From Feb ’08 Spotlight: The Israel Chamber Orchestra will perform at the Harris Theatre in Millennium Park on Tuesday evening, February 26. The musical program will include Bizet’s Fantasy on Carmen for 2 Clarinets and Orchestra, a Beethoven Piano Concerto (No. 2), a Beethoven: Symphony (No.7), and a medley from Fiddler on the Roof.
A medley from Fiddler on the Roof? Conductor Elli Jaffe was on tour, so he responded to my astonishment by e-mail from the Czech Republic. “The two clarinetists who play with the orchestra are twin brothers. Our Fiddler on the Roof Fantasia opens with the main theme — first one clarinet and then both clarinets, and then the main songs of the show. If an orchestra comes from Israel, a work with a ‘Jewish Taste’ should be included, and we think that the Klezmer style of Fiddler on the Roof will speak to the kind of audiences attending our concerts.”
For tickets (including the option of attending a benefit dinner for Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem), visit www.harristheaterchicago.org or call the box office at (312) 334-7777.