Polyphony Concert at Kehillah - Their Mission: Aiming to Bridge the Divide Between Arab and Jewish Communities in Israel Through Music

Polyphony Concert at Kehillah – Their Mission: Aiming to Bridge the Divide Between Arab and Jewish Communities in Israel Through Music

Lisa Strauss

During an all-school assembly today, we welcomed a group of Polyphony Foundation musicians to Kehillah to play a concert for students and faculty. The Polyphony Quartet brings together violinists Yamen Saadi and Edi Kotlyar, violist Yoav Yatzkin and cellist Mahdi Saadi for a performance of western classical music and Jewish and Middle Eastern folk tunes. The program will include Schubert’s String Quartet No. 13 in A minor (Rosamunde Quartet), a full string quartet by an Israeli composer inspired by traditional Arab folk music and a number of Arab folk tunes arranged for string quartet.

The Polyphony Quartet in Concert is a participatory evening with young Arab and Jewish musicians from Israel, creating our new reality of face-to-face human engagement. Polyphony shortens the distance between Arab and Jewish communities in Israel through music, while serving as a worldwide model for cooperation based on cultural exchange, dialogue and partnership.

Their performance was beautiful and inspiring. We thank them for visiting today and wish them luck on their tour!