Levi Records Haifa Symphony Performance for Hostage

Twenty-two-year-old Alon Ohel had just come back from a long trip through Asia, when he made the fateful decision to attend the Supernova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023. He was an accomplished pianist and he loved music. Going to the festival, it turned out, was the worst decision of his young life.

When Hamas began their attack on the music site, he and 27 others took refuge in a bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im just miles from the border with Gaza. Of the 27, only seven survived. Ohel was wounded by grenades Hamas tossed into the shelter and he and three others were kidnapped. According to several hostages who were released earlier this year, he is still alive in Gaza, thought to be over a hundred feet down in a Hamas tunnel, shackled in chains, and blind in one eye from his injuries.

His family has mounted a concerted campaign to draw attention to their son’s dire fate, as one of the 25 hostages still believed to be alive.

Earlier this year, Ohel’s parents, who live in the Galilee not far from Haifa, had approached many of Israel’s most prominent music organizations with a special request. They had a video recording of their son playing “Clair de lune,” the gentle and elegant work of French musical impressionism. Debussy was not Jewish but was married for 10 years to Emma Moyse who was.

As a tribute to Ohel and to keep his memory alive, they thought that his recorded solo performance could be combined with a live orchestra to create a new recorded tribute to him. They were repeatedly turned down by many orchestras until Yoel Levi heard of the project.

The renowned conductor is the former music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and although he lives in Atlanta, he is now the music director of the Haifa Symphony. He heard about the project on a recent trip there and immediately committed himself and the Haifa ensemble to the project.

“I didn’t hesitate even for one second,” Levi said. “I looked at this as a big mitzvah that might help, somehow, the family and the hostages. If it could bring more attention to this tragic situation then I was very happy to do it.”

The response when the recording of the orchestra and the still-imprisoned hostage was released was immediate and impassioned. It was shown on national television in Israel and became a minor media sensation on the Internet.

The video, which runs just short of five minutes, has been posted on YouTube by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an international organization that has staged regular massive demonstrations in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square in an attempt to force the government to reach an agreement with Hamas and bring the remaining hostages home.

To watch video of the performance, please click the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOJNVMqtVwk&list=RDHOJNVMqtVwk&start_radio=1

“People are extremely unhappy with the conduct of this government,” Levi points out. “Many people believe that many hostages could have been saved a long time ago, and maybe all of them, and it is a very difficult point and struggle for many people in Israel, and there are a lot of demonstrations taking place all the time on behalf of the hostages.”

When the recording was made, Ohel’s father was in the audience and the family has done whatever they have been able to do to make sure their son is not forgotten. They staged a 24th birthday celebration for him in Hostage Square earlier this year and donated 34 pianos, each painted yellow, including one in the square. Twenty more were donated to other countries, with a sign that read, “Alon, you are not alone.”

People are extremely unhappy with the conduct of this government. Many people believe that many hostages could have been saved a long time ago, and maybe all of them, and it is a very difficult point and struggle for many people in Israel, and there are a lot of demonstrations taking place all the time on behalf of the hostages.

His mother, Idit, explained to the Jewish News Service why the pianos were distributed in so many places.

“When you play for somebody, you give them something from yourself and you are sending all this love to them. Music is an international language, it brings people together, and when people hear piano playing in public space, they come to hear it.”

It’s something Yoel Levi understands well. He has been deeply moved by how the project with the Ohel family has touched him.

“I was, personally, very moved. It was one of the most difficult emotional things that I had to do in a very tragic situation. Hopefully, it will be helpful for him as well, so that he can come back soon. Who knows, maybe one day, we hope, we will be able to have him perform with us, again?”