Departing concertmaster: Israel is no place for a musician to make a living

The Israel Philharmonic concertmaster David Radzyinski, newly appointed to the Cleveland Orchestra, has giving a hard-hitting interview to Goel Pinto on Kan-tarbut criticising the miserable salaries paid to musicians.

‘Orchestras in Israel don’t have enough support from the Government,’ he says.

‘There are people who come to work at the Philharmonic and make 8 to 10k shekels ($2,400-3,000) a month. Life is very difficult for them. They have to take up other jobs to make ends meet.

‘If you want musicians to be happy and want to stay, it’s pretty obvious what needs to be done.

‘It’s not a secret that our principal violist, cellist and 2nd violinist left not long ago. If you don’t see a pattern here, you’re just blind to what’s going on.

‘To be a musician in Israel is very difficult.’

On going to Cleveland: ‘Zubin Mehta was so happy for me.’

Listen here (Hebrew/English)