Save the music

On a mild evening, in the Henry Crown Auditorium in the Jerusalem was engulfed in melodies of Europe. all Arrayed in finest evening dress - the men in tuxedos, the women are in sleek black gowns - the musicians of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra ventured into the realms of Odin and Thor, of Vikings and Valkyries. The program, entitled Northern Lights and the latest of the JSO's Musical Discoveries Series, focused on works of the little known composers Sibelius, Nielsen and Berwald.

Behind the musicians' unflappable demeanor, as they concentrated on their playing, is the sure knowledge that unless funds are acquired soon to compensate for a 60 percent budget cut, Northern Lights signified a cold end to an orchestra just shy of its 70th birthday and closed.

The choice of obscure composers was deliberate. "These are different pieces," says principal bassoonist Richard Paley. "Only we do things like this." Paley and his colleagues explain that rather than focusing their energies on popular pieces like Beethoven's Fifth, the JSO has considered it its mission to introduce lesser known pieces to the Israeli public and more.

A radio orchestra, the JSO is broadcast over Israel and on about 250 stations in the United States. The JSO is the only orchestra to focus on contemporary pieces by Israeli composers - many of whose work would not be played otherwise at all, let alone gain international exposure via the radio.

"Without us there would be no library of Israeli music," concludes Paley.

Gershon Dembinsky, head of the Musician's Committee and a clarinetist for the JSO, believes that as a state subsidized entity, a radio orchestra has a responsibility to represent artists' creativity than rather popular preferences. "A radio orchestra has a special identity in any country… it's not dependent on the tastes of the public; it should represent the creativity of artists bringing out new pieces… [and] should be more daring, go into contemporary music, be colorful," he says.

The JSO's programming may work to its detriment, admits Paley. "If people aren't familiar with the names, they're afraid to take a chance on something we can give them," he told In Jerusalem.

Paley describes the Scandinavian works of last week's performance as "big, beefy, romantic music" that echo the tradition of popular romantic composers such as Strauss, Mahler and Wagner.

Players in the JSO range from young fledglings to musicians who have been with the orchestra for decades. Many are Russian immigrants, while others hail from places such as Romania, Germany, South Africa, the Czech Republic, the United States and Israel. A handful of the older players wear kippot, interspersed among them are seductively dressed female players.


The Northern Lights concert has been conducted by Timothy Myers, 31, a guest conductor from New York who had only a week to become acquainted with the orchestra and the repertoire.