The Fourth Liturgical Music Festival in Nazareth – December 15-18, 2022
Dear guests,
Welcome to the Liturgical Music Festival in Nazareth.
The Liturgical Festival is now in its fourth year—and this time larger and more festive than ever before. We are proud to present you with an event that has already become an integral part of the musical calendar for culture-lovers in Israel; an artistic tradition that has quickly taken root, establishing the Liturgical Festival as a quality music event drawing scores of music lovers and tourists to Nazareth during the days leading up to the Christmas holiday.
The Liturgical Festival continues to grow each year, evident in our expanded concert offerings and increased number of participants. More than one hundred prominent musicians will take part in this year's Liturgical Festival. Among them, we are proud to once again host the Collegium Vocale Hannover Choir—joining us from Germany in full ensemble— with a series of performances that will ignite the imagination of music lovers everywhere: beginning with a breathtaking a-cappella concert featuring an outstanding artistic program that is unusual to our region; to a one-time collaboration with Noa (Achinoam Nini) — a true friend of the Polyphony Education association — who will bring Dona Nobis Pacem to the stage in Israel, accompanied by Gil Dor and the Polyphonic Quartet; and ending with the festival’s closing concert, in which the choir will join the Galilee Chamber Orchestra (Polyphony) and Nazareth-born international conductor Saleem Abboud Ashkar for a festive rendition of Mendelssohn’s oratorio, Elijah.
The Liturgical Festival also offers tastes of the different worlds of liturgical music: an afternoon concert of Baroque gems combining prayer, love, and gratitude; a mesmerizing musical journey into the world of Sufi dancers; and a closing recital during which Saleem Abboud Ashkar and baritone singer Yair Polishook will dive deep into the depths of Dvožak's Biblical Songs.
The Liturgical Festival, with its diverse programming and targeted focus on the liturgical sources of the three monotheistic religions, is an artistic reflection of the ongoing work of Polyphony Education — a non-profit association and the living spirit behind the Liturgical Festival. Polyphony Education was established for the purpose of promoting musical excellence among the younger generation and to no less use music as a bridge for shared living and cooperation between Arab and Jewish societies in Israel.
Today more than ever, we wish to bring a voice of harmony and togetherness in the hope for a blessed new year. Beyond its unique musical experience, we believe that the Liturgical Festival offers the ability to strengthen cooperation within Israeli society as a whole, in all its various components.
We invite everyone to join us in Nazareth for a magical weekend filled with music, in a unique Christmas atmosphere that is truly unlike any other.
Nabeel Abboud-Ashkar,
Executive Director and Artistic Director, Polyphonic Education
