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The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Tizmoret Filharmonit Yisrael, IPO) was founded in 1936 by Polish violinist Bronisław Huberman as the Palestine Symphony Orchestra. The inaugural concert was led by Arturo Toscanini. The orchestra was renamed IPO in 1948 with the founding of the State. Zubin Mehta served as music director from 1968 to 2019, over 50 years, the longest tenure of any orchestra music director in history. The IPO's permanent home is Heichal HaTarbut (Charles Bronfman Auditorium) in Tel Aviv, and many of its musicians arrived through the post-1990 Russian and Eastern European aliyah.
Cultural note, The IPO is one of Israel's cultural cornerstones. Concerts at Heichal HaTarbut are formal affairs, often sold out, with subscriptions passed down across generations of Tel Aviv families. The orchestra has a long-standing unofficial ban on Wagner, his antisemitism and Nazi appropriation make him a third rail in Israeli concert halls. Major guest conductors over the decades include Leonard Bernstein (a frequent collaborator), Herbert von Karajan (controversially), and Mehta himself. Lahav Shani, an Israeli prodigy, took over as music director in 2020. Knowing the IPO repertoire is Tel Aviv elite cultural shorthand.
IPO Basics
Music Directors & Conductors
Famous Israeli Musicians
Orchestra Instruments
Classical Music Vocabulary
An IPO Concert at Heichal HaTarbut
Two Tel Aviv residents attend an IPO concert with Lahav Shani conducting Mahler's 5th Symphony.