The Children of Israel may have had to traipse through the desert for a bit before they got themselves a pit stop in temporary accommodation we know as Sukkot but, these days, we tend to get stuck into the week-long holiday. The kids are off school, strangely barely into the new school year, and many parents grab a brief furlough from work and join their offspring in some fun and games.
And there is always plenty to choose from, across a wide spread of activities and entertainment up and down the country. Music is generally a good bet, for young and adult alike, and there are an abundance of shows and events all over the place.
Around the world in Holon
Holon, the unofficial national junior capital, is as good a place as any to start with the Holon Theater hosting the annual Tslilei Yaldut (Children’s Sounds) program October 1-3. This year’s agenda features the likes of Dafna Deckel, Danny Robas, Galit Giat, and Maya Belsitzman in productions based on numbers by seminal ’70s Israeli pop-rock band Kaveret, a musical trip around the world and songs penned by Yehonatan Gefen. The Orna Porat Theater for Children offers its take on Peter and the Wolf. There’s also a dance party for all the family with free admission.
For tickets and more information: (03) 502-3001 and tzlilei-yaldut.co.il
International Ladino Festival
There are sounds and activities of a more local ethnocentric variety on offer up north when the International Ladino Festival takes place in Tzefat on October 2-4. The fifth family-oriented rollout takes in the sounds, colors, and sensibilities of Spanish-seasoned Ladino music and culture.
The centerpiece of the program will be a Jerusalem pedestrian street-style thoroughfare with stages, stalls, dancers, actors, and workshops for all ages. The performance roster includes artists from Turkey and Greece, as well as the cream of our own purveyors of Ladino culture.
For tickets and more information: ladinoz.com
RAVID PLOTNIK will be among the artists appearing at the Zlilei Bazelet (Basalt Sounds) Festival at Katzrin Park on the Golan Heights. (credit: Tamar Hanan)
Junior-friendly opera
There is more in the way of family-tailored musical offerings at the Opera House in Tel Aviv, on October 3 (4 p.m.), courtesy of celebrated composer, conductor, and pianist Gil Shohat and his Hakochavim Porsim Kanaf (The Stars Spread a Wing) extravaganza. The show features five pianists – Shohat included – doing their thing, simultaneously, on grand pianos. The repertoire takes in definitively junior-friendly fare from such ever-popular works as Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, The Carnival of Animals by Camille Saint-Saens, Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca, and his The Magic Flute opera.
In addition to Shohat and his fellow keyboardists, the cast includes Tal Mosseri, Haim Osedon (aka Uncle Haim), Hanny Nahmias, and opera singer Ksenia Glonty who will roll out hits from The Sound of Music and The Lion King, high-speed operatic arias, and kiddies’ favorites like Shabbat Baboker (Shabbat Morning), Nachum Ha’arnav (Nachum the Rabbit) and Giveret Pilpelet (Miss Pepper).
For tickets and more information: (03) 692-7777 and israel-opera.co.il
Ushpizin in Jerusalem
Meanwhile, over in the capital, Confederation House swings right into the Sukkot hospitality spirit with the Shirat Ushpizin (Guests Poetry Festival) on October 1-3. The three-day program includes a tribute to late Israel Prize laureate poet Haim Gouri, on the centenary of his birth, and a show devoted to the work of late preeminent pop singer Arik Einstein and poet Haim Chalfi. The agenda also features salutes to Jewish Argentinean poet Alejandra Pizarnik, American-born Israeli poet T. Carmi, Petach-Tikva-born writer Esther Raab known as “the first Sabra poet,” and Jerusalemite poet Miri Ben-Simhon, as well as late 16th-early 17th century liturgical poet and kabbalist Rabbi Israel Najara.
Sufi and Indian poetry also appear in the festival, along with musical slots performed by tar player Piris Elyahu, kamanche player Mark Elyahu, Argentinean-born bandoneon player Leo Roitman, composer-vocalist Israel Bright, and singer-songwriter Omer Lev.
For tickets and more information: *6226 and tickets.bimot.co.il, (02) 539-9360 ext. 5 and confederationhouse.org
Revolution in Tel Aviv
The Revolution Orchestra has built up quite a following over the past close to two decades, since its founding by composer and co-artistic director Zohar Sharon, and its conductor and co-artistic director Roi Oppenheim. Between October 5 and October 7, the ensemble will continue along its merry meandering cross-genre path with the Revolution Festival at the Opera House in Tel Aviv.
The agenda incorporates three of the orchestra’s most popular works to date, with concerts based on the oeuvre of seminal Israeli folk-pop band Hatarnegolim, iconic comic trio Hagashash Hachiver and peerless chansonnier Yossi Banai. The program also features the grande dame of the local entertainment industry, 85-year-old comedienne, actress, and vocalist Rivka Michaeli; actress-comedienne Yael Poliakov – whose late father Israel (Poli) was a member of both Hatarnegolim and Hagashash Hachiver; and film producer Dalia Gutman.
For tickets: israel-opera.co.il/eng/?CategoryID=1294
Genres galore
Back in more rustic climes, the Tzlilei Stav (Fall Sounds) Festival takes place October 1-3, on the grounds of the elegant Notre-Dame Church in Abu Gosh, currently being renovated, under the perennial stewardship of festival founder and internationally acclaimed conductor and percussionist Chen Zimbalista.
The three-day roll out culls works from a wide range of genres and styles, including Western and Arabic classical music, choral works, and jazz. Veteran TV presenter and journalist Yaron London will recite the tale of Prokofiev’s ever-popular Peter and the Wolf, followed by the Paris-Beirut concert with singer Nour Darwish and oud player Ahmed Deraushi presenting charts by Mozart; 87-year-old Lebanese diva Fairuz; and Israel Prize recipient poet, playwright, and songwriter Natan Alterman.
The bulk of the festival’s instrumental support will be provided by young Jewish and Arab musicians, largely under the aegis of the Zimbalista Music Factory nonprofit. Other slots on the Abu Gosh roster feature creations by Israeli composers Moshe Zorman and Amit Weiner, the latter a premiere rendition. There will also be readings of works by Vivaldi, movie soundtracks, and operatic favorites. Solid and liquid refreshments will be on sale.
For tickets and more information: tickets.bimot.co.il/
Octoberfest in the Golan
Rock and pop music abound at the seventh annual Tzlilei Bazelet (Basalt Sounds) Festival at Katzrin Park on the Golan Heights. The artistic lineup includes such top acts as David Broza, Ravid Plotnik, Idan Reichel, and The Revivo Project “covers” team. Local musicians will also get some valuable bandstand time.
Family tours of the local forests are also laid on, as well as a slew of outdoor activities including olive picking, and a beer fete.
For tickets and more information: galil-golan-event.co.il/octoberfest2023/
Vertigo Eco Art Village
Fans of more dynamic, choreographed, entertainment fare might want to pop along to the Vertigo Eco Art Village, at Kibbutz Halamed-Heh between Jerusalem and Bet Shemesh, for the Village Dance Festival October 3-5.
Over the three days, visitors can catch a preview look at Vertigo Dance Company artistic director and co-founder Noa Wertheim’s latest work Manna, as well as Tumal by the Beersheba-based SOL Dance Company, Go Figure VR by Sharon Freedman, creations by Wonderground dancing duo Tom and Rozer, and the premiere of Hamithaveh (TheEmerging) by Danielle Aluma.
Elsewhere across the rural festival agenda, there are dance workshops, theatrical productions for children and parents, and musical slots with singer-songwriter Aviv Bachar and country-folk twosome Tomer Taragan and Sharon Tal-Tamir.
For tickets and more information: vertigo.org.il/village/dance-festival-2023/
What’s in the middle?
As always, there is also plenty in the way of junior- and family-tailored entertainment to be had over Sukkot, with a slew of productions laid on, October 2-5, by the Haifa Theater. The show lineup includes a musical comedy called Mah SheBe’emtza (What’s in the Middle), the musical My Friend Winnie the Pooh, and the Behind the Wonders interactive show for children aged five and over. There is also a theatrical escape room activity for the 10-14 year old age group,
For tickets and more information: ht1.co.il/
The Dada Hill wizard
If you are looking to get in on the creative act yourself and have your offspring fruitfully engaged in the process, the Janco Dada Museum at Ein Hod would not be a bad choice on September 30. Writer Tal Chen reads extracts from his book The Wizard from Dada Hill, and there will be a guided tour and workshop between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Guided tours will also take place throughout Sukkot, daily at 11 a.m.
For more information: (04) 984-2350 and jancodada.co.il/
Kings and culture
There is a plethora of artistic and cultural fare available around Jerusalem with the Kings in Jerusalem Festival, courtesy of the Mikro Theater Company and supported by the Jerusalem Foundation and Jerusalem Municipality.
The diverse multidisciplinary program, based on fabled stories of kings and prophets, takes in the Kings’ Adventures experiential show in the Jerusalem Theater plaza, and a musical theatrical production that imagines a synergy between Yemenite-Israeli diva Shoshana Damari and legendary Mizrachi vocalist Zohar Argov.
The more cerebrally-inclined should enjoy the King at the Bar series of talks which will take place at various drinking holes around town. The Bible Lands Museum hosts the Playing with Fire live-action role-playing game, and Daniel, by late 19th- early 20th-century Polish painter, playwright, and poet Stanisław Wyspianski, gets a debut showing in a psychedelic visual-musical show about royalty and slavery.
For tickets and more information: kings.mikro.co.il/
