Celebratory re-birth of Keshet Eilon
The future of an internationally renowned Israeli music centre close to the Lebanese border, Keshet Eilon, was the focus of a star-spangled evening of music featuring a cast of brilliant artists.
Shimon Farkas and Eden Shifroni Photo: Roman Polura
Keshet Eilon CEO Nitza Avidan stated, ‘We want to return Keshet Eilon to its former glory,’ she said, ‘We want the sound of music to cover the sound of cannons’.
The organisation, so far, had supported more than 1650 young musicians from 53 countries. Programs included a ‘transformational’ International Masters course with ‘the best teachers in the world’, as well as invaluable concert hall performance opportunities, chamber music, ensemble coaching and individual lessons.
Keshet Eilon, which attracted participants to its winter and spring seminars, is being refurbished and once again repurposed as a ‘home’ for gifted young musicians from Israel and abroad. Until the recent restoration of ‘normal’ life in northern Israel, Israeli soldiers occupied the Keshet student residence.
Klezmer and jazz trio (from left), violinist Ben Adler, saxophonist Eli Vanunu, pianist Paul Khodor Photo: Roman Polura
According to the Chair of Keshet Eilon, Jean Judes, ‘our students have joined the top echelons of the music world as soloists, and some are concertmasters in prestigious orchestras, such as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin, London, New York and Boston’.
The Sydney celebration of and introduction to Keshet Eilon featured several gifted performers, including soprano Eden Shifroni, who leaves for London in September, having won several prestigious scholarships enabling her to study at the Royal College of Music Opera Studio. Recently, Shifroni won the Marianne Mathy Scholarship awarded at the IFAC Handa Singing Competition, as well as the Opera Australia Audition Prize. She is also the recipient of the 2025 Alastair Jackson International Opera Award. Royal College of Music Head of Vocal and Opera, Nicholas Sears, who led the selection panel, said: ‘Eden stood out from a strong field in terms of sheer vocal quality, artistry and musicality, proving herself to be the most fitting recipient of Alastair’s wonderful generosity and the aspirations of the Royal College of Music/Melba Opera Trust partnership.’
Eden, a distinguished graduate of the University of Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music, where she spent six years, told the evening’s compere, Daniel Rojas, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Music at the Sydney Conservatorium, ‘I’m ready for a new chapter’.
Described by Professor Rojas as ‘a star in the making in the opera world’, Shifroni dazzled the audience with her exquisite voice and presence, infusing her program with lyrical and poetic qualities. Together with her celebrated grandfather, chief cantor of Central Synagogue Shimon Farkas, Shifroni performed a moving rendition of ‘Bring him Home’ from Les Miserables, which the duo amended to ‘Bring them home’, evoking the plight of the hostages in Gaza.
The evening’s stellar cast comprised an additional four formidable musicians: violinist Ben Adler, cellist Chris Pidcock, saxophonist Eli Vanunu, and pianist Paul Khodor. Adler is the co-founder of the Klezmer fusion band Chutney, the Director of the Jewish Music Festival Shir, and Musical Curator at Emanuel Synagogue. He coordinated the evening’s program under the aegis of his offshoot ensemble Chutney Unplugged. Superbly gifted cellist Pidcock, who participated in the 2008 International Cello Congress in Israel, is a member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Saxophonist Vanunu, who created his own Ethno-Jazz ensemble specialising in a fusion of traditional Jewish music and jazz, dazzled the audience with his musicality. Pianist and Moriah graduate Paul Khodor collaborates with Adler in performing their own compositions, as well as devising modern arrangements of traditional Klezmer music. Their performance and original interpretation of Jerusalem of Gold was profoundly moving. Adler, Vanunu and Khodor combined in a high-energy performance that enthralled and delighted the audience.
Adler praised Keshet Eilon as a gateway for future musical leaders in Israel and around the world. Turning to the local musical scene, he described the many difficulties Jewish musicians now encounter on a daily basis. Jewish artists, he said, find it challenging to ‘jump through the many hoops’ placed in their paths by gatekeeper on the hard left, which complicates their lives and careers. In a plea for community support of Jewish musicians at this time, he added, ‘Write the next stage of our story with us.’
