Members80 Years of the Philharmonic

The first performance, on December 20^th, will be led by Italian conductor Riccardo Muti. The program consists of the same pieces performed 80 years earlier on December 26^th, 1936.

At that time, when more and more Jewish musicians were losing their jobs, Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman persuaded 75 of his orchestral colleagues to come to Israel. This is how the “realization of Zionist culture in the Land of our Fathers,” as Huberman put it, began on the sand dunes of Tel Aviv.

In those days, it was called the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra. The opening concert took place in the Levant Fair Hall in Tel Aviv, and Huberman managed to procure the top conductor of his time, Italian Arturo Toscanini, for the event. Toscanini not only waived his fee, he even left...