The 27th edition of the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival will take place this September with seven concerts and a great selection of performances.
Among them, “Five Songs on Poems” by Hungarian poet János Arany, set to music by Jewish-Hungarian composer György Ligeti. Sung by baritone Thomas Eduard Bauer with pianist Anna Keiserman, the lyrics speak about a tragic disappointment with the world following the death of Arany’s daughter in 1865.
“I thought it would fit in Jerusalem,” Bauer told The Jerusalem Post.
“There is tragedy expressed in this music, the pain of living in a system where one is not free,” he said. “It is also music that invites the listener to withdraw into a simple, beautiful life.”
Bauer actually met Ligeti around a generation ago after studying his music for two years. The kindly maestro listened intently to Bauer and his co-singers perform, smiled, and said: “You have a lot to learn.”
Laughing, Bauer shared with the Post that – far from hurting his feelings – he is positive Ligeti is “one of the top 10 composers of the 20th century.” As for the difficulty of singing in Hungarian, Bauer is working on a new production of Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle to be performed next year in Bavaria, making this taste of Hungarian in Jerusalem quite useful for the future.
Part of the concluding concert, the Saturday program includes not only Ligeti but also music by Mozart and Mendelssohn, promising to be a highly satisfying musical night.
Patrons will also be offered two opportunities to enjoy the unique bells on top of the YMCA on that Saturday. Prof. Gaby Shefler is the master behind the keyboard and, on that day, he will perform twice (11:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.). He will also offer more performances during the festival.
“I took over from Mary Ohansian around the time this country celebrated its 25th Independence Day,” Shefler told the Post.
Since 1973, the entire city knew when his daughters, who were attending the YMCA kindergarten, were having their birthday because the beaming father was giving the bells a spin up at the tower to celebrate.
“The bells respond well to melodies,” Shefler said. “When one of them rings, the others vibrate that sound as well. In that sense, the sound of the bell has a complexity to it.”
Some churches maintain musicians
While the YMCA bell system is activated by a keyboard, there are still churches that have a large body of musicians pull each respective bell cord in unison, a much older method.
THANKS TO Benny Goodman, many readers no doubt think of the clarinet as an instrument with Jewish connections. This is true; the Russian policy of conscripting Jewish people to the military led to some of them taking up brass instruments instead of the traditional fiddle, and led to the introduction of the clarinet to Jewish community life.
Mozart also loved the clarinet, which was a novelty during his lifetime. Patrons will be able to enjoy his Clarinet Quintet with Pablo Barragán taking the instrument. Some readers might remember the late Jerusalem-based composer Paul Schoenfield and be interested in listening to how Barragán performed Schoenfield’s music in his 2024 album Balagan before attending this festival.
After listening to recordings of Freylkah, March, and Nigun – all works by Schoenfield – one will be better positioned to feel the genius of this talented clarinet player when he takes on Mozart, Beethoven, and Schoenberg.
He will be accompanied during the performance of Schoenberg’s music by cellist Astrig Siranossian.
Having this festival at all, after its cancellation last year due to the war, is quite wonderful.
When asked about the decision by some artists, like the UK’s Royal Ballet and Opera, to cancel their planned production of Puccini’s Tosca in the Israeli opera, Bauer had this powerful response.
“Music gives so much, why punish people for a political reason?
“We, as artists, have a duty to perform [for] people,” he said.
The festival will take place September 9-13, at the YMCA, 26 King David St. Bauer will perform at the closing concert, September 13. For a full program, visit jcmf.org.il. For tickets, call (02) 625-0444