israel-on-blog's Reviews

Tel Aviv Art And Culture

MUSEUMS

Tel Aviv is home to three of Israel's largest museums, which draw a total of 1.1 million visitors a year. Among them are:

Tel Aviv Museum of Art displays modern and post-modern art. Also on display are works from the 16^th-19^th centuries, including the Impressionist period, as well as graphic design and photography.

Another fascinating museum is The Eretz Israel Museum. It deals with the history and culture of the land of Israel, including archaeology, anthropology, folklore, ethnography, Judaic, history and more.

ART GALLARIES

Don't miss the dozens of fine galleries, primarily located along Gordon Street and in the Old City of Jaffa, featuring the very latest in contemporary Israeli. We won't say another word – we'll let the art speak for itself.

THEATER

From its early days Tel Aviv was a great theatre center. Even in this cinema and home-video era, the popularity of Tel Aviv's theatres has not waned. Not surprisingly, 18 out of Israel's 35 performing arts centers are located in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Among the big theater's are:

Habima Theater

Locates in the Rotchild Boulevard, Tel Aviv most beautiful boulevard, is Habima Theatre. Israel' national theater, which got its start in Moscow at the beginning of the 20^th century, mounts original Hebrew plays, the classics and musicals before its thousands of subscribers and eager theatergoers.

The Cameri Theater

The Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center (TAPAC), the stunning modern building, is home to the Cameri Theater, which produces both original Hebrew and translated plays.

Other theaters in Tel Aviv include Beit Lessin, Hasimto, Tmuna, Karov, tzavta and the Jewish-Arab Theater in Jaffa, Each one has its own, mainly post-modern, repertory.

For information about shows & performances that provide English subtitles, please check with the relevant theater.

DANCE

You don't need to speak Hebrew to be thrilled by Israeli modern dance and breathtaking percussion performances.

Explore the avant-garde in Tel Aviv. Dance around the clock – that's the defining characteristic of Suzanne Dellal Centre in Neve Tzedek, Israel's undisputed dance mecca. More than 600 dance performances are mounted each year at the centre, the most visited tourist site in Tel Aviv. Much of this is due to the worldwide popularity of Israeli dance, which has become an important export industry. Every year, Suzanne Dellal Centre hosts major international dance events such as "Dance Europa", which place it on the cutting-edge of worldwide culture.

One of the country's leading companies is Batsheva, which was founded in 1964 by Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild and the legendary American choreographer Martha Graham, the high priestess of modern dance. Ohad Naharin, the company's artistic director since 1990, has imbued Batsheva with the innovation and creative daring that has won the hearts of dance lovers at the world's most prestigious venues and festivals. Batsheva, whose home is in the Suzanne Dellal Centre, performs more than 250 times a year in Israel and abroad.

THE ISRAELI OPERA

The Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center (TAPAC), is bursting with jazz, opera, dance, theater, you name it.

The stunning modern building is home to the Cameri Theater, which produces both original Hebrew and translated plays.

TAPAC is also home to the New Israeli Opera, a cultural enterprise, born of one man's vision and passion. In Moscow in 1917, conductor Mordechai Golinkin envisioned an opera theater in the land of Israel. Six years later, he mounted a performance of Verdi's La traviata in the young city that sprang up from the sand dunes, but the opera had no home.

Today, the New Israeli Opera is flourishing, with more than 18,000 subscripts, and a steadily growing audience for the eight operas it mounts each year.

THE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

It all starts with a crazy idea and someone passionate enough to make it come true. Thus came into being the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

1936. Jews, fearing that Europe is going up in flames, pack their suitcases and flee. The legendary Polish-Jewish violinist Bronislaw Huberman persuaded musicians from Europe's greatest orchestras to come to Tel Aviv, where he founded the Philharmonic Orchestra. So it's no wonder that the great Arturo Toscanini conducted the orchestra's debut concert, that Zubin Mehta has been its music director since 1969, that Leonard Bernstein conducted many times and that Kurt Masur is its honorary guest conductor. This international spirit has characterized the Israel Philharmonic for more than 70 years: bringing together top musicians from all over the world, the orchestra has toured five continents and consistently reaps the highest praise, both at home and abroad.

Reviewed on: October 11, 2007