35,000 subscribers in a country of about 3.5 million. If so, I can tell you that we are specialists at Mahler. The two conductors who, more than anyone else, molded the style and sound of the IPO in the past 40 years are Leonard Bernstein and Zubin Mehta, both of them are emotional and scintillating artists who perform Mahler like no one else. I was thrilled to hear languages I couldn't comprehend, talk with people of other lands and when I returned home I declared my intentions to drop music and go to college to study International Politics. This past and fate dealt me a kind hand by shipping me off to the Middle East where the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is the cultural ambassador of Israel throughout the world.
Every concert is more than a symphony.
It is followed by a dialogue at the reception with people who do not speak just about how beautifully you played and what a nice dress you are wearing. Recently, in Sapporo, Japan, I was explaining why the peace process is so difficult. Politics have a great effect on our lives here. Too many Israelis who survived the Holocaust still hear that music in their nightmares and a younger generation holds it as a symbol of the theology of the Third Reich. The political realities of the Middle East become extremely important when we travel abroad.