On Wednesday, July 16th, the American Friends of The Israel Philharmonic will bestow a Lifetime Achievement Award to legendary music composer Hans Zimmer. If you’ve watched movies in the 21st century (or the twentieth for that matter) you’ve heard his music. Even if you’re a person who doesn’t “listen” to film scores you’ve been moved by his music in such spectacular films as Man Of Steel, Gladiator, Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Dark Knight, Sherlock Holmes, The Da Vinci Code, The Lion King and the list goes on. His versatility as a composer knows no bounds and filmmakers from Chris Nolan to Guy Ritchie to Jerry Bruckheimer all call on him when they need to bring their movies to life. And that’s what film scores do. They bring movies to life.
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (with members hailing from over 20 countries) under the baton of Maestro Zubin Mehta (who was born in Bombay) will play a Hans Zimmer program (he’s from Germany) all to benefit the orchestra. The polyglot nature of this event is very much in keeping with the rich cultural life of Israel itself. Unlike America that is a proverbial melting pot, Israel is more like a stew, where all the different ethnicities and cultures don’t really boil down but effect each other’s tastes. You might not like a particular bite of the stew but overall it’s delicious and the exclusion of any one ingredient would detract from the whole.
The Orchestra was famously started by musicians escaping the holocaust and has grown as Israel has grown. You’d be hard pressed to find a world-class orchestra in any other country that is a mere 66 years old. The Israel Phil is the greatest non-political Ambassador for Israeli culture in the world and that’s why I support it. This is a very good time for everyone to remember that Israel is not just a place where civilians are rained upon by terrorist rockets. This will hopefully pass very quickly. It’s also an amazing country that compared to it’s tiny population disproportionately excels in technology, agriculture, innovation and culture. If you’ve been to Israel recently you’d be amazed by the music, art and culinary scenes… all vibrant and rich and multi-layered, like Israel itself. If you haven’t, go… just wait for the shelling to stop. On Wednesday night we’ll have the opportunity to see a piece of this multi-layered world as members of the philharmonic play pieces from Sherlock Holmes, The DaVinci Code, Pirates of The Carribean with a little Schubert thrown in for good measure. He’ll be in good company with Hans.
You can support the orchestra by simply signing up to the AFIPO Facebook page, following them on Twitter @amfriendsIPO, or on Instagram @amfriendsipo. For every new follower the West Coast Council will donate a dollar up to $50,000.
Matti Leshem 