The 5th Eilat Chamber Music Festival takes place 18-27 February 2010.
One of the many annual cultural and musical events taking place in Israel’s premier vacation resort on the Red Sea, the 5th Eilat Chamber Music Festival will attract tens of thousands of visitors from 18 to 27 February 2010, with a series of 20 chamber concerts and master classes performed by internationally acclaimed musicians from all over the world. The festival will combine classical music, poetry, theater, early music, gypsy music, and more with all concerts held in the Golden Tulip Club Hall.
Sir Roger Moore returns this year to the festival to give a special concert dedicated to UNICEF’s efforts to prevent AIDS in Africa, along with violinist/conductor Aleksey Igudesman and the famous violinist Julian Rachlin. Sir Roger Moore, a special UNICEF ambassador since 1991, will donate his fee from this concert to the organization.
Italian composer Fabio Vacchi will attend the festival for the performance of his work Irini, Essalam, Shalom, dedicated to the promotion of peace and condemnation of violence,combining texts in Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew taken from the Gospel, the
Koran, and the Hebrew Bible.
The renowned Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki, recipient of the Wolf Award, a Grammy and UNESCO award, will be a special guest, attending the performance of some of his chamber works.
This year, the Eilat Chamber Music Festival will host internationally acclaimed Israeli author Amos Oz, who will read from his latest book of short stories Scenes from a Village Life, accompanied by the percussion duo PercaDu.
Violinist, conductor, composer and comedian Aleksei Igudesman will conduct the special evening dedicated to UNICEF, with poetry read by Sir Roger Moore. Other events include the performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, conducted by Igudesman and performed by Fumiaki Miura, winner of this year’s International Hanover Violin Competition; a Hungarian Gypsy evening featuring virtuoso violinist Roby Lakatos; chamber music masterpieces by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, R. Strauss, Schumann, Brahms, Mozart, Handel,Shostakovich, Piazolla, and many others, performed by
chamber ensembles comprised of the world’s greatest classical musicians and a special Chopin marathon commemorating the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The complete program can be found at www.eilat-festival.com