Keresés

The Katica Illényi Tour in Israel

thetrademark
2014. szept. 23.
3 perc olvasás

The loving welcome and outstanding success at each concert in Israel has shown, that art is capable of building a bridge between nations and traditions, despite politics and affiliation and that it strengthens the cultural relationship among the countries.

Between the 4th and 13th of September, Katica gave seven concerts in Israel, where she was invited to by the Israeli Swing de Gitanes swing band.

The tour locations were: Haifa, Jerusalem, Modi’in, Herzliya/Zappa club and three shows at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

Katica and the Swing de Gitanes got acquainted on behalf of Oren Sagi, the bands bassist, who saw her videos on Youtube. He sent her an email, asking her to visit Israel and go on a tour with them. His plan soon became reality, thanks to Mr. Ziv Ben who is the manager of the Shamayim concert agency, and his wife Mor Ben, the agency’s PR manager. The tour was the part of the Hot Jazz Series. It’s the most significant international jazz series in Israel’s jazz scene.

The artists met for the first time on the next day of Katicas’ arrival to Israel, and started rehearsing for the shows immediately. Till then, Yaakov Hoter, Alon Sagi, Oren Sagi and Katica kept in touch and compiled their repertoire through the internet. The first rehearsal is always determining for the artists, in both, human and the artistic point of view. At times like this, the “common language” is music. It is capable to combine the respect for one another and the humility towards music into friendship among these highly qualified musicians. You could feel the joy of music, from the moment they started their rehearsal. Their music ended up in euphoria at the concert halls.

People were most interested in their performances, the artists played in front of a full house on each location. Django Reinhard/Stepnane Grappelli’s jazz numbers, the Hungarian pieces and the Mid-European gypsy music were a huge success. The peak performances of the concerts were “Edith Piaf’s La vie en rose” and the tap dance routine of “Bei mir bist Du schön”.

The third concert in Tel Aviv was held for children. The Hungarian cultural attaché Mr. Attila Novák and his family also came to this concert. Two famous actors, Dana Dvorin and Or Mashiah joined the musicians on stage. They made the concert exciting for the children, by telling stories between the numbers. This way, not only the adults, but the younger generation was also enchanted by Katicas’ and the Swing de Gitanes music.

The famous countertenor, Slava Kagan-Paley from Moscow arrived for Thursdays’ concert. The two prominent personalities of music, met behind the scenes as true fans of each other’s art.

On Friday Dror Adler and Jacob Col of the world famous Adler Trio, were among the audience. Two years ago, Katica performed with them in Budapest, so their reunion brought joyful moments to all of them.

The Ambassador of Hungary to Israel Dr. Andor Nagy, also welcomed the artist. The short sightseeing tour and the light dinner, in company of the Ambassador and his family, gave Katica a pleasant feeling of safety far from Hungary.

Katica Illényi will soon pay a visit to Poland, where she will be participating at the „Visegrád meets Japan” concert, together with the Kielce Symphony Orchestra. Shortly after that she flies to Turkey where she will perform with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra. She will finish her very prosperous year with a national Advent Tour which ends on December 22nd at the National Congress Center in Budapest.