OFRA YITZHAKI

"THE SUPREME SOLOIST OFRA YITZHAKI SHOWED ASTONISHING MELODIC QUALITIES. SHE MADE THE THEMATIC CONNECTIONS CLEAR WITHOUT LOSING ANY OF THE POWER AND ENERGY REQUIRED BY THIS MUSICAL WORK."
BERLIN TAGESSPIEGEL, GERMANY, ABOUT A PEROFRMANCE OF JOSEPH TAL'S 1st PIANO CONCERTO WITH THE BERLIN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, NEW LIFE FESTIVAL 2017


THE MUSIC OF JOSEPH TAL 

Joseph Tal (1910, Posen - 2008, Jerusalem) was one of Israel greatest composers.
Tal studied composition in the Music Academy in Berlin with Paul Hindemith. Just after the rise of Nazism in Germany, in 1934, he immigrated to Israel, were he was about to become one of the most prominent 'founding fathers' of Israeli art music. 

Tal's compositions span over almost seven decades and include symphonies, operas, concerti, chamber music, electronic and many piano pieces. 

Since 2016, Ofra Yitzhaki has been working intenstively on reviving and performing the piano music of Tal. 

JOSEPH TAL'S PIANO CONCERTO No. 1 
​WITH THE BERLIN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
An early masterpiece for piano and orchestra, Tal's 1st piano concerto (1945) has been neglected for many decades. In 2017 Ofra Yitzhaki brought it back to life with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, condcuted by Lior Shambadal. The score and parts, that were still in manuscript, were prepared and published for this event by the wonderful team of the Israel Music Institute. The performance took part in Elisabethkirche, Berlin, as part of the New Life Festival, created and currated by soprano Mimi Sheffer. 


​JOSEPH TAL'S MUSIC FOR SOLO PIANO 
AND FOR PIANO WITH ELECTRONICS

​This program presents Tal's music from 1936 to 2000, thus presenting a full prism - not only of Tal's style, but also of many important musical styles of the 20th Century:

Three Piano Pieces (1936)
Chaconne (1937)
6 Sonnets (1946)
Piano Sonata (1950)
By the Rivers of Babylon (1951)
Concerto No. 5 for Piano and Magnetic Tape (1964)
Five Densities (1975)
Essay No. 4 (1997)
Essay No. 5 (2000)

​This program is to be recorded for the German Radio (Hessischer Rundfunk) in 2020/21.
Most of  the works on the program have never been recorded, some never performed. 

WORLD PERMIERE OF TAL'S 'ESSAY No. 5'  , 2020

Twenty years after its composition in 2000, Ofra Yitzhaki premiered Tal's last piano work, 'Essay No.5', in a live Zoom performance from the recording studio of the Tel Aviv University, Buchmann-Mehta School of Music

LECTURE-RECITAL: THE PIANO MUSIC OF JOSEPH TAL 
TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY,  DEAN'S LECTURE SERIES 

A lecutre-recital surveying Tal's piano music and his special place and style in the context of Israeli music in the early years of the state. 
The lecture-recital (in Hebrew) took place at the recording studio of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, as part of the Dean's Lecture Series of the Tel Aviv University, Faculty of the Arts. 
This lecture-recital is available also in English and German. 
'The Piano Music of Joseph Tal' - Complete lecture-recital by Ofra Yitzhaki (in Hebrew)
​FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS AND BOOKING, PLEASE CLICK HERE. 
"THE HIGH QUALITY AND NIVEAU OF OFRA YITZHAKI'S PLAYING WERE CLEAR AGAIN IN JOSEPH TAL'S PIANO CONCERTO, PLAYED WITH THE BERLIN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA."
NEUE MUSIKZEITUNG, GERMANY, 2017