Last Monday I and Amir were invited to a concert in Haifa Auditorium. First of all, I would like to say a few words about Haifa Auditorium concert hall. I have been there once before at the Israeli symphony orchestra performance conducted by one of the best conductors in the world, amazing musician, Zubin Mehta. The Concert hall is built in interesting way. The stage is huge so that a big orchestra could fit. Behind the stage there are more seats for the audience. So imagine if you are sitting there, then conductor is facing you and you can actually watch him, his face, which normal audience doesn't get to see. And because you are sitting behind the orchestra, I am sure the sound of the whole thing is quite deferent because strings are further away, and all the winds are just in front of you. That would be quite unique experience, I am sure! Anyway, this time they have actually blocked the back side, and the stage looked much smaller and, like any other stage, with the wall behind. Kids that study violin here in Haifa conservatory performed as a small string orchestra. Two of the Bahai kids were there as well, that is why we went to support them and to enjoy their performance. It was quite an experience, since I didn't expect what I got to see. The kids were sitting on the right side of the stage, their conductor - a young man of Russian origin, professor of the conservatory was sitting at the huge grand piano on the left side of the stage, facing the kids, on his right side he had an electrical keyboard. Behind the piano there were a drummer and a bass guitarist, and in front of the conductor there was sitting a guy who kept talking before each piece, of course he spoke Hebrew, and I guess he was an MC. Anyway, the conductor was amazing! He was a leading accompaniment for all the pieces, he is a very good pianist! Sometimes he would play the keyboard AT THE SAME TIME as piano by his right hand, without even looking at it! And at times he would stand up to give a sign to kids that their time to play has come. It was very spectacular! I just enjoyed watching this guy, I wonder how his brains work, he is so multi-functional. And he is so good at it too, I didn't have an impression that he is having a hard time managing so many things simultaneously, on the contrary, I think he enjoyed it very much! Wow! They played popular national Israeli songs, there were four singers that sang them, and the audience was singing along with the soloists as they all knew the songs. There was a screen on the stage as well showing some historical facts, some nice pictures and lyrics of the song, of course in Hebrew. I wish I could read it so I could join them in their sing-along. It was so much fun! The singers have very deep Israeli type voices, good quality singers. At the end, the MC started thanking everyone for coming (as we figured) and thanking everyone for performing. He probably said that kids in orchestra come from different religious backgrounds, because we heard him saying "Bahaim" (that's how Israelis call Bahai) after he mentioned Jews and Christians. Then each child was called by a name, stood up and bowed. It was very nice to acknowledge their wonderful work at the end. We were proud of our Bahai kids who were there, what a wonderful experience for them to be able to play and perform with so high quality musicians! Unfortunately, i don't have any picture to post as i didn't have a digital camera with me. may be next time:)
