Get ready for the 15th Festival!

31 August - 15 September 2012
Dear Friends
We are pleased to introduce you to the programme of the Fifteenth Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival which will take place this autumn from 31 August – 15 September.

This year we will be celebrating the immensely rich reservoir of Russian classical music, spanning works from Glinka, ‘father’ of Russian music, to a special Festival commission from the contemporary Azerbaijani composer, Faradj Karaev. Along the way, we will explore both well loved and lesser-known works by Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Musorgsky, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov and twentieth-century composers including Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Ustvolskaya and Tarnopolsky, with particular focus on the great tradition of Russian song, performed by an outstanding array of singers.

Overarching the fifteen concerts we will hear arrangements for a variety of instruments of Tchaikovsky’s irresistibly melodic piano work The Seasons by Israeli composer Ohad Ben-Ari. Other highlights include Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, String Sextet Souvenir de Florence and Piano Trio, and Schubert’s Octet and ‘Trout’ Quintet.

In counterpoint to this ‘Russian’ September, we will also pay tribute to the incomparable music of Schubert and the 150th anniversary of Debussy’s birth.

As always, many of our most beloved artists will be returning to the Festival stage, together with wonderful newcomers.

We hope to present you with a more detailed programme in the near future and are looking forward to undertaking this exciting voyage of discovery together with our unique audience.

Elena Bashkirova
Artistic Director