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Abu Ghosh Vocal Music Festival

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Abu Ghosh Vocal Music Festival

The Abu Ghosh Vocal Music Festival is a vocal music festival that takes place biannually during the Jewish holidays of Sukkot and Shavuot, at Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant Church in Abu Ghosh, Israel and the surrounding area.

The festival started out in 1957, when pharmacology professor at the Jerusalem Medical School Felix Zolmann and pianist and conductor Zigi Shtaderman discovered the acoustic wonders of the church at the top of the mountain. Back then, the festival took place during the four Saturdays of the month of May, two concerts every Saturday afternoon. The audience would arrive with picnic baskets, sit on picnic mats in front of the church, and join in the choir's chorales and madrigals.

The festival served the purpose of exposing people to church music, which was banned in other halls due to pressure from Jewish religious groups. During the years, it was the only place in Israel where one could come to listen to Masses and Cantatas.

Back then, the festival was a non-profit event. The musicians and choir singers came from all over Israel and from foreign countries as well in order to do the job out of pure love for music. The church also hosted the festival free of charge. The audience paid a small fee in order to account for festival expenses only.

In 1972, after 15 years successful years of the festival, the church's order management had changed and the new managers did not show much interest in the continuation of the festival, due to it not providing any income for the church nor providing any missionary contribution. Zigi Shtaderman tried to move the festival to the Kibbutz Ein Hashofet, but could not withstand the expenses, thus left the country shortly afterwards. He taught music in New York City, and died there in July 2011.

Initiated by Gershon Cohen, the festival was renewed in 1992, and since has been managed by the Association for the Promotion of Music and Culture in Abu Ghosh and the Judean Mountains, whose secretary is Binyamin Gdalyahu. The festival attracts music lovers from all over the country thanks to its artistic program which includes numerous choirs from Israel and the rest of the world, combined with great acoustics and a great view.

References

Abu Ghosh Vocal Music Festival Wikipedia