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The 110-member Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world's major symphonic ensembles, often described as "Israel's foremost cultural asset" and regarded by many as the "Orchestra of the Jewish People." As an organization it has a unique history and heritage. Central European musical traditions were carried into the Middle East from the time of the first mass migration of Jews, in the 1880s, to Turkish-ruled Palestine. Following Turkey's defeat in World War I, the Balfour Declaration designated part of Palestine as a "national home for the Jewish people," and Jewish settlement of the area increased. Music teaching institutions were established. Nazi persecution of the Jews in the 1930s caused increas3ed immigration. One of the first was violinist Bronislav Huberman, who arrived in 1933 and immediately began urging the leading Jewish orchestral members of Germany, many of whom had lost their jobs, to come to Palestine. He organized the Palestine Philharmonic. Conductor William ...