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  • Talma Gotteiner

A Preview on the 20th Piano Festival in Tel-Aviv-Jaffa

Updated: May 6, 2020


Hi there!

I was invited by Arbel PR to write about the upcoming 20th Piano Festival in Tel-Aviv-Jaffa that will be taking place between Saturday night October 20th until Saturday night October 27th.

Eran Tzur and Aya Korem Piano Festival 2018

Standing from left to right: Eran Tzur and Aya Korem

Although the initial format of the festival was based on artists playing their music solo on a single piano, over time the festival has evolved into a full celebration of the various musical styles and instruments available to artists today.

This year, about 300 artists, musicians, creators, actors and dancers, will celebrate the festival’s 20 years of existence and will participate in 53 different performances including special festive performances, original productions, first-time performances and unique collaborations that were composed especially for the Tel-Aviv-Jaffa Piano Festival.

Tel-Aviv Piano Festival 2018

The 53 performances, representing the Israeli multicultural wealth, will be hosted throughout the city's cultural institutions, from the Tel-Aviv Museum of Art Halls: Recanati Hall, Assia Hall, Kaufman Hall, Mizna Blumenthal Gallery and the Contemporary Israeli Art Gallery to additional institutions such as Hall 3 of the Cameri Theater, The Performing Arts Center, the Enav Center and Tel Aviv's Mann Auditorium.

The festival is proud to present an artistic-musical abundance of artists and styles, senior artists alongside young artists who have not yet released a debut album, hip-hop, rock, electronic and pop artists together with Mediterranean, ethnic, classical and Jewish-religious music. The Piano Festival is the largest music festival in the country, and during its 20 years of existence it has produced fascinating combinations and many performances that found their way to the stage after the festival and were commemorated in albums or on video.

Tel-Aviv Piano Festival 2018, Dana Berger, Yoni Rechter, Danny Sanderson and Marina Maximilian

Clockwise from top left: Dana Berger, Yoni Rechter, Danny Sanderson and Marina Maximilian

The festival's power lies in the artistic freedom it gives to its creators, a freedom that allows them to try new and original musical to express their artistic ideas and convey their quest with intriguing new content for the wonderful audience that visits the festival halls every year.

The piano festival has been celebrated for 20 years, an impressive achievement considering its modest beginnings. The first festival took place at the ZOA House and the Enav Center was initiated by Udi Dabush, the artistic director of the festival for the first decade. A year later, the festival was on the road to success, with the Tel-Aviv-Jaffa Municipality taking the festival under its wing. Thus, already during the second year, the festival was held not only at the Einav Center, but mainly in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality building in all of its halls and sections. The festival began to grow, and five years after it was founded, in 2003 the festival director Avi Mizrahi decided to transfer it to the well-known Suzanne Dellal Center, with its halls and outdoor spaces, where the festival was hosted for 11 years.

Tel-Aviv Piano Festival 2018, Gil Shohat, Rami Fortis, Danny Sanderson and Boaz Sharabi

Clockwise from top left: Gil Shohat, Rami Fortis, Danny Sanderson and Boaz Sharabi.

In light of the success of the festival and the multitude of artists who wanted to take part in it, Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai decided to transfer the festival to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art where it has been held since 2014. The festival has been held for the past four years at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, including its halls and galleries with special ventures in the various halls in the city: the Noga Theater, the Performing Arts Center, the Mann Auditorium and of course the Einav Center that accompanied it from its first day.

Tel-Aviv Piano Festival 2018, Clockwise from top left: Shai Tsabari, Yirmi Kaplan, Maureen Nehedar and Miki & Shira Gavrielov

Clockwise from top left: Shai Tsabari, Yirmi Kaplan, Maureen Nehedar and Miki & Shira Gavrielov

Over the last decade, the festival has grown more and more, and the halls are filled to the brim with a loyal audience that comes to experience the special performances created for it and in the spirit of the time, adding shades and color to the piano performances that characterized it at the beginning. As in its early days, the festival has hosted alongside the leading mature artists, several young indie artists who are graduates of contemporary musical styles, serving as an important stage and a starting point in their career. Every year, hundreds of requests by artists who wish to take part in the festival are received and undergo a careful selection that maintains a total artistic freedom of style without preferences.

Tel-Aviv Piano Festival 2018,

Clockwise from top left: Omer Netzer, Avi Grainik and I, Gal de Paz and from left to right Timna Brauer, Einav Jackson Cohen and Yonit Shaked Golan.

Festival Director: Shabi Mizrahi, Deputy Director of the Culture and Arts Division and Director of the Shows Department

Production: The Department of Performances in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality, in cooperation with "Hamon Volume" and "Zappa".

Artistic Director: Etty Ante-Segev

Tickets: Zappa 9080 * and online in Hebrew zappa-club.co.il

Prices: 69-149 NIS

Discounts for residents of Tel Aviv-Yafo with a digital card

Every evening performances will be open to the public in the outdoor plazas of the Tel-Aviv Museum of Art and Performing Arts Center (subject to weather conditions).

I hope you enjoy the festival!

Best,

Talma

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