The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

In the mid-1930s, the Polish violinist Bronisław Huberman tried to persuade Eastern European and German orchestral musicians who had lost their jobs due to Nazi policies to emigrate to Palestine in order to found a new orchestra there. The Palestine Symphony Orchestra thus founded gave its inaugural concert on 26 December 1936 under the direction of Arturo Toscanini; with Israeli independence in 1948, it was renamed the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Today, the orchestra is the most important cultural ambassador of the State of Israel. For almost half a century, the orchestra worked closely with Leonard Bernstein, who conducted numerous concerts from the mid-1940s until his death in October 1990, and most recently held the title of Honorary Conductor.  Zubin Mehta, who made his debut with the orchestra in 1961, was appointed principal conductor in 1977. In 2020, Lahav Shani succeeded him; he interprets a broad repertoire with the orchestra, ranging from Haydn to contemporary music. Renowned conductors are regular guests of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, such as Kirill Petrenko, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Susanna Mälkki, Andrés Orozco-Estrada and Sir András Schiff in the past season 2022/23. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra gives subscription concerts in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa and performs at major music festivals around the world. With its education and outreach programme, it is committed to young audiences, integration and social projects.