On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Helicon presents a new, prestigious set of 12 CDs plus a bonus CD of recordings from the orchestra’s archives.

The repertoire in this set is very special, a veritable treasure trove of in-concert material, including rare recordings never previously released. This celebratory collection includes a number of compositions by Israeli composers Paul Ben-Haim, Mordechai Seter, Alexander Uriah Boskovitz, Menachem Avidom and Noam Sheriff, alongside world-famous conductors and soloists from around the world who have appeared with the orchestra.

The conductors whose performances are enshrined in this collection include Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Igor Stravinsky and, of course, the Orchestra’s director over the last 50 years, Maestro Zubin Mehta, along with soloists such as Daniel Barenboim, Yona Ettlinger, Frank Pelleg, Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern.

The recordings embodied in this collection reflect the journey that the orchestra has made in its 80 years - from its early beginnings as a group of musicians with almost no connection between them, to becoming one of the leading and most highly respected orchestras in the world. The works selected highlight the part played by the IPO in bringing classical music to the forefront of Israeli culture.

The set is packaged in an elegant box with a 92-page booklet, including historical photographs from the IPO’s archives.