Bel Canto is a four-part male-voice choir under the musical directorship of the internationally-known composer and conductor, Aharon Harlap. We meet once a week in Kfar Sava (generally on Wednesdays) for rehearsals.
Our ensemble consists of 12 members, most of whom have been singing together for some years. We come from all walks of life, our numbers including a bar-coding manufacturer, an optician, a professor of engineering, a building contractor, a translator, a social worker, a technical writer and some retirees. A little over half of us are native English speakers.
Our repertoire is an unusual, eclectic mixture of musical styles; the common denominator being superb melodies, and engaging, challenging vocalizations.
Several of our members are cantors (chazanim) or secular soloists who perform in their own right, but who enjoy the experience of making music together once a week in a congenial, relaxed atmosphere, in which our skilful director, Aharon Harlap, nonetheless expects everyone's full concentration.
Bel Canto performs regularly in concerts at various locations around Israel. We sing compositions in many languages, including: Hebrew, English, Latin, Yiddish, French, German, and Italian.
The Choir is self-sufficient, receiving no government or municipal grant. We are looking to enlarge our membership to about 20 voices.
