The newly formed Integrative Orchestra will make Israeli music history when it debuts on February 20 in a concert at 3 p.m. at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, since it is comprised of approximately half musicians with various disabilities and half students from the prestigious academy, says The Jerusalem Post.
This debut concert will be a festive community concert at the academy. The Integrative Orchestra will play pieces in very different styles, including songs by Idan Raichel and Yehudit Ravitz, as well as a Hebrew rendition of “What a Wonderful World,” the classic made famous by Louis Armstrong. The orchestra will perform some pieces with the Music Ulpan of the Eshkol Community Center Music Conservatory.The instruments the orchestra features are as diverse as its members, including violins, guitars, percussion instruments and darbuka, pianos and singers.
Participants in the orchestra and their families are enthusiastic about how the group is fostering friendships and connections that go beyond the music. It was created in a pioneering partnership between SHEKEL – Inclusion for People with Disabilities and the Jerusalem Academy, supported by Perach, a student tutorial project, and the US Embassy’s American Centre in Jerusalem.
