Back to List
Carnegie Hall Presents
ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC at CARNEGIE HALL
Lahav Shani, Music Director
Four-Concert Residency: October 15, 16, 17 & 18
Celebrating Israeli Composer Paul Ben-Haim (1897-1984)
Pinchas Zukerman, Violin
Ben-Haim’s Violin Concerto (Oct 15)
Tickets start at $25
carnegiehall.org | 212-247-7800
57th Street and 7th Avenue
For information on discount ticket programs, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts.
"[Shani] established an exquisite balance from the opening bars, spinning out golden spools of sound…he never shortchanged the work’s lyricism, its melodic lines mighty and inexorable.”
--Musical America on Shani’s appearance
with Chicago Symphony Orchestra
New York, NY: September 10, 2025 -- The internationally recognized Israel Philharmonic (IPO) returns to the United States for a four-concert residency presented by Carnegie Hall in New York, October 15-18. Music Director Lahav Shani leads the Orchestra in three concerts in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, beginning with violinist Pinchas Zukerman performing Paul Ben-Haim's Violin Concerto; Shani also devotes an evening to chamber music in Zankel Hall with Zukerman, cellist Amanda Forsyth and members of the Israel Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble.
The Israel Philharmonic, Israel’s national orchestra, is regarded as the country’s most important cultural ambassador on the international stage, and has been a powerful presence on Carnegie Hall’s stages since 1951. This four-concert residency at Carnegie Hall shines a light on composer Paul Ben-Haim, with three of his significant orchestral works paired with Tchaikovsky symphonies. Ben-Haim was born Paul Frankenburger in Munich in 1897; he was already an accomplished conductor, teacher and composer when he emigrated to Palestine in 1933 to escape the rise of fascism in Europe. One of the most prolific and well-known composers among the European, WWII-era immigrants to Israel from Europe, he was awarded the coveted Israel Prize in 1957. Ben-Haim’s work was rooted in the German tradition, but also deeply influenced by his newly adopted homeland, particularly his years as an accompanist and arranger for Bracha Tzfira, the famous and influential Yemenite Jewish folksinger (Jewish Music Research Center).
Full programs for each concert are below.
Program notes available upon request.
More about Paul Ben-Haim: Jewish Music Research Center
Wednesday, October 15 at 8 PM / Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Israel Philharmonic
Lahav Shani, Conductor
Pinchas Zukerman, Violin
PROKOFIEV Overture on Hebrew Themes
BEN-HAIM Violin Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4
Ben-Haim’s Violin Concerto, which has not been performed by the Israel Philharmonic in 35 years, was commissioned in 1959-1960 by the America Israel Cultural Foundation; Ben-Haim was asked to write a violin concerto for Israeli violinist Zvi Zeitlin, a Belarussian-born, Israeli-raised violinist and educator who was on the faculty at the Eastman School of Music for 40-plus years. It is not a "weighty" concerto in the manner of Beethoven, Brahms or Tchaikovsky, but a lighter, more playful piece more reminiscent of Mozart or Viotti. The concerto consists of three movements, and the reduced orchestra leaves the limelight to the soloist – in this case, the legendary violinist Pinchas Zukerman.
The IPO's return to this work makes this performance both a rediscovery and a tribute to the orchestra’s deep musical roots.
Carnegie Event Page
Thursday, October 16 at 8 PM / Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Israel Philharmonic
Lahav Shani, Conductor
Guy Eshed, Flute
BERNSTEIN Halil
BEN-HAIM Symphony No. 1
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5
Ben-Haim’s First Symphony, completed in 1940, includes references to Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony, direct quotes from traditional Persian Jewish music, and a theme from Ben-Haim’s final completed work before he left his native Germany. Shani and the IPO recorded the Symphony for Deutsche Grammophon in 2022. From the album’s liner notes: “Under [Shani’s] baton, the orchestra conveys every last spark of the intense, restless energy of its outer movements, whose turbulence reflects the wartime backdrop against which the symphony was written. Creating an oasis of calm between the two, conductor and orchestra give a wonderfully lyrical reading of the central slow movement, which quotes part of a traditional song from the Persian Jewish community that Ben-Haim had recently arranged for pioneering Israeli folk singer Bracha Tzfira.”
The program opens with Leonard Bernstein’s soulful but often overlooked flute concerto, Halil, featuring IPO's principal flute Guy Eshed. The IPO premiered Halil under Bernstein’s own baton in 1981; the work is dedicated to the memory of Israeli flutist Yadin Tanenbaum, who was killed in 1973 during the Yom Kippur war; “halil” means “flute” in Hebrew. The concert concludes with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, a forceful—and ultimately hopeful—contemplation on fate.
Carnegie Event Page
Friday, October 17 at 7:30 PM / Zankel Hall
Lahav Shani, Piano
Pinchas Zukerman, Violin
Amanda Forsyth, Cello
Israel Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble
- Yevgenia Pikovsky, Violin
- Asaf Maoz, Violin
- Dmitri Ratush, Viola
- Felix Nemirovsky, Cello
- Ron Selka, Clarinet
BEN-HAIM Berceuse Sfaradite
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor
BEN-HAIM Songs without Words for Clarinet and Piano
SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Quintet
IPO conductor Lahav Shani makes his Carnegie Hall debut as a pianist in this chamber music concert, revisiting the role that launched his decades-long relationship with the orchestra. Violin virtuoso Pinchas Zukerman, who has a long history with the IPO, and acclaimed cellist Amanda Forsyth (who performed with the IPO at Carnegie Hall in 2014) join members of the Israel Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble in the intimacy of Zankel Hall.
According to the Israel Music Institute, Ben-Haim explained the three parts of Berceuse Sfaradite as a “tone-picture of an oriental mood” and added that ”whoever's imagination needs additional prompting may think that the long-breathed melodies of the Arioso were inspired by the mood of a summer day's pitiless heat in the bare Judean Hills, while the Ballad pictures the monotonous babbling of an oriental story-teller; the last song is based on a traditional folk tune of Sephardic-Jewish origin – a veritable pearl which I have only given a setting”. See Shani and Zukerman performing Ben-Haim’s Berceuse Sfaradite here.
Carnegie Event Page
VIDEO: Paul Ben-Haim: Psalm from Symphony no. 1
Israel Philharmonic, Lahav Shani, Conductor (from 2023)
Israel Philharmonic
Lahav Shani, Conductor
BEN-HAIM Symphony No. 2
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique"
The IPO’s final performance in its weeklong residency at Carnegie Hall opens with Ben-Haim’s Second Symphony, his longest symphonic work (many believe it to be his greatest), finished in 1945, after the conclusion of WWII. On the title page of the score, Ben-Haim quoted Israeli poet Shin Shalom (aka Shalom Yosef Shapira): "Wake up with the dawn, O my soul, on the peak of the Carmel above the sea." The symphony was dedicated to the writer, philosopher and musician Max Brod, who admired Ben-Haim’s work. Brod was deeply engaged with the subject of Jewish and Hebrew identity and its realization through music, and he saw the Second Symphony as satisfying “our longing for an explicitly Jewish music.” But Ben-Haim was not necessarily searching for a distinct Israeli character. Many of his compositions incorporate influences from the different periods of his life, creating a unique style of his own. When he was asked whether there is such a thing as an "Israeli composer" he answered: "I do not think about it that much […] The importance of Israeliness isn't that great. Rather, the importance of the composition itself.”
Deutsche Grammophon will release a new recording of Ben-Haim's Symphony No. 2 performed by Lahav Shani and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra on October 10.
The concert concludes with Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, “Pathétique,” premiered just days before the composer’s death, and recognized as an extraordinary, passionate and poetic musical farewell.
Carnegie Event Page
ABOUT THE ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC
The Israel Philharmonic (IPO) is the leading orchestra in Israel and globally recognized as a world class symphonic ensemble. Founded in 1936 by famed Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman, the IPO performs regularly in its home, the Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv, as well as across Israel, including Jerusalem and Haifa. Additionally, it tours internationally, from Europe to Asia to North and South America. Since its inception, the IPO has stood for humanitarian principles, artistic freedom, and the tireless pursuit of musical excellence. For more information, visit the Israel Philharmonic.
“Displaying the frighteningly fast reflexes of, say, a great fencer, Shani exalted in a kind of virtuosic suddenness. He makes music of the moment and of the nano-second, and the shock coefficient is often high. But the immediacy is thrilling.”
—Los Angeles Times
“[The performance] had punch and pungency, with sharper accents and more exquisitely molded lyrical passages. They really sold the piece, and they got a terrific ovation in response.”
—San Francisco Classical Voice
“They delivered big sound and a clear understanding of where the music wants to go, which resulted in an enjoyable evening.”
—Seen and Heard International
“Conducting from memory, [Shani] consolidated the entire arch of the symphonic discourse into a consistent statement, while fashioning with great care the individuality of each of the movements.”
—Bachtrack