When Star Trek and M*A*S*H* Meet at Israel Philharmonic Gala
What a surprise to see Leonard Nimoy — “Star Trek”’s ever logical Mr. Spock — beamed onto Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully’s Hall’s stage to the strains of John “Williams’ theme for “Schindler’s List” at the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s October 29th benefit. Nimoy set forth the IPO’s remarkable evolution from its 1933 nascence in Palestine — including violinist Bronislaw Huberman’s vision to bring Jewish musicians from Europe to safety — to its present world-class prominence.
Addressing the nearly 500 strong multi-generational audience as “our partners” AFIPO president David Hirsch cheerfully declared: “Our orchestra is getting younger—unique for orchestras. It is our gift to the next generation—a modern day miracle [the IPO] educates 30M Israeli children each year.”
Under the animated baton and bow of violinist/ conductor Julian Rachlin, the IPO’s streamlined string section — including a lute — launched the stellar evening with the orchestra on its feet performing a stirring version of “The Star Spangled Banner” followed by a spine tingling “Hatikvah” with members of the audience joining in singing both anthems.
Another joy was actor, writer, director Alan Alda who prefaced each of the seasonal movements of the evening’s centerpiece work — Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” Op. 8 — with a reading from an appropriate poem selected by Mr. Rachlin: Lord Tennyson’s “Spring” as lead-in for Vivaldi’s “Spring;” William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ prefaced “Summer;” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Autumn Feelings” introduced “Fall,” and Robert Frost’s “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” with its mnemonically resonating final lines : “…and miles to go before I sleep” imaged “Winter.” . The IPO’s audience-pleasing encores included George Gershwin’s “The Man I Love” with a tempo that hinted at a Ginger Rogers/ Fred Astaire cinema dance duet.
At the sumptuous post-concert buffet party, chatted with Vilnius-born conductor Rachlin with whom I exchanged the first two lines of the Lithuanian national anthem. Rachlin laughed…That’s about all the Lithuanian he remembered.
Among the guests at the event — which was underwritten by Emily and Eugene Grant were benefactors Ingeborg and Ira Rennert, Rita and Charles Bronfman, Lauren and John Veronis.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO