HaKibbutz HaArtzi Quire
was founded in 1958 and has made a name for itself as one of the best quires in
Israel. The conductor and musical director of the quire since 1990 is Yuval Ben-Ozer.
The quire is made up of kibbutz members from across the country, who meet for
weekly rehearsals, led by the conductor and musical director.
Performances across the
country
are given by the quire in many musical centres, performing a variety of A-Cappella
pieces from different periods, as well as orchestral concerts. The quire
appears regularly at the music festival at Abu-Gosh on Sukkoth and Shavuot.
The quire's repertoire includes pieces such as
St Matthew's Passion by Bach, Mozart's Requiem, Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, Ernest
Bloch's Sacred Service, Canto General to the words of Pablo Neruda and Zorba
the Greek by Mikis Theodorakis, alongside Israeli originals such as David and
Goliath by Aharon Harlap, Ron Weinberg's Eternal Peace and many more.
HaKibbutz HaArtzi Quire
has performed with Israel's top orchestras, led by the top conductors,
including James Levine, Zubin Mehta and others. The quire cooperates on
different projects with "The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, IBA",
"The Israel Symphony Orchestra, Rishon LeZion", Ra'anana Symphonette
and Barrocade Orchestra.
In 1994 the quire won the
award for the best performance of an Israeli piece from the Public Council of
Culture and Art.
The conductor and musical director,
Yuval Ben-Ozer, is one of the most senior conductors in Israel, a graduate of
the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem and the School of Music at Indiana University.
Ben-Ozer was the quire conductor in productions of the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur and Daniel Barenboim, has
conducted Israel's leading orchestras and has been invited as a guest conductor
around Europe and South America.
Ben-Ozer, who is also the
musical director of the New Israeli Vocal Ensemble, holds many workshops and
lectures before managers of business organizations in Israel and abroad, as
part of a unique organization programme which he has developed.
Ben-Ozer is joined by
Moshe Har'el, a member of Kibbutz Bar'am, who has acted as the quire's
administrative director since 1981. Zhanna Kopilev is the quire pianist.
Performances and
recordings abroad by HaKibbutz HaArtzi Quire have been held in the USA,
Germany, France, Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Austria, The Netherlands, Lithuania,
Latvia and a 12 concert tour of Korea and Japan, where the quire left a strong
impression, thanks to its varied repertoire and professional style, and all
their performances were received with great enthusiasm.
An extensive tour of China
is planned for 2012, aided by the Embassy and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism,
which are also arranging a concert on their behalf.