Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra

The JSO developed as a broadcasting orchestra and, after its expansion in the 1970s, was formally known as the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Broadcasting Authority. It continues to describe itself as a radio symphony orchestra, and most concerts at the Henry Crown Symphonic Hall are recorded and broadcast on Kan Kol Ha'musika, the national classical music radio station.[1]

The 750-seat Henry Crown Symphonic Hall forms part of the Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts in Talbieh, designed by architects Shulamit Nadler, Michael Nadler, and Shmuel Bixon. The centre was built in two stages: the 900-seat Sherover Theater was completed in 1971, and the Henry Crown Hall and other spaces were added later.[2] The new symphonic hall was inaugurated on February 8, 1986.[3] Before it opened, the orchestra had performed its weekly Jerusalem concerts at the YMCA from 1939 to 1975.[4] The creation of a permanent home was due in significant part to the insistence of then–music director Gary Bertini, under whose tenure the ensemble grew substantially.[5]

The orchestra is supported by Israel's Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Jerusalem Municipality.[1] A 2019 Jerusalem Post report described a period of acute financial difficulty following the closure of the Israel Broadcasting Authority and its replacement by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, which began broadcasting in May 2017. According to the report, the JSO received no budget allocation in that transition, concert revenues did not cover operational costs, and the orchestra had to rely on temporary Finance Ministry support.[6] The report warned that the orchestra might have to cease operating within about 18 months of publication.[6] Appointment and concert announcements in 2026 demonstrated that the orchestra remained active, while HaBama reported that additional support from international foundations was expected to supplement continuing public funding.[7][8]

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra traces its beginnings to March 30, 1936, when the Palestine Broadcasting Service was inaugurated under the British Mandate. The station's first broadcast included a Hebrew-language rendering of the opening announcement and a speech by High Commissioner Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope. Music was featured from the start, in part because the Mandate's broadcasting policy excluded political content. The first music heard came from pianist Erich (Aryeh) Sachs, accompanying a song by Haim Vittorio Weinberg.[4]

The Palestine Broadcasting Service initially relied on a small Chamber Orchestra directed by singer-conductor Karel Salmon, born Karl Salomon. Its Music Department also produced Western classical music, Jewish folk and art music, and special broadcasts of Hebrew Oriental songs led by composer and oud player Ezra Aharon.[9] These early radio concerts drew audiences numbering in the tens of thousands.[10] Salmon and Crawford McNair reorganized the ensemble in 1938 as the Palestine Broadcasting Service Orchestra.[4]

The 1938 season reflected the cultural energy generated by Jewish musicians who had fled Nazi Europe.[10] Programs included a Christmas concert at the YMCA conducted by McNair, a Palestinian première of Schumann's Violin Concerto with Sasha Parnes as soloist, and works by Verdina Shlonsky, Joseph Tal, Mordecai Seter, Karel Salmon, and Peter Gradenwitz.[4] The orchestra began weekly concerts at the YMCA in 1939, a series that continued until 1975.[4]

With Israeli independence, the ensemble was renamed the Kol Israel Orchestra in 1948.[1] The first wave of immigration from the Soviet Union in the early 1970s brought an influx of trained musicians that enabled a major expansion.[11] The ensemble was subsequently reconstituted as the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Broadcasting Authority—the JSO-IBA.[1]

Early conductors associated with the orchestra included Georg Singer, Heinz Freudenthal, Shalom Ronly-Riklis, and Mendi Rodan.[4] Lukas Foss served as music director.[5] Sergiu Comissiona and Otto Klemperer were also among the conductors associated with the ensemble.[4]

Gary Bertini served as music director from 1977 to 1987. During his tenure, the ensemble grew from 50 to 90 musicians, and his advocacy was central to the construction of the Henry Crown Hall as the orchestra's permanent home.[5] He also founded the Liturgica Festival, which presented sacred music from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and was later incorporated into the regular season as vocal and liturgical concerts.[1][5]

A 1983 archival concert flier held by the National Library of Israel records the orchestra under Bertini performing in Aarhus, Denmark, with programs on November 5 and 6 that included works by Ami Maayani, Liszt, Brahms, Dvořák, and Mahler.[12] A 1985 Jerusalem Records disc included Bertini conducting the orchestra in Noam Sheriff's La folia: variations for orchestra and Akdamoth le'moed: festival prelude.[13]

On February 8, 1986, Bertini conducted Isaac Stern in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto at the inauguration of the Henry Crown Hall, with President Chaim Herzog and Mayor Teddy Kollek in attendance.[3] Bertini was succeeded in later years by directors including Lawrence Foster, David Shallon, Frédéric Chaslin, and Steven Sloane.[14]

Leon Botstein was among the orchestra's music directors and led the ensemble at the September 11 memorial concert in Jerusalem in 2003.[9][15] Julian Rachlin subsequently led the orchestra for three seasons; a 2025 HaBama report described a significant artistic advance during his tenure and noted performances with international soloists and conductors.[16][7]

On August 13, 2026, the orchestra announced that conductor and cellist Dmitry Yablonsky—its honorary conductor since 2016—would become music director and chief conductor beginning with the 2026–2027 season, for an initial five-season term planned through 2030.[7][14] The announced season-opening concerts, scheduled for Tel Aviv on October 12 and Jerusalem on October 13, 2026, were to feature Yablonsky conducting pianist Rufus Choi in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, alongside Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3 and Symphony No. 8.[8]

The JSO's repertoire spans Baroque and Classical works, Romantic-era compositions, and contemporary music, including many works that have received their Israeli premières with the orchestra.[1] A 2023 Jerusalem Post profile described it as one of Israel's major orchestras and noted its particular commitment to giving contemporary compositions their first Israeli performances.[17]

Among historically significant premières, the orchestra presented Darius Milhaud's opera David in 1954 and Igor Stravinsky's cantata Abraham and Isaac, conducted by Robert Craft, in 1964.[1] Luigi Dallapiccola's Exhortatio received its première in Jerusalem in 1971.[4] In 1999, the orchestra gave the première of Krzysztof Penderecki's The Seven Gates of Jerusalem, conducted by Lorin Maazel and commissioned for the conclusion of the Jerusalem 3000 celebrations.[1] HaBama reported that the project was undertaken with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and that, after enthusiastic reviews, the two orchestras performed the work again in Munich in April 2000 as part of Bavarian Radio's anniversary celebrations.[18] The orchestra's 2008 presentation of Mahler's Das klagende Lied was the work's Israeli première, with Uri Segal conducting and the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir participating.[1]

The JSO states that it was the first Israeli orchestra to perform works by Sofia Gubaidulina, Henri Dutilleux, and Alfred Schnittke.[1] It has consistently commissioned and performed works by Israeli composers, supporting the development of Israeli orchestral composition.[1] The arranger and conductor Ziv Cojocaru is among the Israeli composers whose arrangements have been performed by the orchestra.[19]

Programming has also included opera. The orchestra performed Puccini's Turandot at Caesarea in May 2000 and Verdi's La forza del destino in June 2001.[18] It participates regularly in Jerusalem's Israel Festival.[18][1] The Liturgica Festival founded by Bertini was incorporated into the concert season as a series of vocal and liturgical programs, while other formats have included classical, discovery, family, and oratorio concert series.[18][1]

A 2008 recording of High Holy Days music featuring the orchestra, conducted by Rafi Kadishson and with Nathan Lam among the performers, was made at the Jerusalem Theatre and is cataloged by the National Library of Israel.[20]

Across its history, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra has hosted a prominent roster of international performers. Its official pages name Igor Stravinsky, Otto Klemperer, Arthur Rubinstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, Pablo Casals, Yo-Yo Ma, Pierre Boulez, Martha Argerich, and José Carreras among those who have appeared with it.[1]

Isaac Stern appeared in several prominent concerts with the orchestra. Beyond the 1986 inauguration of the Henry Crown Hall, he performed with the JSO at a special concert marking Israel's 30th anniversary, alongside cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and soprano Galina Vishnevskaya.[3]

On September 11, 2003, the orchestra performed at the Mount Scopus Amphitheater at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in a concert remembering the victims of the September 11 attacks, with Leon Botstein leading the ensemble.[15] The program featured Antonín Dvořák's Requiem. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel C. Kurtzer connected the memorial to a performance at the same amphitheater in 1967, when Leonard Bernstein conducted Mahler's Resurrection Symphony, framing both concerts in the context of remembrance, solidarity, and renewal.[15]

On September 8, 2011, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra-IBA, soloists, and choirs performed at Yad Vashem's Warsaw Ghetto Square under conductor Gil Shohat.[21] The event was the Israeli première of Lawrence Siegel's Kaddish – I Am Here, a work built around the words of Holocaust survivors.[21][22]

Another Holocaust memorial initiative brought together Israeli and German partners. An INSS foreign-affairs digest reported that the German Embassy in Israel would support a JSO memorial concert and cover its expenses. The idea for the cooperation was attributed to Israeli musician Daniel Fradkin, who was to perform on the viola d'amore.[23]

International touring has been a defining feature of the JSO's activity. The U.S. Department of State noted that the Jerusalem Symphony and the New Israel Opera "also tour frequently," distinguishing the JSO's activity from that of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in its account of Israeli cultural life.[24]

The orchestra's European itinerary has included landmark concert halls. A May 2001 tour took the ensemble to the Musikverein in Vienna and the Philharmonie in Cologne, as well as halls in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, and Lucerne.[18] In 2003, the orchestra performed at Carnegie Hall during a tour of Spain and the United States and was subsequently invited to tour the United States again in early 2005.[18] A 1983 document from the National Library of Israel records performances in Aarhus, Denmark, under Gary Bertini.[12]

In February 2015, the orchestra performed Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13, Babi Yar, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris in a concert marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.[4] In June 2009, it performed Mendelssohn's Elijah as the closing event of the Bachfest in Leipzig. A Brazil tour followed in August 2015 with conductor Frédéric Chaslin and violinist Itamar Zorman.[4]

In 2021, the JSO became the first Israeli orchestra to perform in Dubai, giving four concerts at the InClassica Festival.[4] In May 2023, as part of events marking Israel's 75th Independence Day, the orchestra undertook a European tour. On May 28, it performed at Rome's Auditorium Parco della Musica in collaboration with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, in a 1,100-seat hall. The event also marked 85 years since the orchestra's founding as reckoned by the organizers.[17]

On May 29, conducted by Yeruham Scharovsky, the JSO performed at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, in what the Jerusalem Post described as the first performance by an Israeli symphony orchestra in the Vatican.[25] The event was associated with the 200th anniversary of the fire that destroyed the church and its reconstruction, 30 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Vatican, and Israel's 75th anniversary. The program featured composers from the three Abrahamic religions, including the Mediterranean Suite for Symphony Orchestra by Nizar Alkhater, a young composer who also plays in the orchestra.[25]

On May 31, the orchestra performed at Paris's Grand Synagogue, also known as Synagogue de la Victoire, before 1,000 attendees, following a reception for 500 guests. The concert was filmed and broadcast on French national television on June 18.[17] Planning for the 2025–2026 season also included a tour to Lithuania and Poland, reflecting the orchestra's continued engagement with European concert life and sites of Jewish historical memory.[16]

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra occupies a central place in Israeli musical culture, both as a working institution and as a link between the Jewish immigrant communities of the Mandate period and the cultural life of the modern state. Professional musical activity expanded markedly in the 1930s as Jewish musicians fleeing Nazism arrived in the Land of Israel.[10] The JSO directly inherited the broadcasting ensemble established in Jerusalem during that period.[4]

The growth of the orchestra's audience offers a concrete measure of its deepening presence in Jerusalem's cultural landscape. In 1970, its weekly concerts drew about 200 people; by 1977, the 900-seat Jerusalem Theater was nearly full almost every week.[26] The opening of the Henry Crown Hall in 1986 consolidated a permanent institutional home, while its radio and television infrastructure enabled performances to reach audiences beyond the concert hall.[3]

The ensemble is recognized as one of Israel's major orchestras, alongside institutions including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, and Haifa Symphony Orchestra.[19] Its governing board has included public figures such as former diplomat and Knesset member Colette Avital.[27] Its premières of works by Penderecki, Dallapiccola, Stravinsky, and Milhaud, its commissioning of Israeli composers, and the creation of the Liturgica Festival have contributed to Jerusalem's cultural life and Israel's international musical presence.[4][1]

The orchestra has repeatedly engaged with themes of memory and historical witness. Its performances have included the September 11 memorial at Mount Scopus and the Israeli première of Kaddish – I Am Here at Yad Vashem.[15][21] Its performance of Babi Yar for the anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation and its participation in a German-supported Holocaust memorial initiative extended that commemorative role internationally.[23][4] Through such events, the JSO has participated in both the artistic and commemorative life of the Jewish state.

Sources differ on the date from which the orchestra should be counted as founded. The Palestine Broadcasting Service was inaugurated on March 30, 1936, and its small chamber ensemble began broadcasting that year. The ensemble was reorganized as the Palestine Broadcasting Service Orchestra in 1938, the date used as the founding year by a 2023 Jerusalem Post account and reflected in the orchestra's official institutional history.[4][17]

Other accounts use different reference points. One Encyclopedia.com source dates the Jerusalem Symphony to 1950 and an expansion to 1976; another says the radio orchestra became the Jerusalem Symphony when expanded in 1972. The Jewish Virtual Library lists the Israel Broadcasting Authority/Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra as dating to 1936.[11][9][28] The discrepancy among 1936, 1938, 1950, and 1972 reflects the orchestra's passage through several institutional identities—from chamber ensemble to Palestine Broadcasting Service Orchestra, Kol Israel Orchestra, and the expanded JSO-IBA—without a single universally accepted founding moment.

Sources on the orchestra's leadership must likewise be read according to their publication dates. An undated HaBama artist profile identifies Leon Botstein as music director.[18] HaBama's August 13, 2026 report and the orchestra's announcement published the same day identify Dmitry Yablonsky as music director and chief conductor from the 2026–2027 season, succeeding Julian Rachlin.[7][14] The earlier profile's leadership statement therefore appears to be outdated.