Among the orchestras visiting the NFM this season is the symphonic ensemble from a city considered holy to three great religions: the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. The musicians will perform an exceptionally engaging, diverse program, featuring works by Ferenc Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Mieczysław Weinberg, and Krzysztof Penderecki. The artists will focus on concertante works – this evening we will get a chance to listen to three solo performers. 

Krzysztof Penderecki's Double Concerto from 2012 is scored for violin and viola with orchestra. Julian Rachlin, to whom the work is dedicated, will play the violin. Rachlin is the director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and will lead the group for the rest of the evening. Mikhail Mering – Rachlin's deputy – will take over the conducting for this one piece by Polish composer. Sarah McElravy, a Canadian virtuoso also proficient on the violin, will play the viola. During the premiere of the Concerto, the viola part was performed by Julian Rachlin. All these complexities are merely a foretaste of the surprises guaranteed by Penderecki’s intriguing, narrative work.

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra will also present Mieczysław Weinberg's Sinfonietta from 1948. The piece by this Soviet composer arranges Jewish melodies in late Neo-classical style. It was possible at the time, but soon after, anti-Semitism resurfaced in the USSR. Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 is an extraordinary, poetic composition in Romantic fashion. On one hand, it dazzles a charm that brings Chopin to mind, while on the other it strikes with its own unique weaving of orchestral narrative. Young virtuoso Alon Kariv will sit at the resonant piano. The evening will culminate in a masterpiece by Brahms, a composer known as hostile to Liszt's ideals. His Symphony in E minor is sometimes referred to as “elegiac”, perhaps due to its somewhat despairing, mournful first theme. The piece is indeed full of emotional nuances, readily evoked by the human mind when engaged in reflection, for instance, on the evil of this world...