Israel Festival Orchestra

“The Israel Festival Orchestra is young, invigorated, virtuosic, and cheeky. In short, a perfect Israeli ensemble.”
-- Hanoch Ron, Yedioth Ahronoth

Gil Shohat, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor
Widely regarded as one of the leading Israeli musicians of his generation, Gil Shohat was declared by Forbes (along with the three major Israeli newspapers) to be "the most important and influential personality in Israeli classical music."  A prolific composer, he also performs more than 80 concerts a year worldwide as a conductor and pianist.  He is the Classical Music Advisor to the Israel Festival, Jerusalem.

Philippe Entremont, Associate Music Director
One of the most recorded artists of all time, the exceptional career of Philippe Entremont began at the age of 18, with his debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall. He has since developed an international career as a pianist and conductor, with numerous tours and conducting positions with top orchestras including the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Munich Symphony, New Orleans Philharmonic, Denver Symphony, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.  He is the director of the famed American Conservatory of Fountainebleau, a post formerly held by the legendary Nadia Boulanger.

The Israel Festival Orchestra was founded in 2003 by conductor, pianist, and composer Gil Shohat in collaboration with violinist Eckart Lorenzen, concertmaster of the Israel Symphony Orchestra and the Israeli Opera, and the pianist Batia Steinbock-Lorenzen.  Composed entirely of Israeli musicans with strong international reputations, the ensemble includes principal players from the four Israeli national orchestras: the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the Israel Camerata.

In addition to exploring a wide range of the standard repertoire, the Israel Festival Orchestra focuses on the performance of modern Israeli and world music traditions.  Some of the Orchestra’s unique performances have included the children’s opera Max and Moritz (Shohat), perhaps the most successful operatic production in the history of Israel; a staging of The Carnival of the Animals (Saint-Saëns), which successfully inaugurated the prestigious “Sounds of Youth” music festival in Holon; a program of Jewish music, “From Mendelssohn to Prokofiev and Shohat;” marathon evenings of Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms; a French music project; and baroque cantatas in a full orchestral arrangement.  

During its short lifetime, the Orchestra has already appeared on all of the important musical stages in Israel, including a rare orchestral performance on the stage of the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv.  The Orchestra is the resident ensemble of the “Sounds of Youth” festival at the Holon Theater, the Red Sea Festival, and a guest ensemble of the Israel Festival, Jerusalem.

“In addition to his conducting, Shohat is an extraordinarily prolific composer who has written 10 concertos, nine symphonies, three operas and numerous other works. On Tuesday night he was represented by his Symphony of Fire (No. 3). Cast in a long single movement, the rhapsodic symphony is unerringly well crafted and draws an extensive array of colors from modest forces. The composer elicited a refined, atmospheric performance, with the Israeli players attuned to the symphony's surging waves and languid sensuality. Shohat is clearly a gifted and charismatic podium leader, as shown in a richly idiomatic and spirited rendering of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. The performance was surprisingly accomplished and exciting with his sure pacing, transparent textures and alert dynamic detailing. The conductor consistently pointed the dance-like rhythms with bite and drew an especially poised and atmospheric account of the Allegretto."
 -- The Miami Herald