On Jan 10, Duo Amal – celebrated Israeli-Palestinian piano duo – performs live in L.A. alongside screening of award-winning documentary AMAL / Hope
(December 17, 2025) — AMAL / Hope (2025) is now available worldwide on YouTube. A documentary short from Chinese-American filmmaker Eros Zhao, it chronicles the musical collaboration and friendship between the two pianists of Duo Amal, the Israeli-Palestinian piano duo of Bishara Haroni and Yaron Kohlberg. Following the film’s global release on December 3, AMAL / Hope comes to Los Angeles’s Zipper Hall on January 10, when the screening will accompany a rare live recital and post-performance Q&A session with Duo Amal.
Taking its name from the Arabic word for hope, Duo Amal embodies Haroni and Kohlberg’s shared belief in the transcendent and healing power of music. Indeed, by uniting artists from opposite sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the ensemble has been hailed as a beacon of hope. Their collaboration is rooted in the exceptional musical compatibility and deep, transformative friendship that have sustained both pianists for the past 25 years. “It’s very hard to find great musicians that have the same taste. To feel such a deep connection, that’s very rare,” reflects Haroni. “Bishara is one of the closest people to me in the world. I’m still learning all the time from him,” affirms Kohlberg. “Our friendship has really changed me as a person.” The two explain:
“Every performance is a conversation between us. The piano becomes our shared language – where we listen, respond, disagree, harmonize. It’s not about erasing differences, but exploring what’s possible when we truly listen.”
Commentators are quick to sense their special synergy. “This is not only a wonderful sign of friendship between their people but certainly a musical collaboration to enjoy,” says eminent conductor Zubin Mehta. “It’s hard to imagine that these two pianists, so synchronized in their music-making, grew up in such different worlds,” writes The World. As Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald puts it, “Duo Amal is clearly like-minded, with the two pianists close friends, something that translates into their performance: synchronised, empathetic and, at times, with an edge of humour.”
The pianists were born just 100 miles apart, Haroni to a Palestinian family in Nazareth and Kohlberg to a Jewish one in Jerusalem, where the two first met as teenagers. Impressed by one another’s playing, each started attending the other’s performances, and their casual acquaintance gradually blossomed into something more meaningful. They made their first public appearance together in 2008, playing duets in a peace-themed concert at Norway’s Oslo Opera House. Since then, Duo Amal has performed at leading venues worldwide, from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and Cleveland’s Severance Hall to the Beethovenfest Bonn, City of London Festival, Beijing Concert Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, and United Nations headquarters in Geneva.
Both artists recognize their collaboration as the most fulfilling and important of their careers. Having toured together less frequently in recent years while prioritizing solo roles and projects, now they are primed once more to take Duo Amal center stage. They say:
“This reunion isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about necessity. The world has grown louder, more divided, more fragile. But our friendship remains, as does our need to make something beautiful across the lines that others say should divide us.”
Ultimately, they agree:
“We are not here to offer answers. We are here to offer music – complicated, layered, sometimes dissonant, sometimes breathtakingly in sync. Just like the story we share.”
That shared story is captured in Zhao’s AMAL / Hope. Created in collaboration with producer Maria Giacchino, director of photography Oded Plotznizki, and editor Mo Stoebe, with music arranged by Jeff Kryka and mixed by Brian Vibberts, the film won “Best Documentary Short” at this year’s Bali International Film Festival. Calling it “a heartfelt story about how ‘the same’ we are, despite our sometimes very stark differences,” the Balinese jury concluded:
“The music scenes, they say as much as the words, about how these two musicians have managed to meld together into one voice. AMAL / Hope is a perfect name and a great film.”
Duo Amal in L.A.
Jan 10
Los Angeles, CA
Zipper Hall, Colburn School
Screening of AMAL / Hope (2025), dir. Eros Zhao
Live duo recital