TEL AVIV.- Since 1999 the annual Felicja Blumental International Music Festival has played an important role in making our musical scene ever interesting and alive. Although Tel Aviv has always been well known for its classical music activities, it never before had a classical music festival that combines, in one intense and exciting week, chamber, orchestral and vocal music, as well as films, plays and folk music.

Many of today’s Israeli stars made their debut with our Festival, which features the young and unknown as well as established artists, ensembles and orchestras. Starting with intimate concert performances of piano recitals (Louis Lortie, Freddie Kempf, Shay Wozner, Konstantin Lifschitz, Roman Rabinovich), vocal recitals (Philippe Jaroussky, Karita Mattila, Sarah Walker, Edith Mathis, Michael Chance, Stephanie d'Oustrac), and chamber music groups (such as St. Petersburg Quartet, Saint Lawrence Quartet, Sequenza Trio), the Felicja Blumental International Music Festival has also included Baroque Music Ensembles (L`Arpeggiata – Christina Pluhar, Early Music Opera Company, Dunedin Ensemble, The Red Priest, I Musici de Montreal, Les Violon du Roi and many more) and also vocal ensembles (Anima consort, Voces Musicales, Armonico consort, Nordic Voices among others) that together have offered the public a very rich program throughout the years.

We have also had wide experience with folk music in the past - having invited Milva, Jacques and Paula Morelenbaum, Yasmin Levi, Ladino songs with marvelous Israeli singers and an unforgettable production of Israeli folk songs with Dan Ettinger, David D`Or and Rafi Kadishson. In an effort to expand our programs, our festival decided to collaborate with the Guitar Week initiative and together we have been able to create yet another aspect that combines classical and folk music.

This traditional annual festival at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, May 04th – May 09th 2015, artistic director Annette Celine, Felicja Blumental’s daughter, and executive director Avigail Arnheim present, as always, an abundance of interesting performances. The program offers something for every music lover, from early music to Portuguese Cultural Heritage “Fado”.

Here are details of some of the varied program of concerts performed by extraordinary international and Israeli artists:

On Friday, 08.05.2015, at 21:30 Fado (Portugal). Fado ((literally, “fate”) is the most popular music of Portugal, and an official Cultural Heritage, according to UNESCO. Text, musical structure and performing style distinguish this genre, the typical urban vocal music of cafés, cabarets and night clubs. The music is performed by either a female or a male vocalist, typically to the accompaniment of a Portuguese guitar ("guitara"), a 12 string instrument (which is part of the early Cittern family), that illustrates the singer's melody, and a classical guitar (which in Portugal is called "viola"), for the bass line.