Galilee Chamber Orchestra – Israel’s first professional orchestra of Arab & Jewish musicians – returns to Carnegie Hall, crowning upcoming U.S. tour (Nov 17–20)
When the Galilee Chamber Orchestra (GCO) and its Artistic Director and Conductor, Saleem Ashkar, gave the 2022 Isaac Stern Memorial Concert, their performance was hailed as “a fresh and energetic Carnegie Hall debut,” marked by “fine music-making through and through” (New York Classical Review). Now, Ashkar and the ensemble – Israel’s first professional orchestra of both Arab and Jewish musicians – return to the storied venue as the final stop of a U.S. tour. This takes them to the Phillips Center in Gainesville, FL (Nov 17), Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center (Nov 19), and New York’s Carnegie Hall (Nov 20), with a program combining the U.S. premiere of nocturnal whispers, a GCO commission from Palestinian Israeli composer Nizar Elkhater, with Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony and Mozart’s 23rd Piano Concerto, featuring International Chopin Piano Competition winner Bruce Liu.
The Galilee Chamber Orchestra was founded in 2012 by Polyphony Education, a nonprofit that seeks to transcend the barriers between Israel’s Arab and Jewish communities through classical music. Bringing together consummate artists from the nation’s leading orchestras and rising stars from Polyphony Conservatory, the orchestra comprises comparable numbers of Arab and Jewish musicians, and has performed with such eminent concerto soloists as Joshua Bell, Sir András Schiff, and the late Lynn Harrell. A close musical associate of Daniel Barenboim’s, Artistic Director Saleem Ashkar has also appeared with the Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Berlin Staatskapelle, and Royal Concertgebouw orchestras. He leads the GCO from both the keyboard and podium, prompting Germany’s Hannoversche Allgemeine to marvel: “One rarely experiences a soloist-conductor in such perfect unity with his orchestra.”
Ashkar’s brother, GCO co-founder and executive director Nabeel Abboud-Ashkar, is a champion of community development who has been recognized with a Charles Ansbacher “Music for All” award and Yoko Ono Lennon’s “Courage Award for the Arts.” He says:
“The Galilee Chamber Orchestra demonstrates a profound and organic partnership between people who would otherwise represent diametrically opposing narratives. The social impact they make is very special, because it comes about through their music-making.”
Galilee gave a milestone European tour in 2019, crowned by concerts presented by the Berlin Konzerthaus and Rheingau Music Festival. “If you come merely expecting a social project, you are in for an astounding surprise. This was Beethoven at the highest level: tight, racy and dynamic,” concluded the Frankfurter Rundschau. Next followed the orchestra’s 2022 North American debut, featuring a performance at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music and the Carnegie Hall concert, which aired live on NPR. This fall’s U.S. engagements represent the GCO’s second international tour of 2025, following a collaboration with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Choir at Germany’s Leipzig Bachfest, of which the Leipziger Volkszeitung writes: “Galilee Chamber Orchestra plays excellently: finely tuned, sensitively responsive, springy and elegant in sound, precise in articulation.”
The upcoming U.S. tour introduces American audiences to Palestinian Israeli composer Nizar Elkhater (b.1985), whose works embrace both classical and Arabic musical traditions. Elkhater’s honors include the Israeli Prime Minister’s Prize for Composers and the Tsadik Prize for Composers, through which the GCO commissioned nocturnal whispers. Described by the composer as “a sonic meditation on memory, presence, and the elusive nature of meaning,” his symphonic poem will receive its U.S., Philadelphia, and New York premieres on the tour.
Galilee Chamber Orchestra: U.S. tour
Saleem Ashkar, Artistic Director and Conductor
Nov 17
Gainesville, FL
Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Nizar ELKHATER: nocturnal whispers (U.S. premiere of GCO commission)
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 23 (with Bruce Liu, piano)
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish”
Nov 19
Philadelphia, PA
Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
Nizar ELKHATER: nocturnal whispers (Philadelphia premiere of GCO commission)
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 23 (with Bruce Liu, piano)
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish”
Nov 20
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage)
Nizar ELKHATER: nocturnal whispers (New York premiere of GCO commission)
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 23 (with Bruce Liu, piano)
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish”