A third shot at a job, and it's about time to get it right. Not that Israeli conductor Yoav Talmi got it wrong the last two times, but the band he's just taken on again as now three-time music director, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, has never quite broken into the elite league.
To be fair, there are more orchestras in Israel than most people realize and than one might expect for a country of its modest size. But really, it's only the Israel Philharmonic, head and shoulders ahead of the rest in terms of international recognition, and more fitfully, the Israel Camerata and the Jerusalem Symphony orchestras that have been rated on the world stage. So, Talmi will be determined to push an orchestra founded by the much-respected conductor Gary Bertini (as the Israel Chamber Ensemble) to a higher strata.
Talmi has set out his stall in this third music directorship of the ICO with a remit to get the orchestra widespread international respect. Arguably, they never quite achieved that under Talmi's immediate predecessor Roberto Paternostro, despite much publicity for his decision to bring the orchestra to play the music of Wagner in Bayreuth.
Talmi, born on a kibbutz in 1943, has a distinguished CV--notably as founder of the New Israeli Opera Company, music director of the Arnhelm Philharmonic (1974-80), San Diego Symphony Orchestra (1987-96), Quebec Symphony Orchestra (1998-2011) and of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra for four years from 2000. He was also principal guest conductor of the Munich Philharmonic (until a falling out with incoming music director Sergiu Celibidache). He is also a respected composer, who in fact receives a special award in Israel this year for his compositions.
Whether a conductor becoming music director of the same orchestra for the third time is a record, who knows? We suspect it might be...
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