Voice of Music
festival

with festival musicians Roi Shiloah, Hagai Shalom, Yael Barolsky, Tibi Cziger and Gad Lederman

This is the ultimate classical music vacation – rich, educative, pleasurable, delightful.

Ha’aretz Daily, Israel

cherished rendez-vous

Since 2021, Ofra Yitzhaki has been the artistic director of ‘Voice of Music in the Upper Galilee’, the oldest and most substantial chamber music festival in Israel. Twice every year, musicians come together to rehearse and perform in Kibbutz Kfar Blum, not far from the Lebanon border. Founded by pianist Idith Zvi, the festival is now in its 39th year and cherished by musicians and audiences alike for its combination of musical excellence and informal, friendly atmosphere.

Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds

Festival opening night, July 2023

old & new

Yitzhaki designs each festival around musical and cultural themes and concepts, presenting well-known, beloved masterpieces next to discoveries from the Israeli and international repertoire. Convinced that old and new works should go hand in hand, she programs them to illuminate one another: Schubert and Takemitsu reinforce each other's lyrical qualities, and Beethoven and Ives share a revolutionary spirit.

The program, assembled by artistic director and celebrated pianist Ofra Yitzhaki, is basically an open invitation to take a small step or two away from our comfort zones, without relinquishing our hold on the familiar.

The Jerusalem Post

interactive mornings

In her effort to reach out to festival audiences, Yitzhaki holds an informal talk about the music every morning during the festival week. In addition, some concerts include components aimed at deeper audience involvement, such as composers talking about their music or actors reciting texts from composers’ letters and diaries.

Franck's Sonata for Violin and Piano (4th Movement),

with violinist Roi Shiloah

Following Ofra Yitzhaki’s last festival season programming at Kfar Blum, I thought it would be impossible to top the abundance and interest she offered the audience. And yet, it seems that she is successfully competing with her own success.

Ha'aretz Daily, Israel

It was encouraging to see audiences with thirty-somethings and youngsters attending the concerts. Yitzhaki’s multilayered programming philosophy should help to keep the Voice of Music Festival uppermost in music lovers’ minds and hearts in the years to come.

Jerusalem Post

... a five-day roster of concerts, rehearsals and talks which traverses cultural and geographic boundaries, and dips into compositions across a broad sweep of eras, styles and genres.

Jerusalem Post