Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

The founding of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is inseparable from Nazi persecution of European Jewry. After the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, all professional Jewish musicians there were dismissed. Many Jewish musicians fled Germany, some going to Palestine and joining the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, the predecessor of today's IPO.[5]

Bronislaw Huberman, a celebrated Polish-Jewish violinist, was the architect of the orchestra's creation. After visiting Palestine as a performer, he was impressed by its enthusiastic audiences and musical potential.[6] He conceived a plan to recruit gifted Jewish musicians from across Europe, persuade them to immigrate to Palestine, and establish a world-class symphony orchestra—what he called the "materialization of the Zionist culture in the fatherland."[7] Beginning in 1934, he solicited financial and organizational support in Palestine and abroad, and the ensemble underwent several months of preparation under conductor Hans Wilhelm Steinberg before its public launch.[1][6]

Huberman selected musicians with the assistance of conductors Issay Dobrowen and William Steinberg.[1] The 75 founding players came primarily from Germany, Poland, Holland, Austria, and Hungary, with some from the United States and a few already living in Palestine.[2][1] Yad Vashem describes the orchestra as having been founded to save German-Jewish musicians.[5] Their arrival provided the Jewish community in Palestine with a major cultural stimulus, while large-scale instruction in orchestral instruments helped cultivate previously undeveloped local talent.[1]

A Philharmonic Society had already been founded in Palestine in 1933, with concerts conducted by Mordecai Golinkin, A. D. Jakobsohn, Wolfgang Friedlaender, and Michael Taube; Taube instituted subscription concerts in December 1934.[6] Huberman's ensemble, however, represented a leap to a different level of ambition and execution. Its formation coincided with Jewish emigration from Central Europe, and the establishment of a first-class symphony orchestra attracted additional musicians and conductors to settle in Palestine.[6]

The Palestine Orchestra gave its first concert on December 26, 1936, at the largest hall on the Levant Fair Grounds in Tel Aviv, with Arturo Toscanini on the podium.[2] Toscanini was a prominent opponent of fascism and supporter of human freedom, and Huberman selected him because of that reputation.[8] Thousands greeted Toscanini on his arrival in Tel Aviv, and tickets for the opening concert quickly sold out; the program included works by Weber, Schubert, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn.[8]

Demand far exceeded the hall's capacity of approximately 2,000. At least 4,000 people attended Toscanini's concerts, with audience members sharing tickets so that one person heard the first part of a program and another the second.[8] Toscanini opened the final rehearsal to the public free of charge as a gesture of respect toward workers in the Jewish homeland.[8] The concerts were held in the three main cities of Palestine, immediately establishing the orchestra's international standing.[1]

A 1957 account reports that no Wagner had been played in Eretz Israel since Hitler's rise to power in 1933, but that Toscanini did not entirely exclude Wagner from his programs. It attributes to him the statement, "Nothing should interfere with music."[8] Toscanini returned to Palestine in spring 1938, when nearly 2,000 people crowded into a Haifa concert hall while an approximately equal number were turned away. During that visit, Tel Aviv conferred the freedom of the city on him, and he met figures including Chaim Weizmann.[8]

During its first decade, the orchestra worked to create musical unity among players who had arrived with diverse national styles and spoke different languages. German, Polish, Hungarian, and Russian were the primary languages within the ensemble, while younger members spoke some Hebrew.[2] Guest conductors included Felix Weingartner, Malcolm Sargent, Issai Dobrowen, Eugen Szenkar, Hermann Scherchen, Jascha Horenstein, Bernardino Molinari, Charles Münch, and Leonard Bernstein; conductors resident in Palestine included Michael Taube, Georg Singer, Paul Ben-Haim, and Marc Lavry.[6] Associated Israeli artists included Bracha Zefira, Pnina Salzman, and Thelma Yellin.[2]

The orchestra toured Egypt from 1940 to 1943, with Arturo Toscanini and Bernardino Molinari conducting and Huberman appearing as violin soloist.[2] During the Second World War, it performed for Allied troops in the Western Desert, including soldiers of the Jewish Brigade, in a concert conducted by concertmaster Joseph Kaminski.[2] Before it was ten years old, the orchestra had performed its 1,000th public concert; 165 concerts had taken place in Egypt, four in Lebanon, and the remainder in Palestine.[9]

At the Declaration of Independence ceremony on May 14, 1948, the orchestra performed "Hatikvah" at the Tel Aviv Museum as the State of Israel was proclaimed.[2] In the fighting that followed, it traveled in armored cars to besieged Jerusalem to raise the morale of soldiers and civilians.[2] On November 20, 1948, it performed on the dunes of Beersheba.[2] A 1945–46 survey described the Palestine Symphony Orchestra as "probably the most notable Jewish cultural institution in Palestine" and noted that it had achieved an international reputation.[10]

Following the establishment of the State of Israel, the orchestra changed its name from the Palestine Orchestra to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.[2] Its musicians formed a cooperative and assumed management and financial responsibility for the institution.[1] In later years, membership grew to more than 100 players, with an increasing proportion born and trained in Israel.[1]

The IPO made its first United States tour from January through March 1950, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, Leonard Bernstein, and Izler Solomon.[2] In 1951, with 44 original members still in the ensemble, Bernstein conducted Israeli compositions including Marc Lavry's symphonic poem Emek, a movement from Paul Ben-Haim's First Symphony, Mordecai Seter's Song of Praise, and Menahem Avidom's Mediterranean Sinfonietta.[11] Emek became widely known as a signature piece of Jewish music and was described as a jubilant evocation of the country's landscape and the enthusiasm of the halutzim.[11] A 1951 tally recorded 142 concerts in Israel and 54 in the United States and Canada.[12]

The orchestra released its first recording during this period—Mahler symphonies conducted by Paul Klecki for Decca—and went on to record under conductors including George Solti and Lorin Maazel.[2] Its subscription base grew from 5,000 in 1936 to more than 28,000, requiring each program to be performed four or five times.[1] It also regularly performed in Beersheba, Ein Gev, other outlying communities, and army camps; the cited reference reports approximately 150 concerts per season in Israel and 40 abroad.[1]

For much of its early existence, the orchestra performed in Ohel Shem Hall in Tel Aviv, which seated only 620 people.[2] Frederic R. Mann of Philadelphia initiated and principally funded construction of a dedicated concert hall.[2]

The Frederic R. Mann Auditorium—known in Hebrew as Heichal Hatarbut—opened in 1957 as the orchestra's principal home.[2] Seating 2,800, it enabled the subscription base to expand into the tens of thousands.[2] The auditorium later hosted musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Itzhak Perlman, Yehudi Menuhin, Daniel Barenboim, Isaac Stern, and Arthur Rubinstein, as well as visiting orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra. It also hosted national and international conferences and assemblies.[13]

Renovation work began in August 2011 after renewed dialogue between the Tel Aviv Municipality and the IPO. During its 76th season, the orchestra divided its concerts between Smolarz Auditorium at Tel Aviv University and Hangar 11 at the Tel Aviv Port before returning to the renovated hall.[2] The IPO Archives, founded in 1980 and later organized by former oboist and English-horn player Heinz Berger, is housed in the lower level of the Charles Bronfman Auditorium, as Heichal Hatarbut was renamed.[14] Its collections include photographs, correspondence, scores, posters, recordings, program books, and newspaper articles. The Murray S. Katz Digital Photo Archive, established in 2012 through a donation from Natalie Katz, contains more than 15,000 historical photographs.[14]

From the 1950s onward, the orchestra undertook international tours that brought it before audiences across the globe. Major tours included the United States in 1951 and 1967, Europe in 1955, a worldwide tour in 1960, Australia and New Zealand in 1966, and appearances at the Salzburg, Lucerne, and Edinburgh festivals in 1971.[1][2] Between 1977 and 1986 it toured Europe, the United States, Mexico, and Japan; between 1987 and 1996 it made its first visits to Poland, China, and India.[1]

The IPO presented its first tour of Poland as symbolically significant: an orchestra founded by musicians who escaped Nazi persecution was performing in a country devastated by the German death camps.[2] The orchestra later performed in the USSR with Zubin Mehta and Itzhak Perlman. Many Jewish musicians who subsequently immigrated from the Soviet Union joined the IPO.[2]

Among its most storied performances was Leonard Bernstein's conducting of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony at the Mount Scopus amphitheatre in July 1967, after the reunification of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War, with Isaac Stern as soloist and Israel's heads of state in attendance.[2] During the same war, Zubin Mehta arrived in Israel from Europe on a plane carrying ammunition; the orchestra also performed Verdi's Requiem in Bethlehem and for IDF soldiers in Sharm-e-Sheikh.[2]

During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the IPO performed for IDF soldiers from the Golan Heights to Sinai.[2] In 1987, it gave the world premiere of Noam Sheriff's "Mehaye Hamelin," described as depicting the revival of the Jewish people, at the inauguration of the Jewish-Historic Museum Amsterdam in the presence of the Queen of the Netherlands and European prime ministers.[2] During the 1991 Gulf War, Isaac Stern performed with the ensemble while gas masks were placed across the stage.[1] Amid the same conflict, Mehta left other commitments to conduct the IPO in Toledo in a performance of Sheriff's "Spanish Passion."[2]

A 1992 performance in Amsterdam took place in the presence of the Queen of Holland.[1] In May 1988, the IPO named Leonard Bernstein Laureate Conductor in recognition of 40 years of activity with the orchestra.[2] Arthur Rubinstein, despite having lost his eyesight, made his final recording with the IPO in April 1976: Brahms's First Piano Concerto conducted by Zubin Mehta.[2]

On June 1, 2009, the orchestra performed Leonard Bernstein's "Kaddish—Symphony No. 3" at an outdoor concert in Yad Vashem's Warsaw Ghetto Square, in the presence of President Shimon Peres and before a crowd that included hundreds of Holocaust survivors.[15] The performance included Samuel Pisar's libretto "A Dialogue with God," written and narrated by the Auschwitz survivor.[15] The orchestra's 70th-birthday celebration consisted of three weeks of concerts at Heichal Hatarbut and attracted 24,000 music fans.[2] Its 75th-anniversary European festival tour visited 18 cities and gave 21 concerts in 30 days.[2]

Zubin Mehta was first appointed Music Advisor in 1969, became Music Director in 1977, and was appointed Music Director for Life in 1981.[3] Over five decades, he led the orchestra through wars, international tours, and landmark performances, declaring, "I will stay as long as the players want me."[2] He celebrated his farewell with the orchestra in October 2019 and was named Music Director Emeritus.[3]

Mehta's tenure coincided with debuts by other prominent artists. The orchestra's third decade saw appearances by David Oistrakh and Mstislav Rostropovich following a partial opening of the Soviet Iron Curtain, as well as debuts by Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Daniel Barenboim, Glenn Gould, and Henryk Szeryng.[2] The IPO also collaborated with Leonard Bernstein and Yo-Yo Ma, among other internationally prominent musicians.[16]

Lahav Shani has served as Music Director since the 2020–21 season, becoming the first person born in Israel to hold that position.[17][4] Born in Tel Aviv in 1989, he studied at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music and the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin.[4] His relationship with the IPO began through youth concerts and a 2007 appearance as a soloist under Zubin Mehta. He made his conducting debut with the orchestra in October 2013 and was announced as its next music director in 2018.[17][4] As of 2025, he was also conducting the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.[18]

The orchestra's 90th season opens in October 2026 and commemorates its first performance on December 26, 1936. A special anniversary festival is scheduled for early January 2027, with participants including Zubin Mehta, Martha Argerich, Maxim Vengerov, Gianandrea Noseda, Pinchas Zukerman, Amanda Forsyth, and Lahav Shani.[19] The season includes performances in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa, as well as series for children and chamber audiences.[19]

During the Second Intifada, when foreign artists sometimes canceled performances because of security concerns, Israeli audiences continued filling Mann Auditorium. The orchestra introduced new formats including the late-night "Jeans" series, Friday-afternoon matinees, "7:00 in the Evening," and the Friday-morning "Intermezzo" coffee-and-concert program in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.[2]

Zubin Mehta founded the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, where leading Philharmonic players coach future musicians.[2] The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Academy is identified as the first institution in Israel specifically designed to prepare talented young musicians for careers with professional orchestras.[20] Many current orchestra members are described as grandchildren of founding members rescued by Huberman or as students of those musicians.[16]

In an initiative that bridged communities, Mehta led a concert bringing Palestinian and Jewish children together. Orchestra members traveled between Bethlehem and Beit Shemesh to prepare 500 children for a performance of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony at the Jerusalem YMCA.[2] The event helped inspire the American Friends of the IPO to establish Keynote, the orchestra's education department, which grew to reach 20,000 young people annually from kindergarten through university.[2]

During the Oslo Accords period, the IPO presented concerts honoring Israeli artists including Moshe Wilensky, Sasha Argov, Naomi Shemer, Nurit Hirsch, Esther Ofarim, and Yoni Rechter, as well as recordings featuring Achinoam Nini, David D'Or, and Yehudit Ravitz.[2] The orchestra continued to perform in Beersheba, Ein Gev, other outlying communities, and army camps, reinforcing its role as a national institution rather than merely a metropolitan one.[1]

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra occupies a distinctive place in the cultural history of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Born from a project to rescue Jewish musicians from Nazi persecution, it transformed that effort into an enduring artistic institution.[5][1] The orchestra performed "Hatikvah" as Israel declared independence, brought music to besieged Jerusalem, and performed for soldiers during multiple wars.[2]

The first Toscanini concerts established the orchestra's international rank.[1] The U.S. Department of State has placed the IPO within Israel's broader cultural sphere, where the arts are actively encouraged and supported by the government.[21] An Israeli government cultural page describes the orchestra as having acquired a reputation as "one of the preeminent orchestras in the world."[22]

The IPO's human continuity is itself a form of historical testimony. Many musicians in the ensemble are described as descendants or students of those whom Huberman brought from Nazi Europe.[16] The IPO Archives, with more than 15,000 historical photographs and decades of correspondence, scores, and recordings, preserves that history.[14] In 1982 the orchestra held "Huberman Week" to mark the centenary of his birth; in 1986, its Jubilee festival included "Jubilee Games," written for the occasion by Leonard Bernstein.[2]

The orchestra's role as a vehicle for Jewish identity and national life has never been incidental. The performance of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony on Mount Scopus after the Six-Day War, Bernstein's "Kaddish" before Holocaust survivors at Yad Vashem, and the playing of "Hatikvah" approximately 500 meters from the Reichstag after the IPO's debut in Berlin became moments of collective memory beyond the concert hall.[2][15]

On September 1, 2011, organized anti-Israel demonstrators disrupted the IPO's BBC Proms concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. The performers paused while audience members called for the demonstrators to leave, and the demonstrators were escorted from the hall.[2] A separate account states that BBC Radio 3 stopped its live broadcast twice and describes the disruption as part of a boycott campaign led by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and joined by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.[23]

The campaign urged the BBC to cancel the concert and alleged that the orchestra "services the Israeli army." Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Sarah Colborne cited performances for Israeli soldiers at army outposts. These were the campaign's stated allegations; the source does not independently establish them.[23] Four members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra supported a cancellation letter and were suspended for nine months; the LPO stated that "music and politics do not mix."[23]

A 2025 opinion essay described a Paris performance disrupted by audience members who set off large flares. The musicians continued performing, and the concert concluded with the orchestra and audience standing for "Hatikvah."[24]