Never in recent memory has the Philadelphia Orchestra embarked on its spring tour with such a seemingly fraught final destination – a week of concerts and ancillary activities in Israel, amid renewed hostilities with Gaza.
The May 24-June 5 tour of Europe and Israel has the usual ports of call, from Luxembourg to Vienna, before a long-planned June 3-5 leg in Israel — infrequently visited by outside orchestras and only once before by the Philadelphians, in 1992.