“No one concert this group performs is conventional… One cannot deny PHOENIX’s superb musicianship in whatever it tackles. Those of us looking for first class performance will never be disappointed by PHOENIX. It has set new standards for Early Music performance in Israel.” Go Jerusalem
"Ensemble PHOENIX: for the ones looking for baroque programs with originality and quality." Yedioth Aharonoth
The Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge), BWV 1080, is doubtless one of the masterpieces composed by the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). In this work, began in 1740 and left incomplete, the composer takes a simple theme in d minor and explores it contrapuntally in every possible way. The work has a magic, a mystical, quasi-esoterical charm which is impossible to put into words.
Bach in France, Couperin in Germany
Was Bach's famous French Overture for harpsichord originally an arrangement of a lost orchestral suite? Ensemble PHOENIX performs Alon Schab's version written for them, giving us a taste of how it could have sounded, if this original existed. In counterpoint to Bach's French-style writing, the program presents Couperin's representation of Germany (L'Imperiale) in music.
With Noam Schuss, Lilia Slavny, Marina Minkin and Myrna Herzog.
Mozart string quintets K515 & 516
Mozart's extraordinary string quintets herald the arrival of a new era, the romantic period.
Among those, stand out K515 and K516, composed within a short span of time in 1787, and regarded as the composer's greatest chamber music masterworks.
It is a privilege to hear them one after the other, K516 in its introspection and desolation and K515 in all its magic and exuberance.
With Noam Schuss, Lilia Slavny (violins), Amos Boasson, Miriam Fingert (violas) and Myrna Herzog (cello)
Brazilian Myrna Herzog is the conductor and musical director of this this powerful program of Brazilian Music of the early 19th century , celebrating 200 years of Independenc. It revolves around Emperor D. Pedro I and includes the splendid Credo composed by him, as well as the Pastoral Mass for Christmas dedicated to him by José Maurício Nunes Garcia (the greatest Brazilian colonial composer), a delightful orchestral overture by Marcos Portugal, and a popular dance which is at the root of the samba: lundu! With Monica Schwartz, Noa Hope, Itamar Hildesheim, Gili Rinot, The Madrigal singers directed by Itay Berckovitch. Performed on period instruments by Ensemble PHOENIX.
"For the Mexicans, unlike the Europeans, the mass was not a solemn affair but a sacred merrymaking. Catchy tunes in unfamiliar tonalities, captivating syncopated dance rhythms, dominating percussion and other period instruments came paradoxically close to the Jewish idea of worshipping with joy. There was a lot of musical fun and good humor… and a polished, professional rendition". Ury Eppstein, The Jerusalem Post.
