The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra will leave the U.S. tomorrow by plane following the completion of its first American tour embracing 55 concerts in 40 cities. A special dinner-meeting in honor of the Orchestra was given tonight by the American Fund for Israel Institutions.
The dinner also marked the launching of a $1,965,000 campaign by the Fund for the support of 66 leading cultural, educational and social welfare institutions in Israel, including the Orchestra. A half of this sum is expected to be raised in New York City, Mr. Edward A. Norman, president of the Fund, announced.
A scroll of honor was presented by Mr. Norman for the Fund to the Orchestra. Scrolls of honor were awarded also to Leonard Bernstein and Serge Koussevitsky, co-music directors of the tour, and to S. Hurok, tour manager. Israel’s Ambassador Abba Eban, in a farewell message, said that the tour “had forged still another link in the solid chain of deepening friendship between Israel and the United States.”
A short motion picture on the Orchestra’s visit to America, produced by the Voice of America for distribution in Israel, was shown to the guests. This is the first time the State Department has made a film of a visiting orchestra.
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