Holiday jazz rang out at the Felicja Blumenthal Music Center in Tel Aviv on December 11, in celebration of Hanukkah and anticipation of Christmas. The Nerija Lithuanian community in Israel invited compatriots and their family members, and all people with an artistic bent, to attend the second musical event called “Sounds of December: From Hanukkah to Christmas.” Lithuania’s ambassador to Israel Edminas Bagdonas and cultural attaché Saulius Pilinkus honored the community with their presence.

“Jazz is the universal language of the soul and freedom, it has no borders,” community member Ilona Sakalauskaitė, who ended up acting as hostess at the event, said. She invited the public to come hear one of Lithuania’s most talented saxophonists, Danielius Praspaliauskis. The pieces performed by him and Gary Libson, originally from Kaunas and resident in Israel now, received sustained applause. When the audience heard the duet had only formed several hours before the concert, they were amazed. “If this is what they can do after practicing together only once, just imagine what they could with more time!” ambassador Bagdonas exclaimed.

Full story in Lithuanian here.