Helicon Music and The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra announce a new join in venture of participation in the birth of a new label - Helicon Classics.

In entering into this joint venture, the IPO joins the world's leading orchestras, including The London Symphony Orchestra. The Concertgebouw Orchestra, and The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who each have their own "home" label.

The results of this collaboration between The IPO and Helicon Music will allow music lovers around the world to enjoy many previously unreleased recordings from The IPO's archives as well as live recordings of selected concerts, and Helicon Music is proud to have been chosen as the The IPO's partner in this project.

Helicon Classics is planning to release four albums a year. The repertoire will be marketed in the conventional CD format as well as being made available as digital downloads (coming soon on www.heliconclassics.com).

The debut album from this unique collaboration will feature Ernest Bloch's unjustly rarely recorded piece "Sacred Service (Avodath Hakodesh)", along with Bach's famous Cantata No.140.

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) composed his "Sacred Service (Avodath Hakodesh)" for Baritone, Chorus and Orchestra in 1933. The work is a setting of the Hebrew texts used in the Reform Temples of America. Most of them form part of the Sabbath service, and originate from the Psalms, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Proverbs as well as other sources of Jewish spiritual patrimony. They embody the essence of Israel's aspirations and it's peace message to the world. In the composer's mind, this message is a gift from Israel to the whole of mankind. "In it's great simplicity and variety it symbolizes more than a "Jewish service", it embodies a philosophy acceptable to all men. The work falls into five parts, following the liturgy; the whole to be performed without interruption. The occasional short preludes and interludes intend to replace the so-called "responsive readings" and to allow people to fall into silent meditation and prayer, thus connecting, also, the several moods of the text itself and giving them unity".

2009 will see the release of further live recordings of the IPO, all conducted by Maestro Zubin Mehta: a CD Box Set celebrating Maestro Mehta's 40th anniversary as Musical Director of the IPO (scheduled for release in July 2009), Puccini's "Turandot" and Mozart's "Don Giovanni".

The CD Box Set will gather together selected live recordings from the Archives, will feature many well-known soloists, and will pay tribute to the special musical relationship that exists between the Orchestra and the Maestro.

All recordings are "World Premiere" releases.

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Tel Aviv (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit ha-Yisre'elit) is the leading symphony orchestra in Israel. Originally known as the Palestine Orchestra, the IPO was founded by violinist Bronisław Huberman in 1936, at a time when many Jewish musicians were being fired from European orchestras. Its inaugural concert took place in Tel Aviv on December 26, 1936, and was conducted by Arturo Toscanini.

The IPO enjoys frequent international tours, including a tour of Germany in 1971, and has hosted some of the world's greatest conductors. Particularly associated with the orchestra are conductors Leonard Bernstein and Zubin Mehta. Bernstein maintained close ties with the orchestra from 1947, and in 1988, the IPO bestowed on him the title of Laureate Conductor, which he retained until his death in 1990. Mehta has served as the IPO's Music Advisor since 1968. The IPO did not have a formal music director, but instead "music advisors", until 1977, when Mehta was appointed the IPO's first Music Director. In 1981, his title was elevated to Music Director for Life. Kurt Masur is the IPO's Honorary Guest Conductor, a title granted to him in 1992. Yoel Levi serves as Principal Guest Conductor.

With Mehta, the IPO has made a number of recordings for Decca. Under the baton of Bernstein, the IPO also recorded his works and those of Igor Stravinsky. The IPO has also collaborated with Japanese composer Yoko Kanno in the soundtrack of the anime Macross Plus.

As of 2006, the composers whose works have been most frequently performed by the IPO were Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Dvořák. The initial concerts of the Palestine Orchestra in December 1936, conducted by Toscanini, featured the music of Richard Wagner. However, after the Kristallnacht pogroms in November 1938, the orchestra has maintained a de facto ban on Wagner's work, due to that composer's antisemitism and the association of his music with Nazi Germany.

The Secretary-General of the orchestra is Avi Shoshani. The IPO has a subscriber base numbering 26,000. Commentators have noted the musically conservative tastes of the subscriber base.