Yoel Levi Marks New Era in Israel’s North

In what might be taken as a strong statement of cultural optimism and support for the rebuilding effort now underway in northern Israel, Yoel Levi, the Atlanta-based music director and principal conductor of the Haifa Symphony presented a pair of powerful concerts there.

The first of the warmly received works he conducted was Beethoven’s “Symphony #9 in D Minor.” The symphony, Beethoven’s last and generally considered his greatest work, was clearly a moving tribute to the city. During nearly three years of war, Haifa and the whole of northern Israel has been as a major target of Iran and its wartime proxy in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah.

The city, which serves as Israel’s most important port on the Mediterranean Sea, is the major Israeli commercial and educational center in Israel’s northern region. It also hosts the main campus of the Technion, the nation’s world-renowned Institute of Technology and the University of Haifa on Mount Carmel. Like the Technion, the university is a major research institution and boasts the most diverse student body of any center of higher learning in the Middle East. More than 40 percent of its students are Israeli Arabs.’

Beethoven’s “Ninth” features a full chorus and vocal soloists who bring the composition to its stunning climax with his stirring interpretation of Friedrich Schiller’s poem from the late 18th century, his triumphant “Ode To Joy.” The work has, in recent history, taken on the role of an anthem to freedom. It was performed by Leonard Bernstein with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a symbolic and greatly moving performance on Dec. 25, 1989. The concert marked the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany.

Similarly, Levi’s performance with the Haifa Symphony, where he has served as the orchestra’s music director and artistic leader for the past five years, reportedly brought the capacity audience to its feet with a lengthy standing ovation in enthusiastic appreciation of the masterful performance.

Levi returned the following evening for another powerful symphonic and choral work, Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony #2 in C Minor,” known as his “Resurrection Symphony.” It carries the audience on an awe-inspiring musical journey that some have described as being transported from a world of darkness to one of light. Mahler, who was born a Jew but converted to Catholicism for largely social reasons as an adult, created a work that, like Beethoven’s, can be seen as a universal call for spiritual freedom.

Levi recorded the Mahler second symphony during the 12 years he led the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. It was part of a critically acclaimed series that featured six of Mahler’s symphonic works on the Telarc label, and are generally considered part of the legacy to his success as the orchestra’s conductor from 1988 to 2000.

For the audience in Haifa, the work recalled their resilience as a people who have endured years of psychological and economic hardship yet have emerged strong and resourceful. Levi grew up in Haifa and members of his family still live there.

The government of Israel earlier this summer announced a four-year plan to spend roughly $5 billion to develop Israel’s north. The spending plan focuses on strengthening education, healthcare, housing, transportation and tourism. It also includes money to provide economic incentives and a greater sense of security for residents of the region. This month, the Keren Kayemeth LeYisrael – Jewish National Fund approved an investment plan worth more than $286 million for the region, the largest philanthropic grant that the organization has ever made to the region.

KKL-JNF as it’s more commonly known, made the grant, which runs for three years to boost economic infrastructure, housing, education and culture in an area that stretches from the valleys of northern Israel and the region adjacent to the Lebanon border up to the Golan Heights that overlook Syria.

The organization, which owns more than 13 percent of the land in Israel, has been largely funded by donations from Jews who live abroad. The chair of the organization, Eyal Ostrinsky, called the initiative unprecedented in its scale and geographic reach. He described the region as the organization’s main priority in the years ahead.

Since 2021, Levi has labored to encourage a new generation of Israeli classical musician and build the Haifa Symphony orchestra into a major cultural force.