Four new principals named by Israel Philharmonic
mainIn a rush of new blood, the Israel Philharmonic made these appointments this morning:
Nina Bernat – principal doubebass
Ari Þór Vilhjálmsson – principal second violins
Dima Ratush – principal viola
Haran Meltzer – principal cello
plus
Lia Perlov – Assistant principal cello
Bernat won the Juilliard bass prize in 2019.
Ari, ex-Helsinki Phil, is the IPO’s first Icelander.
Haran is based in Berlin
Is still everyone on that orchestra white?
No – a lot are Jewish, and we’re pale brown.
*snore*
Ashkenazi Jews
Mazel Tov to them all!
I remember seeing Bernat in the Juilliard Orch. just last year.
Bravo!
“In a rush of new blood, the Israel Philharmonic made these appointments […]”
You mean… same old Jewish blood, right?
Dima’s been there for a while. Nonetheless, a phenomenal musician.
1st fiddle-Moldovan from Kishinev
Wonderful. Good luck to this co-hort of fine young musicians! May they keep up the traditions of the Israel Philharmonic.
Isn’t lack of ensemble one of their traditions, an orchestra of would-be soloists?
A tradition in many orchestras nowadays
I maintain that there is something wrong with hiring too-young musicians with too-little experience as principal players, or as players just to hold on to them, as the Philadelphia Orchestra does. Too many are simply great technicians who apply that to auditioning, and not great musicians. I’ll never forget a recording by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra that was incredibly accurate and totally devoid of music-making.
As seen on Israeli television news, Shani is now running his rehearsals mostly in Hebrew. I wish the newcomers luck- it’s not an easy language.
I play with this orchestra on a freelance basis. This is simply not true of Shani.