A first night audience of 3, 000 men and women in evening dress turned out today for the first concert to be played in Tel Aviv’s brand new Frederick R. Mann Auditorium by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Bernstein, leading American composer-conductor.
The new home of Israel’s leading symphony orchestra was built with funds contributed by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. It is named for Mr. Mann, chairman of the board of the foundation who contributed $250, 000 toward the cost of the Auditorium.
Present in the audience were President Itzhak Ben Zvi, Premier David Ben Gurion, members of the government and Parliament, a White House representative Maxwell Rabb and the American Ambassador to Athens, George Allen. Mr. Ben Gurion, in a few words of greeting, expressed the hope that “this auditorium will not be the only home of the orchestra, but the base from which it will make excursions to remote settlements from Dan to Elath and bring the beauty of music to our pioneers. ” The soloists at the concert were Isaac Stern, violinist, and Arthur Rubinstein, pianist.
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.
