The Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival Cancelled Due to Covid

The festival, which was to take place from August 31 to September 4, is no longer in line with Israel's current quarantine restrictions

Leader of the festival's organizational team, Elena Bashkirova (Photo credit: Nikolaj Lund)

The Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival announced that for the first time in their 24-year history, they had to cancel the festival.

Among the violinists who were booked to play include Gidon Kremer, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, and Michael Barenboim.

The festival had planned to make a point of featuring music by women composers; to this end, they had commissioned Israeli composer Ella Milch-Sheriff to write a new Clarinet Quartet. Milch-Sheriff described the cancellation as "painful" on social media.

"I know that lots of artists and people share this frustration and that I was so lucky up to now and have no right to complain, but it does hurt," she said. 

The festival's organizational team, led by pianist Elena Bashkirova, shared Milch-Sheriff's sentiments. "We know how painful this is for the artists who are now unable to perform, for our audiences who were looking forward so much to this Festival, and for us, the Festival team who were working so hard to realize these wonderful concerts despite the ongoing health crisis," she said.

"We look forward very much to seeing you all next year, our dear musicians and audiences."