At St. Andrew's Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem, the Israeli Vocal Ensemble (music director: Yuval Benozer) performs works based on biblical texts.

The Israeli Vocal Ensemble, Maestro Yuval Benozer back far right (Doron Oved)

 

The Bible has provided (and continues to provide) an inexhaustible source of inspiration to musicians, especially when it comes to choral repertoire. The Israeli Vocal Ensemble opened its 33rd concert season with "After These Things…Bible Stories in Voices". Taking place at St. Andrew's Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem, on November 28th 2025, the concert was conducted by IVE founder/ music director Yuval Benozer. Joining the ensemble were  pianist Janna Kopelev and Itamar Leshem (horn). The program included works from the 16th- to the 21st centuries and from several countries.

 

Opening with a solo (Stefan Blochwitz), "Absalom, my son" (2 Samuel 18:33), composed by Michael Barrett (b.1983, South Africa) offered a marvellous mix of textures, modality, autumnal harmonies and pedal points, taking the listener from the narrative to the personal, emotional pain of David (as do all the works using the same text.). And to one of the supreme examples of late Renaissance repertoire, five ensemble members performed Thomas Tomkins' "When David heard". The singers, their rendition unmarred by vibrato, were attentive to each other, as they presented the blend of polyphony, harmonic content and emotion of this small gem. Ensemble member Dor Magen conducted the same text (in Spanish) as composed by Joaquin Rodrigo "Triste estabael Rey David" (1950). Taking it at a relaxed pace, Magen's direction gave expression to the fine details of this sombre work, its contrasting melodies, the convergence of vocal lines and the psalm-tone timbre (with grace notes) creating the lamentation's specific Spanish sound world.

 

For me, one of the highlights of the concert was the performance of "Da Jakob vollendet hatte" (When Jacob had finished the instructions to his children, Genesis 49:33 & 50:1) by Johann Hermann Schein. This piece belongs to the 1623 "Israelis Brünnlein" (Fountains of Israel) collection, composed by Schein in the Italian madrigal style, most of the texts taken from the Old Testament. From the motet’s densely chromatic opening, Benozer and singers gave articulate, meticulously-phrased expression to its remarkable images of grief and to the word painting woven into this piece, indeed, one of the most extraordinary documents of the early German Baroque.

 

The program included a number of Israeli compositions. Tastefully accompanied by Janna Kopelev, tenor Daniel Portnoy performed "In the Beginning" (lyrics: Haim Hefer, melody: Sasha Argov), his rendering clean, genial and communicative, as he presented the narrative with freshness and good humour. In Israeli composer/conductor Tzvi Sherf's splendid arrangement of "In the Beginning (Genesis)" (music/lyrics: Don McClean, 1978), the ensemble gave a coherent, colourful delivery of the song's upbeat, richly-detailed verbal- and musical text. As to "Vayimalet Kayin" (And Cain Fled), the IVE's male singers conveyed the rhythmic, muscular energy of Yehezkel Braun's distinctive setting of Yaakov Shabtai's poem. The text tells of Cain (soloist: Michael Bachner, portraying a self-pitying Cain), having murdered his brother Abel, wandering the earth and finding no respite. Again, on the theme of family tragedy, Canadian-born Israeli composer Aharon Harlap's "Bat Yiftach" (Jeptha's Daughter, Judges 11:29-39) relates the story of Jephtha willing to sacrifice whoever comes forth from the doors of his house on his return from war, if God grants him victory in battle. It is his daughter, who dances out to greet him. Harlap's score calls for SATB choir, French horn solo and two vocal soloists. With the French horn's sound traditionally associated with destiny, Itamar Leshem's playing is majestic, setting the fateful scene, also concluding the work. Harlap's writing, stringent, chromatic and uncompromising, entrusts the choir with the narrative. Baritone Dov Antin made for a gripping Jephtha, with Liron Givoni' giving an emotional portrayal of his daughter. 

 

Born in Estonia in 1935, Arvo Pärt's deep Christian faith has shaped his globally celebrated compositions. "Which Was the Son of" was commissioned by the city of Reykjavík for its European Capital of Culture 2000 program.  Inspired by Iceland’s tradition of reciting family names, the composer sets a passage from the Gospel of Luke that lists the order of Jesus’ descent and his lineage. At the Jerusalem concert, we were presented with a fascinating (indeed, mesmerizing) performance of the work. This was no monotonous listing of names. Indeed, Maestro Benozer led the singers through a high-energy reading of the work, its different sections employing chordal and melodic elements, dynamic variety and fluid interchanges of voices, ultimately arriving at a multi-voiced polyphonic section, in which the names of Adam and God are highlighted. With precision and fine diction, the singers undertook the pronunciation of Scripture proper names as indicated in the score's table of signs.  An outstanding performance of this unique work!

 

The Israeli Vocal Ensemble's repertoire includes a number of Afro-American spirituals. These works constitute splendid concert fare. We heard American composer/arranger Mark Hayes' jazzy, finger-snapping setting of "Go Down Moses" (Solo: Ronen Ravid), a dose of whimsy added by Hayes to the original Gospel song.  "Shadrack" (Robert MacGimsey, arr. Charles R. Casey), brimful of foot-tapping dance rhythms and vocal effects endorsing the song's quirky style of narrative, was followed by Moses Hogan's rich, sophisticated vocal writing in his arrangement of "The Battle of Jericho", and splendidly performed. 

 

Ronen Ravid's eloquent reading of some of the song texts added an extra dimension to this concert of fine programming and consummate performance.  

 

For an encore, the ensemble gave a colourful rendition of Matti Caspi’s “Farewell to Noah’s Ark” (lyrics: Nurit Zarhi, arr. Tzvi Sherf.)