Nelly Perry and the pianist Gil Shohat

I am very happy to report another successful musical evening with Gil Shohat - composer, conductor and pianist. Two hundred music-lovers gathered at the Sharon Hotel to hear Gil give another excellent performance in aid of ESRA’s Hand-in-Hand Food Pantry in Netanya. He answered questions on the knighthood which he received last year from the French government in recognition of his contribution to arts and culture, and his latest composition, which premiered in January of this year, The Child Dreams, commissioned by the Israel Opera to mark its 25^th anniversary.

His musical program included Debussy and Ravel and the audience was thrilled to hear explanations on the pieces that he played, as well as on the composers. He also played an encore, Over the Rainbow, which I asked him to play as a reminder of a wonderful jazz concert I attended in Rehovot last year where he starred together with the famous Russian jazz pianist Ptashka. We sold CDs, as well as signed photos of scenes from The Child Dreams, all of which were kindly donated by Gil. All raffle prizes were donated and the raffle was drawn by members of the committee. A wonderful evening was had by all.

We are very grateful to Gil who once again donated his performance and to the owners of the Sharon Hotel for the beautiful venue and tasty food. They helped us to set high goals for our fundraising efforts, which get more difficult each year in view of the present financial climate.