Jerusalem Culture

Israel appears at first sight to be a brash, assertive society. However, to see Israelis express themselves in music and art is to realise the underlying emotional depth of this richly talented nation. It is striking that most buskers here are playing classical music. Several world-class classical music events take place in Israel, including the International Harp Contest held every three years (the next one, which will be the 17th, is scheduled for 2009). In addition, there are important classical music festivals, such as those at Kibbutz Ein Gev and the Kibbutz Kfar Blum. The Israel Festival, bringing a high-culture mix of music, drama and dance, turns Jerusalem into the world's cultural stage for three weeks in May and June.

The Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts, 20 Marcus Street (tel: (02) 560 5757/55; website: www.jerusalem-theatre.co.il), in the Yemin Moshe area of west Jerusalem, serves as the city's unofficial cultural centre. This venue and the Jerusalem Film Center, Hebron Road (tel: (02) 565 4333; website: www.jer-cin.org.il) (the city's trendy centre for art house films) are worth visiting in their own right, as places to absorb the buzz of creativity amongst Israel's most talented performers.

The best ticket agencies for nearly all concerts and theatre performances in Jerusalem are Bimot, 8 Shamai Street (tel: (02) 623 7000; website: www.bimot.co.ilm) and Klaim, 12 Shamai Street (tel: (02) 622 2333). Travellers to the city hoping to catch live shows can also buy tickets in person from the various box offices.

Listings for major events (with web links) can be found online at the Jerusalem municipal website (www.jerusalem.muni.il).

Music: The Henry Crown Symphony Hall, 5 Chopin Street, is the home of the excellent Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (tel: (02) 566 0211; website: www.jso.co.il). The world-renowned Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (tel: (02) 645 4647 or 1 700 703 030 (tickets); website: www.ipo.co.il), under its famous director Zubin Mehta, rotates performances between its main base in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem. Visitors to Jerusalem may find obtaining tickets for its concerts in the city very difficult, as they are often sold out months ahead - so it is wise to book before your trip to Israel. Such is the level of devotion to the orchestra, the ensemble boasts almost 30,000 season ticket holders - the largest subscription public per capita in the world. When it performs in Jerusalem, concerts are at the Binyanei Hauma - Jerusalem International Convention Center, 1 Shazar Street, near the Central Bus Station (tel: (02) 655 8558; website: www.iccjer.co.ilm).

Theatre: The city's principal performance stage is the Jerusalem Theatre, 20 Marcus Street, in the Yemin Moshe district (tel: (02) 560 5755; website: www.jerusalem-theatre.co.il), with four fine auditoriums. Arguably the most innovative theatre for new drama is the Khan Theatre, 2 David Remez Square (tel: (02) 671 8281), which performs four or five plays every season. The repertory is divided between new plays from Israel and around the world, classics and adaptations. Performances are mainly in Hebrew.

Dance: Lovers of dance will have no problem finding what they want in Israel. The renowned Israel Ballet (Israel's national classical ballet company) performs mainly in its home town of Tel Aviv, with occasional productions in Jerusalem. Several professional modern dance companies, most based in Tel Aviv, perform throughout the country and abroad - best known are Inbal Dance Theater and Batsheva Dance Company, both based at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv (website: www.suzannedellal.org.il). Jerusalem's own internationally acclaimed, Mechola Dance Company, 43 Emek Refaim (tel: (02) 563 6663; website: http://us.geocities.com/mehola.geo), stages vibrant, imaginative modern dance, as well as folk, ethnic and jazz dance performances.

Film: Most foreign films in Jerusalem are screened in their original version with Hebrew subtitles. Among the most popular mainstream cinemas are Rav Chen, 19 HaOman Street in Talpiot (tel: (02) 679 2799; website: www.rav-hen.co.il), and the GG Gil, Jerusalem Mall, Malha Street (tel: (02) 678 8448). The Lev Smadar, 4 Lloyd George Street (tel: (02) 561 8168), is a highly regarded, comfortable art house cinema. However, the best place for cinema in Jerusalem is the Cinematheque, at the Jerusalem Film Center, Hebron Road (tel: (02) 565 4333; website: www.jer-cin.org.il). The Cinematheque has two auditoria showing classics, critically acclaimed new releases and foreign art house films.

Many well-known films include scenes in Jerusalem, such as the finale of Schindler's List (1993). Israel has a productive film industry of its own, and The Jerusalem Foundation offers funding to film makers whose works are set mainly in the Israeli capital. Several award-winning films have been set partly in Jerusalem - and not usually the parts tourists see, such as Ushpizin (2004) depicting an encounter between the ultra-secular and Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community, Someone To Run With (2006), a drama of teenage runaways in the city, based on a novel by David Grossman, or Sour Milk (2007), about a girl caught up in anti-Jewish riots in 1929.

Literary Notes: Some of Israel's greatest writers were born in the 1930s. Many of them lived in Jerusalem at the start of the Arab-Israeli War, which followed the foundation of Israel in 1948. Constant themes are the conflict between the religious life of Judaism and the life of the modern secular Jew; and the contradiction of Jerusalem as the holy, eternal city of God and Jerusalem as the man-made, political city of human conflict.

A B Yehoshua deals with these issues in his novel, The Lover (1977), which describes a husband's attempt to trace his wife's lover, who disappeared during the Yom Kippur War of 1973. The husband finds the man living within a community of Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem and attempts to persuade him to rejoin the modern secular reality of life in the city. In Amos Oz's novel, My Michael (1968), the tension between violence and spiritual yearning in Jerusalem leads to strains within a Jewish couple's marriage as they become more aware of both the threat and the hope offered by the city's Arab population. Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) was one of the country's most admired and most successful writers. The author of more than 75 books, Amichai's works have been published around the world. While also much admired for his love poems, it was his ability to capture the dynamics of Israel's inner tensions and historical evolution that proved to be his most enduring contribution to Hebrew literature.