Last night, in Tel Aviv at Tel Aviv’s music plaza, there was a modest audience of about 180 people for a live music performance conducted by David Shemer, a well known conductor in Israel. He conducted while he sat at an impressive red piano with his back to the audience. On stage were the Jerusalem baroque orchestra who just brought such cohesion to the room with their robust music, Noam Schuss and Dafna Ravid who stood out for their violin, Orit Messer Jacobi on cello, two solos from a flutist Idit Shemer and Naomi Shalev who was the master of ceremonies.
The show was broken into five musical acts. The first, Antonio Vivaldi who lived from 1678 to 1741. He was an Italian composer born in Venice and died in Vienna, Austria. The other composer in this show was Anna Bon who lived between 1738 and 1769. The entire musical program was dedicated to the “18th century damsels who were brought to a known orphanage at the time.” At this orphanage, Antonio Vivaldi taught and composed his works for these young women. Under his guidance they became professional musicians… and according to the hosts of the Wednesday program in Tel Aviv… were forgotten over the years, like many impressive females who were not given enough credit throughout history. The evening had two full works of Anna Bon who managed to compose these masterpieces at age 16.
