Pianos in Jerusalem

Pianos, so many pianos.

‘Three Days Pianos’ was a festival at

The Jerusalem Theater.

Jerusalem theater night outside

For three days and late nights the theater was alive,

student playing piano in lobby of Jerusalem Theater

as people even played piano in the lobby.

Piano art theme in Jerusalem Theter

Art work lined many walls,

lobby of Jerusalem Theatre art display

much of it on a piano theme,

Jerusalem Theater main hall

with some works overhead.

The opening event,

in the Henry Crown Hall,

Jerusalem theater Piano festival

with international pianists,

piano

began with a brilliant 40 minute duet,

with Duo Lutoslawski each at a piano,

grand piano with 4 stools

and ended with four stools,

piano with four players

for four in a humorous finale.

Many performances were held in the various halls

of the Jerusalem Theater beginning on Wednesday.

lobby set with chairs for piano fetival

 Late into the night this lobby filled

 with sounds of beautiful music

Lobby Jerusalem theater

and people of all ages.

The festival ended with Kabbalat Shabat,

on Friday afternoon,

with artistic director Michael Wolpe.

Pianos.

So many pianos this week in Jerusalem,

Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Schubert, the list goes on,

watch and listen for even more next year.

Jerusalem: Sounds & Photos in the Old City

The annual Sounds in the Old City,

music festival is going on this week.

old city Jerusalem

Signs are posted leading the way

tower of david

from outside the Jaffa Gate,

music

and inside, with stages set up

music

for musicians to perform.

music

Down in the moat of the Tower of David,

there were music, tables and chairs and food.

lights on wall for art

These lights were on the way to the Jewish Quarter,

music

where again this year the Cardo provided a dramatic venue.

music

Various singers

children music

inspired some little dancers,

Hurva Shul at night

in the Rova, the square of the Jewish Quarter,

by the Hurva Synagogue.

I almost went out the wrong way.

Thousands came to the Old City,

and the route I wanted was closed off.

lights on wall of festival

Good thing, or I would have missed the “fiddler on the roof,”

near Muristan Square.

big sign at Jaffa Gate for marathon

Not all the music was great, though it was all loud.

The festival will run until the end of the week.

Then Friday am bright and early,

 it will be the time for the running of the Jerusalem Marathon.

Sounds of Music on Jerusalem’s Old City Streets

There seems to be a constant stream of festivals in Jerusalem, Israel,

 and this week is the annual music festival, Sounds of the Old City.

Nighttime music festivals are not the best ops for photos,

but some of these backdrops and stages are indeed spectacular.

Starting outside of Jaffa Gate,

image music, photo Old City music, picture music at night

the Na’am Ensemble was the opening act,

image girl singing, photo Jerusalem music, picture music

followed by a performance by Gole Anar.

Most of the names of the folk singers are not familiar to Anglo audiences.

music jerusalem image, photo music Old City

On the stage next to The Tower of David, the Alaev Family

photo girl singing, image music, picture family band

included family members dressed in colorful Bukharan clothing.

image music, photo band at night, picture Sounds of Old City

 There were over 11 mapped out performance locations,

the Dilijan Ensemble was #4 along the route.

A few locations were standouts,

image moat, photo photo during sounds of Old city festival

 like #3, down in the Tower of David moat!

image Tavrerna, photo Shimon Parnas

The show with the music of Taverna band, hosted by Shimon Parnas,

image moat, photo Sounds of Old City, Jerusalem music

was almost secondary to the site.

image moat, photo tower of David moat, picture Sounds of Old City music

Built for protection so many years ago, who could imagine this musical scene?

image Ketem Paz, photo Ketem Paz, music in Cardo picture

Ketem Paz, a group of religious and secular artists,

who sing Yemenite melodies from traditional texts,

image Cardo at night, photo Jerusalem music, picture interesting stage for music

performed in the Open Cardo as the opening act.

  What a stage!

image musicians, photo Old City night, picture violin

Also, students from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance

were playing along the route.

image Arab market, photo Musiim Jerusalem

Signs showed the way through the Muslim Quarter

image Muslim Quarter, photo music Jerusalem, picture music festival

and the shuk, market,

but as usual I got lost.

They need more and better signs.

image Arab musicians

By a photo in the free information booklet (available in English, Hebrew and Arabic)

it seems that I saw Lelot HaMizrach and not the Sahara trio.

Finally, I ended up in Muristan Square where

image Hebrews of Dimona, photo music festival. picture music Old City

the Hebrews of Dimona were belting out

image Hebrews of Dimona, photo children watching musics, Palestinian children in Jerusalemn

 some old US favorites from the Four Seasons that even got the attention of even the very young.

image cute child, picture night at Mamilla Mall

Not everyone out at night was interested in live music,

image Palestinian woman, photo Arab girl, picture Arab girl

and some were shopping in Mamilla Mall.

Thousands and thousands of people,

from around the world were on the Jerusalem, Israel streets.

But if there is no violence, just sounds of music, then it is not news.

Be warned though, that not only is the Old City closed to vehicles,

but some streets in Old City were even blocked for pedestrians,

image Waldorf Jerusalem, photo WAldorf not open, picture Waldorf at night

like the street by the new still not quite open Waldorf-Astoria.

 Sounds of the Old City runs from March 31 – April 3, 7-11:00 pm.