The Golden Apple - Witches Festival - 2026

Nari Ensemble: Liron Givoni: soprano, Naomi Hasson: recorders, Yotam Haran: Baroque cello, Guy Pardo: harpsichord. An angel and Adam set out to search for the woman worthy of receiving a golden apple and bringing the mother of Jesus into the world. Along the way they meet the heroines of the Bible, from Eve to Esther, and each of them receives her own musical portrait through Baroque works from Bohemia, Italy, England and Germany. The journey is woven together with original texts that create a fascinating musical theatrical performance, in which the stories and the music illuminate the characters from a new angle. The "Witches?" Festival of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra returns for its fifth year, and this year under the title "Echo," a journey following women, works and voices that, even in their own time, gained recognition, honor and the place they deserved, and whose influence did not disappear but continued to echo into future generations. Over the course of two days, the audience will meet women who were creators, performers, queens and patronesses, muses and heroines - women who, through their actions and presence, influenced the music and culture around them. From ancient myths to the jazz of the twentieth century, from the salons of Vienna and Berlin to the stages of today, the festival seeks to listen to the voices that have reached us across the distance of time and discover how they continue to live, change and echo even today.