On January 19th 2020, the Willy Brandt Center presented a film by Academy Award nominated director Josh Aronson, titled Orchestra of Exiles. The event started with a short introduction by our Social Art project coordinator Petra Klose, highlighting the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra’s role in contemporary Israeli society – aiming to represent its cultural identity and diversity, and perceiving music as a force of humanity against any form of intolerance.

The film Orchestra of Exiles delivers a message about the power of music in times of crisis, by focusing on the compelling story of one man’s vision and the struggles of Jewish musicians against Nazism. It tells of the celebrated polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman, who rescued some of the world’s greatest musicians from Nazi Germany and later created one of the world’s greatest orchestras – the Palestine Philharmonic, which became the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra in 1948. Huberman’s exceptional efforts saved hundreds of Jewish families from the imminent threats of the Holocaust, while his achievements changed the landscape of cultural history. Moreover, the movie depicts the events that lead to the establishing of one of today’s most celebrated orchestras, and portrays its protagonists, including supporters such as Albert Einstein and conductor Arturo Toscanini who believed that the goal of art is always humanity. The film includes commentary by Pinchas Zukerman, Zubin Mehta, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, and descendants of founding members of the orchestra.

The Social Art Program organized the first Pop-Up Ballroom Festival in Jerusalem, attracting participants of a wide range of different ages, nationalities and cultural backgrounds from Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Tel Aviv.

At each of the five events, professional dance instructors offered a free dancing class and taught the audience basic steps which they were able to try straight away on the dance floor.

The program included salsa, swing, Viennese waltz, and tango, as well as an introduction session to dance therapy. Palestinian and German DJs, as well as the renowned pianist Maria Neishstadt, carried out the program with their musical contributions. The Viennese waltz workshop took place at the Austrian Hospice in the old city of Jerusalem, while all other dancing events were organized at the Willy Brandt Center and lasted until late into the night.

Dance is a language that enables us to talk without words, as it connects people through the joy of movement. Due to the big turnout and the immense public success, the Willy Brandt Center has decided to continue its dance activities by offering a dance therapy course for women in the coming year, as well as a series of clubbing events under the motto “Dancing on the Line”.

Salsa – Sunday, October 27, 2019
The Willy Brandt Center held a Salsa dance with Yonathan and the professional dancer Katie Silver for about hour and a half, in which she gave a small introduction to Salsa and offered a few basic steps for the participants to begin with.

Following the Salsa dance, Najwan, a young Palestinian DJ woman, played Latin music, allowing the participants dance freely and enjoy the music.

This day was the opening session for the week-long festival.

Swing – Monday, October 28, 2019
The Willy Brandt Center conducted a swing dancing event, performed and instructed by a Palestinian group and their swing dance teacher from Germany. They started off by explaining what is swing dancing, and gave some basic dance moves for beginners. The class lasted for an hour and a half, during which the participants enjoyed the atmosphere and kept on dancing.

Viennese Waltz – Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Our Social Art Coordinator, Petra Klose, held the Viennese Waltz dance at the Austrian Hospice in the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, where she gave the basic waltz steps in a short introduction workshop. Participants followed the steps and started to dance with their partners, while enjoying a live music performance by the pianist Maria Neishtadt. The class was an hour and a half long, and was also held in the beautiful, enchanting ambiance of the Imperial Salon at the hospice.

The event was also followed by a classical music concert by the Austrian duo Karner & Henter.

Dance Movement Therapy – Wednesday, October 30, 2019
This event was intended only for women – Arab, Jewish and International. It was held at the Willy Brandt Center by the instructor Shaked Sabag, who explained what is dance movement therapy and shed light on its importance. This was followed by some exercises that helped the women to feel comfortable and more relaxed. The session lasted for an hour and a half, and included different exercises such as a mirror exercise and breath exercise. The women participants enjoyed the session and requested additional sessions in the near future.

Tango – Thursday, October 31, 2019
This was the last event of the Pop-Up Ballroom Festival. The Willy Brandt Center organized a tango class held by the professional Tango dancer and teacher Anna Rosenberg, who gave an introduction to the dance, followed by basic tango steps. The participants enjoyed the live music performance by the pianist Maria Neishtadt.

In summary, each event had approximately 10 to 15 participants that enjoyed the classes, the night view from the beautiful balcony at the Willy Brandt Center, and small refreshments.

“Art has no limits”
Ludwig van Beethoven

The violinists Iris Krall-Radulian and Daniela Preimesberger, and the violist Maria Potulska, members of the Varietas-Ensemble, proved in a most beautiful way that Beethoven’s quote is undeniably true when it comes to playing music in our region.

This celebrated Viennese ensemble has  performed at renowned international festivals and concert halls such as the Salzburg Festival, Lockenhaus Festival, Vienna Konzerthaus and the Mozarteum Salzburg. They opened their concert tour, which is their premier apperance in the Middle East, with a recital for students, staff and friends of the Bethlehem University, and performed pieces by Beethoven, Dvorak, Mozart and Händel at the Chapel of the Divine Child on University campus.

On the following day we had the chance to accompany the Varietas-Ensemble to a workshop on Mozart’s “Little Night Music”, organized by Dutch cellist Fabienne van Eck. Van Eck is the manager of Musicians without Borders in Palestine, and founder of “Sounds of Palestine”, a community music project inspired by and based on the concept of El Sistema in Venezuela, which promotes music education as a medium to achieve long term social change for the participating children and their families.

On September 13th, the Varietas-Ensemble performed at the Pasha Room at the American Colony Hotel. The audience included Israelis and Palestinians, as well as international guests from all over the region.

In her review, music critic Pamela Hickman praised the musical dialogue that was sparkling, exciting and virtuosic, and the artists’ “quick-change-artistry” that presented beauty and diversity through a kaleidoscope of string techniques.

Classical music has always played an important role in the rich history of this legendary hotel. For centuries, it was not only a place of historic encounters between remarkable figures, from Lawrence of Arabia to the political leaders of today, but has also been a place of arts and creation. The hotel’s archives house old-ages scores and music sheets written at or for the American Colony. The Willy Brandt Center is proud to be part of the musical revival of this prestigious venue and its long tradition of intercultural encounters and artistic exchanges.

Another audience of music lovers of all generations was reached at the famous Taybeh Beer festival in the Palestinian Territories, where the three musicians gave another brilliant example of their talent in an afternoon open air performance.

We would like to thank the Austrian Cultural Forum in Tel Aviv for bringing the Varietas-Ensemble to Jerusalem, and for enabling all these inspiring musical encounters. Our thanks also goes to the American Colony Hotel, for generously hosting the musicians during their stay.

In June, the Willy Brandt Center was happy to present a new puppet theatre project for schools, developed by the Israeli actors Moriya Benavot and Shaharit Yerushalmy. Their play, „Mulu and Tsegay”, is an adaption for the stage of a children’s book written by the Israeli author Tamar Verete-Zehav. It tells of courage, friendship and love, and is based on the true experiences of African refugees now living in Israel.

The audience follows the harrowing journey of two siblings, a brother and sister, who run away from their home in Eastern Africa after witnessing the burning of a neighbouring village.

Believing in the power of the arts, and specifically theatre, the artists aim to sow seeds of tolerance, open-mindedness and acceptance towards the so-called strangers living in our midst. Instead of perpetuating stereotypes infused with fear and hatred, they hope to create a sense of empathy, acceptance and compassion.

The play was performed at Beit Hakerem School in Jerusalem, where children and staff greatly enjoyed the lively performance of „Mulu and Tsegay”. The play was followed by a panel and workshops with Abdu Adam, the director Hadas Selbst, the author Tamar Verete-Zehavi, and the two actors.

We hope to have the chance to present the play to wider audiences throughout Israel in the future, and expect that “Mulu and Tsegay” will soon visit other schools as well as community centres, thus invite more kids to embark on this magical journey.

The Willy Brandt Center was honoured to welcome Ella Milch-Sheriff and David Pountney, both international opera stars, for a panel featuring Mieczysław Weinberg’s composition “The Passenger” on April 8^th, 2019.

Composer Ella Milch-Sheriff is one of Israel’s most performed composers in recent years. Several of her creations, such as “And the Rat Laughed”, „The Banality of Love” and „Baruch’s Silence“, engage with stories from the holocaust and touch on the history of her own family.

Mieczyslaw Weinberg, then a young Jewish composer, fled the advancing German troops in 1939 and crossed the border into the Soviet Union, where he stayed and worked tirelessly until the end of his life.

British-Polish theatre and opera director and librettist David Pountney is known for his productions of rarely performed operas, and his new productions of classic works. In 2010 he staged the premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s opera “The Passenger”, which deals with guilt and its repression after the Holocaust, and tells the story of women prisoners transported to Auschwitz from all over the world. Based on a novel by Zofia Posmysz, a Polish Auschwitz survivor, Weinberg’s masterpiece had been concealed for more than 40 years and became “somehow itself a real survivor”, as noted by David Pountney. Originally produced by the Bregenz Festival, the highly successful production led to the rediscovery of its composer, Weinberg, and was later staged at the opera houses of Warsaw, London, Houston, New York, Miami, Chicago. In April of this year the production has travelled also to Israel, where it was presented at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center.

The panel discussion invoked intricate questions such as how to remain human and humane in a place that has lost all human form, and what role do the arts play when it comes to the murderous oppression of the powerless by the powerful.

Even the nightmare of Auschwitz is a human story, explained David Puntney. “The Passenger” presents young women, victim and perpetrator; one at each side of the fence. “it’s the story about the narrow difference about a human being that is doing the right thing and a human being that is doing a wrong thing,“ continued Pountney, as „the role of art is to look at the most difficult subjects”.

During the discussion, when the question arose whether the holocaust should be represented in artistic performances, both artists agreed that  music has the means to express what perhaps cannot be expressed in any other way; not only does it have the power to touch its audience and trigger a deeper compassion and understanding, it also enables us to heal open wounds.