Dear friends

We are delighted to present the programme for the Nineteenth Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival. This year, we have planned a series of exciting concerts in which our chosen theme of interrelated composers has given us – and we hope will likewise give our loyal and discerning audiences – many surprises and challenges: Haydn and Mozart; Schubert and Beethoven; Brahms and Schumann; Mahler and Bruckner; Berlioz, Franck, Saint–Saëns and Poulenc; Bartók and Kodály; Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Ustvolskaya; and many more. As we listen to composers frequently linked together in our perceptions, we will discover what distinguishes them from each other, giving fresh contexts to both time-honoured works and those lesser known.

Interwoven in these fascinating programmes is a celebration of three anniversaries: Reger and Busoni, friends who both shared an intense musical relationship with the past; and closer to our own time, Dmitri Shostakovich.

We continue our traditional weekend special concerts with three wonderful recitals: the renowned Michelangelo String Quartet in a concert of Beethoven string quartets; the great pianist Sir András Schiff and his wife, violinist Yūko Shiokawa, in a recital celebrating the correlation between Bach, Beethoven and Busoni; and the celebrated baritone, Matthias Goerne, singing Berg and Schubert.

This year, true to our long-established custom of a special commission for the Festival, we present a new work by the Israeli composer, Yinam Leef.

We invite you to delight in musicians both cherished and new, in a festival rich in content and variety, and which above all, promises great enjoyment.