Guest AuthorLast week I was a guest at the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra’s benefit concert at the Annenberg Auditorium in Beverly Hills. The annual concert and gala had been planned for more than six months, as an uplifting summer happening for music lovers and Israel’s supporters.
California has the largest Jewish community after New York, followed immediately by Florida. Money, culture and fame mixed with strains of Schubert’s Eighth Symphony conducted by the Philharmonic’s Musical Director Zubin Mehta, fused with the fragrance of chef Wolfgang Puck’s cuisine.
Concert planners had never envisaged that war in Israel would be raging while their national orchestra played in the luxury of Beverly Hills. The coincidence, however, seems appropriate since the orchestra was born 78 years ago, in 1936, amid the persecution and bloodshed perpetrated by the Nazis against European Jews.
When Jewish musicians were fired from the Berlin Philharmonic, violinist Bronislaw Huberman declared that tyranny cannot silence music, convincing his musician friends to move to Tel Aviv and establish the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra.
So the band played on, even as the Holocaust raged in Europe. It also played, now as the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, for Israeli soldiers during the 1948 War of Independence.
Another coincidence was that the chairpersons of the Beverly Hills festivities were Israeli-American Hollywood producers, Lynn and Matti Leshem, passionate music lovers and Israel supporters. Matti Leshem reflected: “From where I stand today, it is clear that Israel’s history is an exuberant concert for peace and a vicious ebb and flow of war. But we are confident that in the end music will prevail.”
In 2016, the Israel Philharmonic will mark its 80th anniversary. We in Florida should invite Maestro Zubin Mehta to bring the orchestra to Miami. We have sophisticated performance facilities and generous philanthropists to support a momentous celebration. We also have renowned chefs to prepare a memorable culinary experience.
Now you may ask THE question: Will there be peace in Israel by 2016? If I were a praying woman — I would pray harder. And if I were a betting woman — I would hedge mightily. But since I am a realistic optimist, I’m sure that whatever happens — the band will play on .
Rachel Patron is a former opinion columnist for the Sun-Sentinel. She resides in Boca Raton and is at work on a contemporary American novel. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
