BERNSTEIN CONCERT 1948

by Mike Rubin Category: Arts Issue No. 155

Sketch by Ludwig Blum.

In 1948 after the conquest of Beersheva and the retreat of the Egyptian army back into Sinai, Leonard Bernstein conducted a concert performed by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Beersheva – for the troops.

The artist, Ludwig Blum, was present and sketched the scene. The sketch appeared in the Independence Day edition of the Haaretz newspaper 20 years later (1968). This was when Danny Caravan’s monumental monument was dedicated to the Negev Brigade (Hativat Hanegev) which had conquered Beersheva in 1948.

I was at that concert in 1948 and also went to the dedication ceremony with my children in 1968.

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Comments

Norman Spiro
2010-07-05
Your article by Mark Rubin "Bernstein Concert 1948" brought back a wonderful memory. I too had the pleasure of listening to his music in 1948, during army service. He performed in a cinema in Haifa, Armon I think it was called, and played to a full house of troops. I picture him walking on to the stage, a young guy with slim figure, about the same age as his audience. Nothing else on the stage except a grand piano at which he sat down to open with Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". With a standing prolonged ovation he had no option but to play it all over again, before carrying on to entertaining us. Norman Spiro

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About the author

Mike Rubin

Mike (Mayer) Rubin was born in Boston, USA in 1930 to a fairly religious and very Zionistic family. After attending primary school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the family (his mother had died in th...
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