ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

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CONCERT PROGRAM

Amit Poznansky Footnote, Suite for Orchestra

Maurice RavelSuite No. 2 from Daphnis et ChloéI. Lever du jour –II. Pantomime –III. Danse générale

Intermission

Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), Op. 40 David Radzynski, violinist

Saturday, October 28, 2017

8:00pm

Zubin Mehtaconductor

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Peter OundjianMusic Director

After our triumphant visit to Israel in 2017, it is a great pleasure to welcome the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra to Toronto. The legendary Zubin Mehta leads a concert of favourites. The first work is by the Israeli composer Amit Poznansky, his suite for the award-winning movie Footnote. This witty and engaging music perfectly mirrors the film's story of misunderstandings and rivalries. Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé is one of the greatest of all ballet scores, and represents the composer at the height of his orchestral skills. This is a true master at work, creating spectacular colours side-by-side with intimate details. The harmonic language is intense and brilliant, and influenced jazz composers for decades to follow. Richard Strauss was also a master orchestrator, and his tone poem Ein Heldenleben is almost a concerto for orchestra, although in length and sweep it is quite like a symphony. The music is magnificent, an apotheosis of German Romanticism, larger-than-life and tumultuous, with an uplifting grandeur that was so deeply a part of Strauss’s compositional style.

Canadian Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (CFIPO) is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

For more information on our programs, contact clou@cfipo.ca.

CANADIAN FRIENDS OF THE

ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

2017 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following donors

LEAD SPONSORS Adrienne Arsht

Rita and Charles Bronfman Rochelle and David A. Hirsch Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert

Lily Safra Marilyn Ziering

MAJOR BENEFACTORS

Nani & Austin Beutel and Family The Koffler and Boyman Family

The Gerald Schwartz & Heather Reisman Foundation Martin Selig and Catherine Mayer

Ukrainian Jewish Encounter

PATRONS

Robins Appleby LLP The Azrieli Foundation

Baskin Wealth Management Richard and Sara Charney

Wendy and Elliott Eisen Judith Gelber and Peter Rabinowitz

Stanley H. Hartt Warren and Debbie Kimel

Hon. Margaret Norrie McCain Susan and Barry Michaels PearTree Securities Jill and Joel Reitman Robins Appleby LLP Honey and Barry Sherman Lawrence & Judith Tanenbaum Family Fdn Carole and Bernard Zucker

THE DETAILS

Footnote, Suite for Orchestra, comprises several

of the main musical themes from the soundtrack

I composed for Joseph Cedar's film Footnote.

The Suite has a neo-classical character and

is built like a waltz, which undergoes many

transformations throughout it. The music

reflects the main characters in the film and their

contrasting forces: the strictness and seriousness

of Eliezer, the father, against the tenderness and

forgiveness of Uriel, the son. Yet, each one has

a hint of the other. These two forces collide

at times, but they create a beautiful harmonic

musical reflection of the complexity of the

storyline.

The film won the Cannes Film Festival Award for

Best Screenplay (2011) and was nominated for an

Academy Award in the category of Best Foreign

Language Film (2012), and the soundtrack was

chosen as Best Original Score (Feature Film) at

the International Samobor Film Music Festival in

Croatia (2013).

The original soundtrack was recorded by the

Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra under the baton

of Doron Salomon.

Program note by the composer

Amit Poznansky Footnote, Suite for Orchestra

Born: Tel Aviv, Israel, Mar 20, 1974 Composed: Original film score, 2011; suite, 2017

10min

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ABOUT THE COMPOSERAmit Poznansky is

an Israeli composer

of film and television

scores, music

for the theatre,

poems, concert,

chamber, choral,

and jazz music. He

is a prolific arranger and orchestrator in

a variety of music genres, and has been

working in both live and digital settings.

With a classical background as a pianist,

Poznansky began his career as a performer

and arranged music for numerous

productions in the Israeli repertory

theatre, primarily at The Cameri (Tel Aviv's

municipal theatre) and Habima (Israel’s

national theatre). His notable film scores

include Joseph Cedar’s Footnote; the late

Assi Dayan’s Dr. Pomerantz; Shira Geffen’s

Self-Made; Amos Gitai’s feature Rabin, the

Last Day; and Schnitzel. In 2012, Poznansky

scored the second season of the acclaimed

Israeli TV series Hatufim; directed by

Gideon Raff, which was adapted into the

hit American television series Homeland.

His works Waltz for Flute and Piano, Life of

the Dead—A Song Cycle for Female Choir,

and Four Miniatures for Violin and Piano are

published by Edition Svitzer, and have been

performed worldwide.

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THE DETAILS

The ballet Daphnis et Chloé was Ravel’s most

ambitious work for the stage. The composer

himself considered it (along with the ballet

Ma Mère l'Oye) his most important work, and

certainly it is a locus classicus of the Ravel style;

Stravinsky called it “one of the most beautiful

products in all of French music.” The ballet was

commissioned in 1909 by the great Russian

impresario Sergey Diaghilev, who was in Paris for

the début season of his Ballets Russes company.

Ravel laboured hard for three years before

completing Daphnis et Chloé. After many delays,

the première was given in Paris, by Diaghilev's

company, on June 8, 1912. Pierre Monteux

conducted, Michel Fokine did the choreography,

and the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky danced the

role of Daphnis. Ravel extracted two suites from

the score—the first in 1911, before the ballet was

even complete, the second in 1913. The latter is

the more popular and admired of the two, but

these days, both suites are heard more often

than the complete ballet.

The scenario of Daphnis et Chloé, in three

tableaux, was inspired by a famous pastoral

romance by the Greek writer Longus. In the

first two tableaux, the hero and heroine find

their love for each other threatened, first by

rival suitors and then by pirates, who abduct

Chloé. The three selections of Suite No. 2,

played without a break, give us the highlights

of the third and final tableau—picking up after

shepherds, with the help of the god Pan, have

rescued Chloé. In the first selection (“Lever du

jour”), Daphnis is awakened at dawn, and the

lovers are reunited. Ravel's shimmering music

unforgettably depicts a sunrise accompanied

by birdsong and the murmur of springs; a

great melody wells up from the bottom of the

orchestra and, at length, swells to an emotional

climax as the lovers fall into each other's arms.

In the second selection (“Pantomime”), the

lovers dance a mime in honour of the love of

Pan and Syrinx; tender, sensuous string chords

form a backdrop to piquant and flashy solos

in the woodwinds. The final selection ("Danse

générale") depicts the joyous tumult with

which the drama ends. Ravel spent a lot of time

revising and expanding this dance, and the

result was one of his most brilliant and virtuosic

orchestral pieces—rousing, rhythmically furious,

audaciously orchestrated.

Program note by Kevin Bazzana

Maurice RavelSuite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé

Born: Ciboure, France, Mar 7, 1875Died: Paris, France, Dec 28, 1937Composed: Original ballet, 1909–1912; Suite No. 2, 1913

16min

Set design for Act I of Daphnis and Chloe by Léon Bakst, 1912

Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life, or more literally,

A Heroic Life) is an allegorical work: it offers

an honest portrait of its composer as hero,

exploring the struggles within him (self-doubt,

disgust, resignation) as well as his relations with

the rest of the world, including his critics. The

work divides into six parts. In Part 1, “The Hero”,

Strauss offers a vigorous, nuanced portrait of his

Hero, the many sides of his character captured

in a plethora of themes and motifs. A mighty

cadence is prepared, but interrupted by Part 2,

“The Hero’s Adversaries”, which for Strauss,

meant the critics, toward whom he felt great

bitterness despite considerable professional

success. “Rasping” staccato figures set in chattery

counterpoint in the woodwinds portray his critics

as petty, spiteful, insignificant philistines.

In a long cadenza for the concertmaster in

Part 3, “The Hero’s Companion”, Strauss offers

a compelling portrait of his own wife, the

soprano Pauline de Ahna, to whom he was

devoted for more than 50 years. This portrait

completed, the music swells up passionately in

what Strauss called a “love scene”, as he reveals

the depth of his feelings for Pauline. But this

bliss is soon interrupted by Part 4, “The Hero’s

Deeds of War”. From a distance, the critics

are heard again, along with war-like trumpet

fanfares, and with some reluctance the Hero

rouses himself to do battle with his adversaries.

This part, a development of motifs from the

previous three parts, features some of the most

ferociously cacophonous battle music ever

written.

The battle behind him (for now), the Hero returns

to his creative work in Part 5, “The Hero’s Works

of Peace”. This Strauss symbolizes with pointed

references to his own output—he weaves

together more than 30 quotations from his own

previous operas, tone poems, and songs. But

still the critics reappear, rousing the Hero, briefly,

to anger and self-doubt. Finally, in Part 6, “The

Hero’s Flight from the World and the Fulfillment

of his Life”, Strauss, who lived a frantically busy

and very public life in both Munich and Berlin,

crafts a vision of a quiet, creatively fulfilling

retirement. A gently rocking pastoral melody in

the English horn (mimicking a shepherd’s pipe)

tells us that Strauss longed to leave the city for

the countryside. In the closing pages, there is

a touching cantilena for solo violin, and as it

comes to an end, the trumpets recall the famous

opening motto from Also sprach Zarathustra.

Program note by Kevin Bazzana

Richard StraussEin Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), Op. 40

Born: Munich, now Germany, Jun 11, 1864 Died: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Sep 8, 1949Composed: 1897–1898

46min

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A MODEST HEROAs is often the case in Richard Strauss’s

tone poems, the music is much more

psychologically complex than its showy

and grandiose surface at first suggests,

and is principally concerned with exploring

the inner world of personality, emotion,

and psychology. Indeed, Ein Heldenleben,

for all its philosophical ambitions and

militaristic rhetoric, is a cheekily self-aware

work—heroic but also fun, for Strauss never

put on heroic airs in public without planting

his tongue very firmly in his cheek.

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Zubin Mehtaconductor

Born in Bombay, Zubin Mehta grew up in a musical

environment. His father, Mehli Mehta, founded the Bombay

Symphony and was Music Director of the American

Youth Symphony in Los Angeles. His initial field of study

was in medicine, but he abandoned it at the age of 18 to

attend the Vienna Academy of Music. Seven years later, he

conducted both the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics. He rapidly became one of the

world’s most sought-after conductors, holding positions such as Music Director of

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (1961–1967), Music Director of the Los Angeles

Philharmonic Orchestra (1962–1978), Music Director of the New York Philharmonic

Orchestra (1978–1991), and Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera (1998–2006).

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) appointed Mehta Music Advisor in 1969,

Music Director in 1977, and Music Director for Life in 1981. Combining concerts,

recordings, and tours, Zubin Mehta has conducted thousands of performances on

five continents with the IPO. Since 1985, he has also acted as Chief Conductor of the

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Italy, becoming Honorary Conductor for Life in 2006.

Zubin Mehta has received countless awards and distinctions, including the Kennedy

Center Honors; the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony in India; the Presidential

Medal of Distinction from Israeli President Shimon Peres; the Praemium Imperiale

from the Japanese Imperial Family; Honorary Doctorates by the Hebrew University,

Tel Aviv University, and the Weizmann Institute in Israel; a special prize at the

ceremony of the Israel Prize presentation; and a special distinction with a star on

Hollywood Boulevard. He is honorary citizen of both Florence and Tel Aviv and an

honorary member of the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, and the

Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien. 2006 saw the publication in Germany and

Israel of his autobiography, Die Partitur meines Leben: Erinnerungen (The Score of

my Life: Memories).

Zubin Mehta continues to support the discovery and furtherance of musical talents

all over the world. Together with his brother Zarin, he is co-chairman of the Mehli

Mehta Music Foundation in Bombay, where more than 200 children are educated in

western classical music.

THE ARTISTS

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Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) is one of Israel’s

oldest and most influential cultural institutions. Since its

founding in 1936, the IPO has dedicated itself to presenting

the world’s greatest music to audiences in Israel and around

the world. Founded by Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman,

the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra represents the fulfillment

of his dream “to unite the desire of the country for an

orchestra with the desire of the Jewish musicians for a

country.” Huberman spent countless hours persuading first-

chair musicians of eastern European and German orchestras, who had lost their jobs as a

result of Nazism, to immigrate to Palestine. In doing so, Huberman created an “orchestra of

soloists,” which, under the esteemed leadership of Zubin Mehta, continues to absorb new

immigrants and act as a dynamic, global community for musicians from across the world.

Major soloists and conductors have always performed with the Israel Philharmonic

Orchestra. Its inaugural concert was conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The Orchestra has

enjoyed associations with such renowned artists as Emanuel Ax, Daniel Barenboim, Yefim

Bronfman, Yoel Levi, Yo-Yo Ma, Lorin Maazel, Honorary Guest Conductor Kurt Masur, Itzhak

Perlman, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Arthur Rubinstein, Gil Shaham, Isaac Stern, and Pinchas

Zukerman. Their time and talent have enriched the cultural life of Israel and have helped the

Orchestra to maintain its high artistic standards.

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is Israel’s premier cultural ambassador and travels

extensively throughout the world, particularly to countries where there is little or no Israeli

representation. Israel’s creative artists are promoted by many IPO premières of works by

Israeli composers. The goodwill created by these tours, which have included historic visits

to Japan, Argentina, Poland, Hungary, Russia, China, and India, is of enormous value to the

State of Israel. 2017 sees the Orchestra touring in China, the Republic of Georgia, and across

North America, including a first trip to Canada in 26 years.

2016 marked the 80th anniversary of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently, the

Orchestra gives more than 100 performances each year in Israel to their 26,000 subscribers,

where 14 different concert series are presented in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa. The IPO

KeyNote Education and Outreach Program brings classical music to the audience of the future.

David V. Foster, President & CEOLeonard Stein, Senior Vice President, Director, Touring DivisionRobert Berretta, Vice President, Manager, Artists & AttractionsTania Leong, Associate, Touring DivisionSamantha Cortez, Associate, Artists & Attractions

Kay McCavic, Company ManagerCarol Patella, Assistant Company ManagerJohn Gilliland, Assistant Company ManagerDon Irving, Stage Manager

Opus 3 Artists Management for the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra:

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ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

First ViolinsIlya KonovalovlCONCERTMASTER

David RadzynskilCONCERTMASTER

Gjorgi Dimcevski+CONCERTMASTER

Alexander StarkASST. CONCERTMASTER

MARILYN & SIGI Z"L ZIERING

FAMILY ENDOWED CHAIR

Saida Bar-LevNitzan CanettySharon CohenMarina DormanZhanna Gontarenko+Adelina GrodskyGenadi GurevichEleonora LutskySivann MaayaniRobert MozesDumitru PocitariGilad RivkinLazar ShusterYelena TishinDrorit ValkPolina Yehudin

Second ViolinsSemion Gavrikov*Yevgenia Pikovsky*Amnon Valk***Emanuel AronovichHadar CohenAlexander DobrinskyYitzhak Geras+Shmuel GlaserKalman LevinAsaf MaozHagar MaozMarianna PovolotzkyVitaly RemeniukMaria RosenblattElyakum Salzman+

Avital SteineruOlga SternElla Vaulin-Slatkin+

ViolasMiriam Hartman*SUSAN & ELIHU ROSE

ENDOWED CHAIR

Igor Polesitsky*+Roman Spitzer*u

CLAIRE & ALBERT SCHUSSLER

ENDOWED CHAIR

Amir van der Hal***Dmitri Ratush***Lotem Beider Ben

AharonJonathan GertnerVladislav KrasnovKlara NosovitskyMatan NoussimovitchEvgenia OrenGili Radian-SadeAharon Yaron

CellosGal Nyska*THE ANNENBERG

FOUNDATION CHAIR

Emanuele Silvestri*Linor Katz***Yoram Alperin+ Ruth Ziegler Endowed

ChairMarcel Bergman+Dmitri GoldermanSimon HoffmannIakov KashinEnrique MaltzKirill MihanovskyFelix NemirovskyYifat Weltman

Double BassesPeter Marck*Robin Ellsworth Kessekman*+Nir Comforty***Brad AnnisUri ArbelEran Borovich+Nimrod KlingNoam MassarikDavid SegalOmry Weinberger

HarpJulia Rovinsky*Zina Poliakov+

FlutesYossi Arnheim*ROCHELLE & DAVID A.

HIRSCH ENDOWED CHAIR

Guy Eshed*Boaz MeirovitchLior Eitan

OboesMarco Salvatori*+Dudu Carmel*MARILYN & SIGI Z"L ZIERING

FAMILY ENDOWED CHAIR

Merrill Greenberg+Dmitry MalkinTamar Narkiss-Melzer

English HornsMerrill Greenberg+Dmitry Malkin

ClarinetsRon Selka*Yevgeny Yehudin*Shelly DavisJonathan Hadas

Piccolo ClarinetsRon SelkaYevgeny Yehudin

Bass ClarinetJonathan Hadas

BassoonsDaniel Mazaki*Uzi Shalev***Gad LedermanCarol Patterson

ContrabassoonCarol Patterson

HornsJames Madison Cox*Dalit Segal***Michael Slatkin***Yoel AbadiItamar Leshem+Sally Meth Ben MosheMichal MossekGal Raviv+Amit Salomon+

TrumpetsYigal Meltzer*Ram Oren**Erez Hodara+Eran ReemyHANNAH & RANDY POLANSKY

ENDOWED CHAIR

Yuval Shapiro

TrombonesNir Erez*Yehoshua Pasternak***Tal Ben ReiMicha Davis

Bass TromboneMicha Davis

TubaShemuel Hershko*

TimpaniDan Moshayev*Elliot Beck***

PercussionTom Betsalel+Alexander NemirovskyNATALIE & MURRAY S. KATZ

ENDOWED CHAIR

Ayal Rafiah

HarpsichordIris Globerson Hirsh+

PianoIsabel Kastoriano+JUDITH & BURTON RESNICK

ENDOWED CHAIR

Principal LibrarianRachel DaliotAssistant Principal

LibrarianTal RockmanAssistant LibrarianYuval BronerOperational & Stage

ManagerAmit CohenTechnical AssistantDoron Amitay

l Canada Concertmaster Chair* Principal** Assoc. Principal*** Asst. Principalu On leave or sabbatical+ Guest player

Board of Directors: Aharon Fogel (Chm'n), Ephraim Abramson, Anath Levin, Rivka Saker, Michael ZellermayerIPO Management: Yoel Abadi (Chm'n), Lior Eitan, Aharon YaronSecretary General: Avi ShoshaniAudit Committee: Shlomo Handel (Chm'n), Prof. Shmuel Penchas, Gili IzkovichMusicians' Council: Amir van der Hal (Chm'n), Yoel Abadi, Lotem Beider Ben Aharon, Sharon Cohen, Lior Eitan, Asaf Maoz, Boaz Meirovitch, Michal Mossek, Aharon Yaron / Personnel Manager: Michal Bach / Inspector: Enrique Maltz / Assembly Chm'n: Uzi Shalev / Observers: Peter Marck, Daniel MazakiFinance Manager: Alex Ziv / Marketing Manager: Yael Yardeni-Sela / Chief Accountant: Anat Eldar / Treasurer: Racheli MizrachiKeyNote Director: Irit Rub / Mgr. Subscription Dept.: Nira Oryan / Team Mgr.: Bagrat Chen, Leon Franco / IT Mgr.: Shlomi MizrachiAsst. Sec. Gen.: Iris Abramovici Tevet / Tours Coordinator: Ziva Hefetz / Asst. Marketing Mgr.: Liz Fisher / Public Liaison: Rachel LevyAsst. Personnel Manager: Netta Pniny / Payroll Manager: Orly Zabib / Payroll Accountant: Liat Ohayon / Accountant: Mira Rotem / Bookkeeper: Orly GolanProgram Editor: Orly Tal / Asst. Program Editor: Tsilli Rudik / Archives Mgr.: Avivit Hochstadter / Public Relations: Shalom Tel Aviv

Legal Advisors: Jacob Katz & Co. Law Office / Auditors: Kost Forer & Gabbay

Music Director: Zubin MehtaTHE MUSIC DIRECTOR'S POSITION IS ENDOWED BY THE WILLIAM PETSCHEK FAMILY

Laureate Conductor (1947–1990): Leonard BernsteinHonorary Guest Conductor (1992–2015): Kurt MasurPrincipal Guest Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda