Mira Tzur to Host America-Israel Cultural Foundation's CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS OF ISRAEL at Lincoln Center

The America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) presents Israel's most talented artists at its 78th Anniversary Celebration at 4 PM on November 19, 2017 at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall (Broadway at 60th Street, New York City).

The afternoon's program will feature some of AICF's most established and most promising scholarship recipients. AICF, an organization that has nurtured more than 18,000 Israeli artists, has worked since 1939 to sustain Israel's soul and cultural heritage. More information is available at www.aicf.org or by calling (212) 557-1600.

A highlight of New York's fall performance season, AICF's event is a true celebration of the Israeli arts and the growing community who believe culture is the best medium for cross-cultural understanding. Dozens of top artists will participate, ranging from cutting-edge visual artists to top contemporary and classical instrumentalists and singers, celebrating the diversity of Israel's contributions to global culture. Proceeds from the event will be used to sponsor the next generation of talented Israelis in their training and career development, as AICF continues its 78-year history of providing artists with the resources and encouragement that help budding ability to flourish into world-class talent.

Actress Mira Tzur will host. Born and raised in Herzilya, Tzur is a former member of the acclaimed Batsheva Dance Company. Ms. Tzur's television credits include her series regular role on Comedy Central's Viva Variety, directed by Mark Gentile, and guest-star/recurring appearances on FX's Rescue Me with Denise Leary, NBC's 30 Rock with Alec Baldwin, Fox's Fringe, HBO's How to Make it in America, and Oxygen's Bodies of Work. Film credits include The Stepford Wives, The Devil Wears Prada, Pink Panther, The Last Dance, My Father My Don, and Junk. As the founder and president of Multi Ethnix Entertainment Group and One Circle Productions, Ms. Tzur has directed & choreographed numerous cabaret productions, fashion shoots, shorts and fitness infomercials. In addition, Ms. Tzur is proud to bring to the forefront projects like Women's Minyan (a play by Naomi Ragen, directed by Tovah Feldshuh), Love Lies (a musical by Hinton Battle, Listen by Bat Zvi Harel, Taking The Stand (feature with Priority Films), Hardly Waiting (comedy short), The Divine Goddesses (cabaret show with MTEAF), and Standard Time by Mark Stuart Dance Theater at the Duke Theater. Extensive modeling and national spokesperson positions supplement her various roles throughout the years. Her face and voice have been linked to many national TV commercials and campaigns, from department stores to international banks, pharmaceutical, fashion, health /fitness and nutrition products. www.OneCircleProductions.com.

AICF's Artist Experience will feature the Nadine Bommer Dance Company, clarinetist Moran Katz and the SHUFFLE Concert group, guitarist Yotam Silberstein, and visual artist Eli Barak. Video Artist Ofri Cnaani will show a work previously seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and pianist Shai Zohar, soprano Shira Ben-David, and jazz band Kadawa will perform.

AICF's 78th Anniversary Celebration will take place on Sunday, November 19th at 4 PM in Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, on Broadway at 60th Street, New York, NY. Sponsor-level tickets, including the pre-concert reception (from $2,500), and Premium ($400) and General ($200) orchestra tickets, as well and $90/$50 mezzanine/balcony, are on sale now at www.aicf.org/event/78th-anniversary-celebration, or by calling 212-557-1600 ext. 801.

FEATURED ARTISTS:

Ido Tadmor, Dancer and Choreographer

World-renowned Israeli dancer and choreographer Ido Tadmor was the 2011 winner of the highly respected Landau Prize in Israel for lifetime achievement. He has received a presidential professorship from Chapman University in California. Mr. Tadmor was the Artistic Director of the Israeli Ballet Company and had his own ensemble for 13 years. He is a lead dancer, choreographer, and judge in professional dance competitions and the artistic director of competitions and festivals. For more than three decades, he has represented the State of Israel around the world as an Ambassador of Dance. He has been awarded many prizes and received grants from numerous public bodies and foundations encouraging cultural activities in Israel. He has danced as a principal dancer with companies such as Bar Dor Dance Company, Bat Sheva Dance Company, Scapino Ballet, and Lar Lubovitch, and in many worldwide collaborations and projects. Mr. Tadmor has worked with respected choreographers such as Hans Van Mannen, Ohad Naharin, Itzik Galili, Lar Lubovitch, Alvin Ailey, Vladimir Vassiliev, Robert North, and many more. On January 15, 2018, he will be awarded the Masters of Dance Award at Chapman University.

Peridance Contemporary Dance Company

Founded by Artistic Director Igal Perry, New York City's Peridance Contemporary Dance Company has been a powerhouse of energetic and evocative dance since 1984. Operating from its home at the renowned Peridance Capezio Center at Union Square, the Company presents an annual New York Season at the Salvatore Capezio Theater as well as guest performances in venues such as The Joyce Theater, BAM, and Lincoln Center. In addition to Perry's signature works, described by the New York Times as "blessedly inventive", the Company has commissioned and performed works by many choreographers including Ohad Naharin, Dwight Rhoden, Bryan Arias, Sidra Bell, Jae Man Joo, Robyn Mineko Williams, and Charlotta Ofverholm. In the past five years alone, the Company's domestic and international tours have brought contemporary dance to over 45,000 audience members around the globe in festivals and venues Jacob's Pillow, Big Arts Florida, Spring to Dance St. Louis, Florence Dance Festival, Tel Aviv Dance, Seoul International Dance Festival, Sofia Dance Festival, and many more. As part of its commitment to outreach the Company offers "Dance-Break," a program devoted to providing an array of creative dance classes and workshops for children and youth, often in underserved communities and schools in the tri-state area. Peridance Contemporary Dance Company has been generously supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, Capezio Ballet/Makers Dance Foundation, Harkness Foundation, Google, the Jewish Communal Fund, Red Bull, PNC Bank, and the Sequoia Foundation.

Israeli cellist Zvi Plesser has had a remarkably varied career, which has combined appearances as cello soloist, chamber musician, educator and music director. Based in Israel, Mr. Plesser has concertized worldwide and collaborated with some of our time's leading instrumentalists and conductors. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the globe on some of the world's most prestigious stages. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Plesser participates in chamber music festivals and serves as music director of "The Voice of Music in the Upper Galilee" festival in Israel. Mr. Plesser is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied with Zara Nelsova. His principal teachers include Zvi Harel in Israel and David Soyer in the United States. Mr. Plesser is a Professor on the faculty of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where he is head of the String Department and director of the Chamber Music Program. A graduate of the Jerusalem Music Center as part of the program for Outstanding Young Musicians headed by Maestro Isaac Stern, Mr. Plesser won the prestigious Francoise Shapira Competition, the 41st annual Washington International Competition and was the recipient of America-Israel Cultural Foundation grants.

Mira Yampolsky, Pianist

Israeli pianist Miri Yampolsky made her orchestral debut as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and maestro Zubin Mehta at the age of 16, playing Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.1. Since then, she appeared with the Jerusalem Symphony, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Mainz Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Valencia, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, National Orchestra of Johannesburg, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Peninsula Music Festival orchestra, Cornell Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra, and Xalapa Symphony. A first-prize winner of the Jose Iturbi International Piano Competition in Valencia and the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, Ms. Yampolsky is an avid and active chamber musician, with appearances in festivals such as Tanglewood; Ravinia; Davos; Berlin Festwoche; Tucson Winter International Chamber Music Festival; Olympic Music Festival; Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival; Hitzacker "Music Days"; Schwetzingen Festival; Sessa "Musica d'Insieme"; Citta di Castelo; Klassikfest Kaisrstuhl; Lucena International Piano Festival, Salzburg's "Mozarteum", Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Upper Galilee Music Festival Kfar Bloom. Some of the distinguished ensembles and musicians Miri has collaborated with include the Prazak, Casals, Miami and Johanness String Quartets, the Concertante String Ensemble, pianist Gilbert Kalish, violinists Mikhail Kopelman, Maxim Vengerov, Rainer Honeck, Latica Honda-Rosenberg, Philippe Grafin, horn player Radek Baborak, and cellists Zvi Plesser and Steven Doane, among others in the US, Israel, Europe, South Africa, Japan and Mexico. Miri's teachers include Ms. Hannah Shalgi, Prof. Michael Boguslavsky and violinist Chaim Taub in Israel; Prof. Dmitri Bashkirov and Marta Gulyas at the Escuela Superior De Musica "Reina Sofia" in Madrid, and Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Miri was a recipient of AICF grants between 1985-1996. Ms. Yampolsky is a Senior Lecturer of Piano and Chamber Music at Cornell University's music department, where she has been co-directing "Mayfest- Cornell International Chamber Music Festival" since 2008, presenting and collaborating with the world's leading chamber musicians, soloists and composers. Ms. Yampolsky's recordings can be found on Naxos, MDG and Open-G-Records labels. She has been living in Ithaca since 2001, and is the proud (and tired) mother of Misha, Anna and Maya.

Yanir Eldorot (Violinist) was born in Israel and started violin studies at the age of eight in a program at his school, together with the Givatayim Conservatory. Since April 2015 he has continued his violin studies with Irina Etigon, who was a student of renowned violinist David Oistrakh. Yanir also studies composition, conducting, theory and piano with international composer Benjamin Yusupov. Yanir is a member of ACUM for pieces that he wrote for violin and piano; one of them was played on national radio. He has won first prize in several national and international competitions. He has performed around the world, including in Solsona, Vienna and Geneva. Yanir is a current AICF grant recipient.

Alon Yavnai, Pianist, Composer, Director, and Arranger

Alon Yavnai was born and raised in Israel, where he acquired his formal musical education. Since his arrival to the U.S. in 1993, Alon has performed worldwide and recorded with Yo Yo Ma, Freddie Hubbard, Paquito D'Rivera, Dave Liebman, Tom Harrell, Regina Carter, and the New York Voices, among others. Alon has performed at Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, The Blue Note, Birdland, and was featured as a soloist at the Tonehalle Concert Hall in Cwitzerland with the Zurich Symphony Orchestra. Alon has released four albums as a leader, including a big-band recording with the renowned NDR Bigband based in Germany. Alon's work in education includes master classes at Julliard, Oberlin College, Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Western Michigan and others. Between 2009-2011 Alon taught at the Rubin Academy of Music at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. Currently Alon performs worldwide with singer/songwriter/percussionist Joca Perpignan in their duo project ALON & JOCA. On April 15, 2018, the duo will perform at Birdland New York, with full big band, as part of their U.S. spring tour.

About the America-Israel Cultural Foundation

The America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) has been the touchstone of excellence in Israeli culture since 1939, supporting promising young artists with over 18,000 scholarships and contributing to the growth of more than 600 of Israel's leading arts institutions. Most of Israel's finest artists in every discipline have received assistance from AICF. Among those supported are: Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Miriam Fried, Pinchas Zukerman, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Orli Shaham, Joseph Kalichstein, Sharon Kam, Anat Cohen, Avishai Cohen, David Broza, Dudu Fisher, Eytan Fox, Tomer Heymann, Mark Ivanir, Itay Tiran, Nir Bergman, Dover Kosashvili, Michal Rovner, Avner Moriah, Menashe Kadishman, Boaz Vaadia, Sigalit Landau, Yehudit Sasportas, Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal, Zvi Gotheiner, Ze'eva Cohen, Rami Be'er, the Jerusalem String Quartet, the Ariel String Quartet, Inbal Pinto Dance Company, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Museum and the Batsheva Dance Company-to name just a few. AICF provides 600 scholarships a year to talented young artists, and has launched more careers from their funding of young performers than nearly every other arts funder in the world.