasoned veterans the likes of Nurit Galron, Leah Shabat, Keren Ann and Ruhama Raz in there, as well as some big names from the mid-generational lot, including Rona Kenan, Alma Zohar, Ester Rada, Daniela Spector and Efrat Gosh. The younger crowd also get a look in, with Jasmin Moallem, Maria Joubran, Daniel Sun Krief and Daniel Rubin.
Over the years the festival has provided a springboard for all kinds of intriguing pairings, some of which have led to ongoing live and recorded synergies. One that sticks out in the new program is a show with veteran Israeli/French vocalist-guitarist Keren Ann who will return to the Piano Festival after a four-year hiatus, where she will join forces with France-based Israeli jazz pianist Yonathan Avishai.
The biggest name on this year’s roster is undoubtedly rock doyen Shalom Hanoch, who teams up with septuagenarian bassist-vocalist Eli Magen, and keyboardist Moshe Levi, who has enjoyed a musical collaboration with Hanoch since 1983. The concert will showcase Hanoch’s latest release, Herzl Lillenblum, which came out earlier this year, while another old timer, flutist-pianist-vocalist Shem Tov Levi marks the publication of a new songbook and half a century of music making into the bargain. Rada will perform cuts off her latest album, Chessed, and Hechatzer Ha’achorit (The Backyard), led by feted songwriter Yankele Rotblit, will unveil a teaser or two from its upcoming third album.
Other slots to look out for over the four days include an intriguing jazz-oriented meet between veteran US-based guitarist Mordy Ferber with trumpeter-keyboardist Adi Rennert, Eli Magen and guitarist Daniel Dor; the “Piano Speaks Arabic” confluence between pianist Nizar Elkatar – better known around the world for his Western classical music endeavor – and singer Maria Joubran, and the “Keshepiyut Pogesh Pesanter” (When Liturgy Meets Piano) slot in which vocalist Lior Elmaliach teams up with versatile pianist Guy Mintus.
There are a bunch of first-timers on this year’s bill, with Aaron Razael, Avichai Hollander and Ohad Ben Avi all taking a debut Piano Festival bow, and there is a slew of kiddies-tailored shows lined up at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on the last morning of the program.
For tickets and more information: *9080 and zappa-club.co.il