Exclusive: Israel Phil ousts veteran chief
NewsThe Israel Philharmonic this morning advertised two job vacancies. One is for Secretary-General, a post held by Avi Shoshani since 1973. The other is for an artistic administrator.
Shoshani is finally going. He was just 25 when he took the job, acting as symbiotic partner to Zubin Mehta, minding the shop in his extended absences. With Mehta’s retirement he stayed on to ease the Barenboim-Mehta protege Lahav Shani into the job. He’s done now.
Shoshani has always had mixed reviews. On the one hand, he kept the orchestra financially and socially stable during difficult times, seeing it through an influx of hard-bitten Russian newcomers to the present, much younger and eclectic mix.
On the other hand, he made enemies unnecessarily around the world. Certain maestros and agents no longer take his calls. When the orchestra faced political protests on tour, he handled the issue tactlessly. He joined up with Martin Engstroem in founding oligarch-funded sub-festivals in Latvia and Georgia, engaging personal favourites from Verbier and Tel Aviv. His contacts book has grown smaller over time.
picture: Minding Zubin’s back in 2013
Interesting. Despite the popularity of Lahav Shani (full halls) the orchestra’s future is not necessarily that bright. After Shani’s first season which showed some minor promise for less mainstream repetetive repertoire, this season is again primarily featuring bland middle of the road repertoire catering to the lowest common denominator. The artistic quality is also quite unstable. The orchestra and Lahav Shani seem to lack artistic vision which would render the IPO into a creative body rather than a group providing elitist entertainment. The donors and American Friends of the IPO may be happy but there is no real reason to be content when the IPO is judged artistically.
Lowest common denominator nowadays is woke new music, which is entirely an elitist political enterprise. Not quite sure what you mean by a creative body. What could be better than playing the best music that most people love at the highest level one can muster?
An orchestra should have an artistic vision, expose audiences to new musical experiences and promote local talent. An orchestra that plays the same msinstream works year after year because it incorrectly assumes this is the way to attract audiences becomes obsolete, loses its relevance and its playing level deteriorates.No one expects or wants the IPO to become Ensemble Intercontemporain or Lahav Shani to turn into Pierre Boulez or Ilan Volkov but the IPO mainstream repertoire policy and lack of regard to local talent is one of the most extreme in the international orchestral landscape.
Lahav is a talented musician, but he’s definitely not right for this orchestra. Most musicians in the IPO can’t stand working with him and it shows… the quality of this orchestra is declining rapidly.