The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra cultivates the next generation of talent

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Academy is the first in Israel specifically designed to prepare talented young musicians for a career with a professional orchestra.

By SARAH HERSHENSON NOVEMBER 20, 2024 00:13

IPO ACADEMY participants, from left, are Tamar Deutsch, Inbar Segev Susar, Alevtyna Rakhmanina, and Nasif Francis. (photo credit: RAMI ZARNEGAR)

Becoming a member of a top-tier orchestra takes more than just learning the notes. Recognizing the need for training at a professional level, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra has opened the IPO Academy, the first in Israel specifically designed to prepare talented young musicians for a career with a professional orchestra.

Participants in this program, which provides two years of mentoring and internship with the IPO, focus on honing their orchestral skills. The goals of the academy are to provide practical, hands-on training to develop top-notch orchestral players. The IPO program mentors provide one-to-one advice on technical matters, insights, and tips for mental preparation, including developing skills such as sight reading, dealing with minimum preparation time, audition techniques, and a whole basket of practical tools gleaned over many years of experience.

“Our goal,” says program director Amit Melzer, “is to give these outstanding young musicians a comprehensive, hands-on experience to succeed in different performance situations. They will not only play subscription concerts but will also go on tours with the IPO and participate in the IPO chamber music series, the Focus programs, and IPO performances in Israel’s periphery communities.”

“It is like a full-time job as well as a full-time learning experience,” he added. “It will level us up with the European orchestras and be a boon to Academy participants and the IPO.

AVISHAI COHEN with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra on December 24 at the Tel Aviv Culture Center. (credit: Antwerp Symphony & Thomas Geuens)

Two years of dedicated planning

Spurred by IPO Music Director Lahav Shani and formulated by two years of dedicated planning, the IPO Academy, financed by donors Judy and Steward Colton, held its first auditions this year. The winners, four young string players – Tamar Deutsch, cello; Inbar Segev Susar, viola; Alevtyna Rakhmanina, violin; and Nasif Francis, violin – are 2024 graduates of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Tel Aviv University.

Next spring and every year forward, auditions will be held for four more participants and open to players of wind, string, and percussion instruments from around the world.

“Winning acceptance into the IPO Academy program is my dream come true,” said Rakhmanina.

Born in Kyiv in 2002, she explains that her parents are musicians and she began violin studies at the age of four. After graduating from the prestigious Kyiv Secondary Specialized Music School, named after composer, conductor, and Ukrainian pedagogue M.V. Lysenko, she came to Israel at the age of 17 to study at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music and will graduate with a degree in violin performance and orchestra training.

“My acceptance into the IPO Academy program, after finishing my BA will be another big boost to my career,” she said. “There are no lectures or classroom work, only practical applications of what I have been learning my whole life.”

“We will have mock auditions under professional conditions twice a year and experience performing under other sorts of conditions. It is all about gaining practical orchestral skills with the added benefit of tips and technical points from the individual conductors and IPO members who are our mentors. We just returned from performances in Frankfurt, Germany, with Zubin Mehta conducting, and it was an amazing experience.”