President Eisenhower tonight greeted the American tour of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra as a contribution toward the strengthening of Israeli-American relationships. The Philharmonic opened its seven-week program of North American appearances at a gala concert at the Metropolitan Opera House here tonight.
“I hope the tour of the United States, arranged under the auspices of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, will be highly successful,” Mr. Eisenhower stated in a letter to Samuel Rubin, president of the Foundation. “I know,” Mr. Eisenhower continued, “it will bring much enjoyment to those individuals privileged to hear the orchestra, and I am certain it will be helpful in further strengthening the relationships between the two countries.”
The opening concert, given under the patronage of Israel’s Foreign Minister, Mrs. Golda Meir, marked the New York debut of Carlo Maria Giulini, musical director of the tour. The program included numbers by yon Weber, Stravinsky and Brahms, and the American premiere of “Two Symphonic Movements from Psalm” by the young Israeli composer, Noam Sheriff.
Among those attending the concert were Adlai Stevenson; former Senator Herbert H. Lehman; Senator Jacob K. Javits; Levi Eshkol, Israeli Finance Minister; Aryeh Manor, Israel Minister for Economic Affairs; Avraham Harman, Israel Ambassador to the United States; Leonard Bernstein; Dr. Josef Krips, who will conduct the second New York concert as well as five others on the tour; Dr. Nahum Goldman, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel; Billy Rose, who recently made a million-dollar gift of sculpture to Israel; Jacques Lipschitz, Martha Graham, Robert S. Benjamin, Arthur Krim, Richard Tucker, Curtis Roosevelt and Abe Stark, president of the City Council of New York.
Co-sponsor of the American tour of the orchestra, with the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, is the J.M. Kaplan Fund, Inc. The tour is under the management of S. Hurok.
Following the performance, 1,000 persons attended a formal supper ball in the Hotel Astor, at which the guests of honor were Mr. and Mrs. Jacob M. Kaplan. William Mazer was chairman of the sponsors committee for the premiere performance and ball.
The Israel Philharmonic will play two additional performances in New York tomorrow and Tuesday evening, at Carnegie Hall. The first week will be concluded with performances in Baltimore on Thursday, and on Saturday at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Eisenhower is honorary chairman of the Washington performance, which will be followed by a diplomatic ball at the Mayflower Hotel, given by Ambassador Harman.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
