Classical music festival WILL happen after all

Details: Published: Tuesday, 06 January 2009 00:29

The Red Sea Classical Festival featuring conductor Valeri Gregiev, slated for cancellation this year because the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Culture could not commit to financial participation, will be held as planned during 26-28 February, 2009. The Eilat Municipality stepped in at the last minute and committed to an additional 200,000 NIS safety net to ensure that this world renowned event takes place. The Isrotel hotel chain has also stepped in with an additional safety net of 100,000 NIS, in addition to buying 2100 tickets (700 per concert) in advance.

The Classical on the Red Sea music festival under the conductorship and musical direction of Valeri Gregiev, the ‘magician of sounds', has become a ‘name' in Israel and throughout the world. It draws numerous music lovers together from all over the country and abroad to enjoy a rare musical experience. Like the Municipality, the Isrotel chain also believes the classical music festival in Eilat is of prime importance in Eilat's cultural and tourism scene and is investing every effort in ensuring its success, including allocation of free hotel rooms to some 260 musicians and associated staff with the guest orchestra.

This year Valeri Gregiev is planning to present Mahler's 8^th for the first time, with the participation of two choirs (50 children, 100 adults, and 130 musicians). The compositions to be played also include a concert rendition of the opera Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky as well as a Rachmaninov Concerto for Piano and Orchestra featuring pianist Alexander Valodin, along with Prokofiev's ‘Alexander Nevsky' that was composed as a score for a film of the same name.

The budget for the eighth annual classical festival to be held in Eilat is around 5 million NIS. Last year the Ministry of Tourism's participation was around half a million, and that of the Ministry of Culture and Sports about 50,000. The Eilat Municipality's part, after raising it by 300,000 from the preceding year, was some 800,000 NIS. The Eilat Hotels Association put in 300,000 NIS. The rest of the funding was by sponsors and through ticket sales.

The last few weeks the mayor and deputy mayor of Eilat have been meeting with the various ministries to try and obtain financial backing for the festival, citing on the one hand the city's difficulties in funding it without the participation of government offices while on the other hand reiterating the importance of continuing to hold the festival. This week the ministries confirmed their part of financial commitments, the Ministry of Tourism confirming 250,000 and the Ministry of Culture 150,000 NIS.

The Eilat Municipality, which sees the festival of primary importance for tourism in any case and particularly right now with the situation as it is, decided to add a safety net of an additional 200,000 NIS in case government ministries, sponsorships, and ticket sales do not meet the budget. While the Ministry of Culture upped its contribution from last year, the Municipality hopes that the Ministry of Tourism will at the very least match last year's participated.