Israeli review
Classical winter in Eilat
Simona Solomon | Ynet Magazine | February 4, 2008
Two stars stood out for their virtuosity and enchanting performances: the orchestra’s musical director, Gil Shohat, who conducted the main concert of the tenth ClasiCameri Festival in Eilat with virtuosic ease. The string ensemble of the Israel Chamber Orchestra opened the concert with Elgar’s Serenade for Strings in a very enjoyable and coherent performance and interpretation. … Shohat never stopped “conversing” with the orchestra and the public, and he chose to finish the concert with an amazing performance of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. It’s clear that Shohat has fully mastered the nuances of this well-known symphony, and he demonstrated that he knows how to breathe new life into it. He extracted from the score and the orchestra a whole new world of exciting sounds in very exact portions. Under Shohat, the performance was touching, just as a truly inspired masterpiece like the Erorica should be. After the first movement, which was wonderfully performed by the orchestra, Shohat amazed the audience with his conducting of the second movement: the Marche funèbre is always an emotional experience, and the cellos, the contrabasses, and especially the first oboist played excellently. … At the end of the event Shohat and the orchestra received standing ovations and extended applause from the audience, whom they had succeeded in delighting the whole evening.