The Israel Camerata> Russian immigrants change group’s makeup

When the Iron Curtain fell, Avner Biron, who was living in Israel at the time, didn’t realize how much the change would affect the small chamber orchestra he had founded a few years earlier in Rehovot, near Tel Aviv. But when a wave of unemployed Russian string players showed up in Israel in the early 1990s, Biron saw the chance to shape the 35-piece orchestra into a fine instrument of music.

After a hefty portion of Biron’s original group was dismissed, the Russian replacements began their first jobs outside the Soviet Union. Now, with Russians in more than half the chairs, the Israel Camerata is considered by many as the best chamber orchestra in Israel. The group, which is wrapping up its first American tour, will perform Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts.

“It’s a much better orchestra with much better ability,” said Biron, who called recently from the Lower East Side in New York City, where the group was taking a break between gigs.

“We play all kinds of music from Baroque to contemporary,” he added, speaking in English with a strong Israeli accent. “These musicians are very efficient. They brought with them the traditional string playing of the Russian school. We can do almost everything.”

The tradition has also showed up in Maine. The Bangor Symphony Orchestra regularly hires free-lance musicians to fill out the string sections. Although many of those musicians live in Maine, a portion also comes from the Boston area, where many Eastern Europeans and Russians have settled in the past six years. Nine of the current string players for the Bangor Symphony were part of that early wave of emigres from Russia.

“What they bring to the orchestra is a knowledge of the repertoire because they have played each piece with numerous orchestras,” said Bob Bahr, the Bangor Symphony’s general manager. “There’s a unified sound. And the level of string playing in the orchestra increased to a level never before heard in this community. Their playing has helped the whole orchestra to rise in its performance ability.”

Practice, practice, practice may have been the reason for such ability, according to Anatole Wieck, a professor of music at the University of Maine and a violinist who grew up in Riga, Latvia. He received his early training in Eastern Europe and then attended The Juilliard School in New York City.

Wieck explained that children headed for a career in music in Russia and Eastern European countries begin their training no later than age 7, and then stay in special music-based schools into adulthood. They practice three hours a day and take lessons on top of that. The goal is to be a professional, and the competition is rigorous. Wieck told stories of always trying to stay ahead of the official requirements: If he were supposed to learn a Paganini concerto by 16, he learned it by 13 instead.

The result, said Wieck, who is assistant concertmaster with the Bangor Symphony, is that “you immediately have a higher quality of string playing. The notes are all ready in their fingers and they can play with a more sophisticated musicianship.”

That same sophistication also comes with a hazard, said Armen Movsessian, an Armenian emigre and violinist with the Bangor Symphony. The Russian tradition, which has been taught for more than 300 years, guides the musician toward a solo career, and that can sometimes get in the way of good ensemble work.

“The weakest part of this training is that we depend more on individual talent and individual technique than on the discipline in general,” said Movsessian, a Boston resident who also teaches music and has a solo career.

With the Israel Camerata, Biron faced this hurdle when he began rehearsing the Russian musicians he had hired.

“At the beginning, they played everything like it was Tchaikovsky,” said Biron, referring to the difference in dynamics between sweeping orchestral works and more intricate chamber-music pieces. “I had to work with them on different kinds of styles. They are completely different now.”

Both the Israel Camerata and the Bangor Symphony have garnered critical praise for their string sections. And both are bringing a stronger, more developed sound — from a long tradition of Russian dedication to discipline and focus — to their music-making.

The Israel Camerata, with pianist Claude Frank, will perform 3 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Maine Center for the Arts. For tickets, call 581-1755.

Map exhibit set

“Jerusalem in Old Maps and Views,” an exhibition of 22 reproductions of maps and images of the city, will be on view during the concert by the Israel Camerata. The exhibit will run through March 1 in the Bodwell Lounge of the Maine Center for the Arts.

A free lecture about the maps will be given by Ofra Farhi of the Israeli Consulate General, which provided the exhibition, 2 p.m. Feb. 23 — an hour before the concert.