In Monday’s (9/9) Haaretz (Tel Aviv, Israel; registration required), Noam Ben Zeev interviews conductor Yoav Talmi, recently named music director of the Israel Chamber Orchestra, his third time in that post at the orchestra. Ben Zeev describes the orchestra as “beleaguered” in recent years, with low pay for musicians and criticism in Israel of its 2011 concerts at the Richard Wagner Festival in the German city of Bayreuth. Talmi speaks about his ideas to rejuvenate the Tel Aviv-based orchestra: “I want to bring back our fans this season, and that’s difficult. There is now much more competition in chamber music than there was in 1984. There are excellent ensembles out there, such as the Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble and the Israel Camerata.… We are planning an Amadeus festival, in which 10 pianists will play all of Mozart’s piano concertos.… I will try and bring as many Israeli players and compositions as I can, as well as conducting chamber operas…. One surprise for the coming season is that I signed a deal with the Naxos record label. I also have an agreement with Samsung Berlin for setting up a digital concert hall, based on the model of Sony and the Berlin Philharmonic.”
Posted September 12, 2013
