TORONTO — A joint project of Canadian and Israeli organizations recently brought five young classical musicians to Toronto from Jerusalem.
Israeli music students from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance performed in Toronto recently. Top, from left, are Daniel Asherov, Elia Cohen-Weissert, Michael Cohen-Weissert and conductor Rashi Levaot. Bottom, from left, are Ron Agron and Itai Meir. [Dave Gordon photo]
Music students, aged 11 to 15, from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, performed here from May 4 to 7. They were accompanied by the director of the conservatory at the academy, conductor Rashi Levaot.
Their first performance in Canada was at Stephen Lewis Secondary School, in Vaughan, Ont., to about 200 public school children.
Later that day, they performed for adults at the Unicorn Dream Dinner, a fundraiser for the Max and Beatrice Wolfe Centre for Children’s Grief and Palliative Care at Mount Sinai Hospital. The dinner’s focus was to highlight the achievements of Israeli arts and culture.
The students also played live on Toronto’s Classical 96.3 radio.
The dean of
the Glenn Gould Professional School in Toronto, pianist James Anagnoson, gave the students a tour of the soon-to-be-completed TELUS Centre for music education and performance.
The Canadian Friends of Hebrew University and the consulates of Israel in Toronto and Miami, to celebrate Israel @ 60, sponsored the students’ trip.
Adrienne Cohen, the chair of the Jerusalem Academy Student Tour of Toronto, said that the visit was part of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s “Brand Israel” program, to improve Israel’s image and to get people to think of the country outside the narrow prism of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
For most of the young musicians, this was their first trip to Canada, and it was yet another chance to showcase their talents.
Violinist Daniel Asharov, 15, has been studying the violin from the age of six. He won the Sharett Competition for solo performance four times in the past seven years and has performed in concerts in New York in 2006 and in Capetown in 2007 with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.
Saxophonist Ron Agron, 16, started his music studies at the age of 12, and in his short career, he has already won acclaim in Israel. In 2007, he won the outstanding musician award from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. He has been a soloist with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra.
Fourteen-year-old pianist Itai Meyer has been studying at the Jerusalem Conservatory of Music and Dance since the age of nine. He is modest about his musical talent. “There’s no difference between people,” he said. “Everyone can be successful at things if they try.”
Siblings pianist Michael Cohen-Weissert, 15, and cellist Elia Cohen-Weissert, 14, grew up on the Greek island of Sifnos, where they began their musical studies.
Michael has received the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Piano and Chamber Music Scholarship, the youngest composer ever to receive the scholarship. At the age of 12, Michael won the first prize in the National Broadcasting Authority Competition for young artists, performing with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.
Elia has also received the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship, both as a solo artist and as a chamber musician. At age 12, she performed with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.
She admitted that she was initially anxious about her debut to North American peers. “It was scary to perform,” she said.
She adds that she wanted to play cello from a very early age. “I chose this, and I want to be a soloist.”
Music, runs in the family: her mother, from Germany, is a pianist, and her father, originally from Romania, is a professional guitarist.
“It’s beautiful that we came, and I hope that they [the audience] finds the music beautiful. I hope they will enjoy listening to classical music,” Elia said.
The audiences at the young musicians’ concerts were enthusiastic.
Gaur Bhupesh, 15, a student at Stephen Lewis, was impressed. “It was a really good performance. Amazing,” he said.
Bhupesh doesn’t speak any Hebrew but found a shared language with the Israeli students. “We are all the same with our own unique skills,” he said. “Students are students wherever you go.”
