Israel Festival
Encyclopedia
The Israel Festival is a multidisciplinary arts festival held every spring in Israel
. Its center is Jerusalem.
The Israel Festival started in 1961 as a summer festival for classical music
in the ancient Roman theater
in Caesarea. Throughout the years the festival grew in the number of art disciplines and activity centers with recent festivals including classical music, ballet
, jazz
, theater, visual arts
and lecture
s, combining high quality programs from Israel and abroad. From 1982 onwards the Israel Festival was adopted by the City of Jerusalem and most shows are held within its boundaries.
While the festival's quality is widely recognized, there have been complaints about the high entrance fees to the performances. Nevertheless, some of the shows are offered free. Street performances and special performances for children are also part of the festival.
The first festivals were directed by Zvi Propes. Since 1992 Yossi Tal-Gan is the director of the festival. He is assisted by advisers for the fields of classical music, world music
and ballet. Dan Halperin heads the public board. The festival operates as a non-profit organization
.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Its center is Jerusalem.
The Israel Festival started in 1961 as a summer festival for classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
in the ancient Roman theater
Roman theatre (structure)
The characteristics of Roman to those of the earlier Greek theatres due in large part to its influence on the Roman triumvir Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Much of the architectural influence on the Romans came from the Greeks, and theatre structural design was no different from other buildings...
in Caesarea. Throughout the years the festival grew in the number of art disciplines and activity centers with recent festivals including classical music, ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, theater, visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
and lecture
Lecture
thumb|A lecture on [[linear algebra]] at the [[Helsinki University of Technology]]A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history,...
s, combining high quality programs from Israel and abroad. From 1982 onwards the Israel Festival was adopted by the City of Jerusalem and most shows are held within its boundaries.
While the festival's quality is widely recognized, there have been complaints about the high entrance fees to the performances. Nevertheless, some of the shows are offered free. Street performances and special performances for children are also part of the festival.
The first festivals were directed by Zvi Propes. Since 1992 Yossi Tal-Gan is the director of the festival. He is assisted by advisers for the fields of classical music, world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
and ballet. Dan Halperin heads the public board. The festival operates as a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
.