Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation

The Foundation's official history dates its establishment to 1981 and identifies three original purposes: helping the orchestra balance its operating budget, expanding music-education and community activities, and securing its long-term future.[2] That history places the Foundation within the orchestra's older pre-state story, recalling Bronislaw Huberman's effort to bring leading Jewish musicians from Europe to the Land of Israel and establish a Zionist cultural institution in the Jewish ancestral homeland.[2]

The Foundation seeks to build an endowment large enough to meet the IPO's future needs, maintain artistic excellence, provide musicians with financial security, advance music education and community engagement, support special concerts in Israel and abroad, and acquire high-quality instruments.[2] It formally identifies itself as "The Israel Philharmonic Foundation (PBC)" and describes its role as connecting supporters around the world with the orchestra while advocating for diversity, equity, inclusion, and access to music.[1]

It operates separately from the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. The American organization raises funds in the United States, while the Israeli Foundation serves Israel and other territories outside the United States.[4]

Tali Barsh Gottlieb left the Foundation in 2024 after 26 years as its CEO to become CEO of the Israeli Opera.[5] During her tenure, she raised hundreds of millions of shekels for the orchestra, helped oversee major projects including the Charles Bronfman Auditorium renovation, and initiated virtual gala formats during the pandemic.[5]

The Foundation's official pages identify Frank Lowy as honorary chairman, Avi Ortal as board chairman, and Mickey Jacobson Dahav as executive director or CEO.[1][2] Its staff covers resource development, international relations and communications, office management, and subscriber and family relations.[1] The IPO International Board, a linked advisory body, is chaired by conductor Zubin Mehta, with violinist Pinchas Zukerman and cellist Amanda Forsyth as honorary co-chairs and Uzi Zucker and Rivka Saker as co-presidents.[1]

The Foundation employs several fundraising channels, including recruiting and retaining members, organizing donor travel trips, and staging local and international gala events.[6] A 2005 report said the Foundation had approximately 150 members and that its galas drew around 700 invitees; membership recruitment brought in roughly $100,000 in 2004.[6] Subscribers donating NIS 5,000 were offered upgraded subscriptions and VIP treatment, including personal service and invitations to open rehearsals and special concerts.[6]

Gala events have been a major revenue source. The annual Tel Aviv gala at the Hilton raised $220,000 at the event described in the 2005 report, while a November 2003 ball at Manhattan's Plaza Hotel drew 500 attendees paying $1,500 per ticket and raised approximately $750,000.[6] Donor trips accommodated up to 40 supporters, with each participating couple contributing an additional $2,500.[6]

The reported share of orchestra funding supplied by donations has varied by period and accounting category. In 2005, donations and support from other foundations were reported at NIS 16 million out of a NIS 64 million operating budget, or about 25%.[6] In 2008, total donations exceeded $2.5 million and represented roughly 14% of the annual budget; donors also supported youth education, instrument purchases, and deficits from overseas tours.[7] A pandemic-era report put donations at approximately 18% in a normal year and 15% during the pandemic year.[3] Because these reports cover different periods and funding definitions, their percentages are not directly comparable.[6][3]

One of the Foundation's largest campaigns supported the renovation of the Tel Aviv Culture Hall, the IPO's principal venue.[8] The Israeli Foundation and the American Friends of the IPO committed to raising donations covering half of the renovation's total cost. Their combined fundraising target was $50 million, and by 2013 the Israeli Foundation had raised $22 million toward it.[4]

The campaign represented a significant escalation in individual gift sizes. Gottlieb said the previous record donation had been $250,000, whereas the renovation campaign secured gifts of $1 million and $10 million.[8] The largest contribution was Charles Bronfman's $10 million gift, made under an arrangement for the renovated hall to bear his name.[8] The reported naming practice provided for such arrangements to last 40 years or until the next renovation.[8] The campaign accelerated once a signing date was established, leading to an intensive final phase of fundraising and negotiations.[8]

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the IPO and its Foundation to replace many in-person events with digital engagement. In 2020, the Foundation collaborated with the orchestra and the American Friends of the IPO on an online fundraising gala with 13,000 registrants worldwide. A suspected cyberattack disrupted the live broadcast and crashed the orchestra's and partner platform Medici.TV's websites; a replay was later shared online, and no group or individual claimed responsibility.[9]

Later reporting identified that event as the first of two virtual galas conducted by music director Lahav Shani. The first, hosted by actor Helen Mirren, ultimately attracted 500,000 views and raised $720,000. The second, featuring artists including composer Hans Zimmer and performer Bette Midler, drew more than 200,000 views and raised approximately $250,000.[3] The events reached viewers in countries the orchestra had not toured, including Zimbabwe, Iran, Syria, and Trinidad.[3]

To sustain donor relationships during lockdown, the Foundation sent a biweekly newsletter to friends in Israel and abroad, featuring orchestra-produced digital material and a playlist selected by a different musician each fortnight. Staff also called donors personally to maintain contact.[3] In place of physical gala-seat purchases, the Foundation offered a "musician's chair" dedication at $25,000 over five years; 13 chairs had been sold by the time of reporting, against a goal of 80 by the end of the pandemic period.[3]

In 2021, while the auditorium had been without audiences for months, the Foundation produced a virtual backstage tour guided by IPO musicians Sharon Cohen, Yigal Meltzer, and Asaf Maoz.[10] The tour explored the 2,479-seat Lowy Concert Hall, the smaller Zucker Hall, and underground spaces including the orchestra's musical library and archives, which contain more than eight decades of letters, programs, posters, and photographs.[10]

The Foundation and the American Friends of the IPO also co-produced a film for the orchestra's 85th anniversary, released online on December 26, 2021.[11] The film chronicled the IPO's history through periods of conflict and social challenge. Gottlieb said it used new creative tools to tell the orchestra's story and reported that supporters in more than 70 countries had already seen and praised it.[11] Its archival footage included Isaac Stern performing in a Jerusalem concert hall as audience members wore gas masks during a Gulf War air-raid siren.[11]

The Foundation funds and promotes several education and community-outreach programs under the IPO's umbrella. The KeyNote music-education program reaches more than 40,000 children, students, families, young musicians, and teachers in Israel each year. It makes classical music accessible to participants from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities through creative experiences.[12]

SULAMOT — Music for Social Change, founded by the Israel Philharmonic in 2010, serves children at risk and those in socially or geographically peripheral communities.[12] The program operates 12 ensembles and orchestras across ten locations: Nazareth, Migdal Ha'Emek, Afula, Pardes Hana, Or Akiva, Bat Yam, Rehovot, Be'er Sheva, Arad, and Mitzpe Ramon.[12] Its goals include fostering social change through music while developing participants' sense of belonging, empowerment, teamwork, resilience, and self-confidence.[12]

The Foundation also supports Shesh Besh, a Jewish-Arab ensemble founded in 2000 and comprising seven musicians: four Arab musicians and three IPO members.[12] Its repertoire spans Middle Eastern and classical music, Eastern and Western influences, and original compositions. It performs in schools across Israel and presents special concerts in Israel and abroad.[12]

The Foundation has organized and participated in prominent international and domestic events connected to the orchestra's public activity. It initiated a concert at Rome's Quirinal Palace hosted by Italian President Sergio Mattarella and attended by conductor Zubin Mehta, pianist Martha Argerich, and IPO musicians.[13]

The Foundation's December 2021 annual gala in Tel Aviv, hosted by Gottlieb with Hilton Tel Aviv CEO Roni Fortis, gathered hundreds of the orchestra's friends in Israel.[14] During the evening, philanthropist Aaron G. Frenkel was announced as chairman of the campaign for the orchestra's 85th anniversary.[14]

Published records do not fully agree on two administrative details. The Foundation's official history dates its establishment to 1981, while a 2005 Globes report gave 1984 as its founding year.[2][6] The current English and Hebrew official pages agree on the honorary chairman, board chairman, and executive head but display different lists of other board members.[1][2] The pages may reflect different update schedules, but neither explains the discrepancy.