David D'Or: Difference between revisions

David D'Or (Hebrew: דוד ד'אור; born David Nehaisi on October 2, 1966) is an Israeli singer, composer, and songwriter. A countertenor with a vocal range of more than four octaves, he achieved great success at the 2002 Israel Music Awards, where he won "Best Singer", "Best Vocal Singer", and "Best Song". He was also chosen to represent Israel in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, at which he placed 11th.^[1][2] By February 2008, nine of his albums had gone platinum.^[3]

D'Or, who has been referred to as "Israel's most acclaimed modern singer", and "who has taken the musical scene by storm", performs a wide variety of music, including pop, rock, dance, folk, klezmer, Yemenite prayers, holy music, ancient chants, classical, opera, and baroque arias (in the original Italian).^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]}

D'Or was born in Holon, Israel.^[5] He is a descendant of Jews expelled from 15th Century Spain during the Spanish Inquisition.^[10] His great-grandfather was a prominent Libyan rabbi,^[6] and his father brought the family from Libya to Israel.^[8]

When he was young, D'Or's parents encouraged him to become a lawyer or a doctor, but he simply loved to sing.^[11] When he reached the age at which his voice began to change, he worked to retain his ability to sing notes in a high range. To his surprise he was successful, and he then proceeded to develop his lower vocal range. For a while he was quite shy about singing, as it is unusual in Israel for someone to sing with such a high voice, but he says that now it is "part of me."^[11]

During his military service, D'Or served as a singer in the Israeli Military Band, and in 1985 he was in the Israeli Army Central Command troops entertainment group,^[6][12] and took part in the record Be'sha'araikh Yerikho.

After completing his army service, he was invited by the Israeli National Theater ("Habima Theater") to be in various performances, among them "Blood Marriage," "Cabaret," "Cry the Beloved Country," and "Tartiff."^[13][14] D’Or worked with the Habima Theater for four years. He was professionally trained at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance^[6] from 1987-90,^[15] tutored by Soprano Miriam Melzer.

In 1991 D'Or enrolled in the Jerusalem Conservatory.^[6] That year D'Or also began his musical career as a classical tenor. Zubin Mehta, Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, invited D’Or to perform as soloist in "Carmina Burana".^[14]

In 1992 D’Or released his first album: David D'Or.^[15] It included hit song "Yad Anuga" ("Gentle Hand"), which reached # 3 in the most frequently played charts in Great Britain.^[14]

His second album, Be'govah Mishtane ("Changing Altitudes", or "Changing Heights"), released January 1, 1993,^[16] included what was to become an iconic Israeli song, "Tishmor al HaOlam Yeled."^[17] The song was later covered by Liel Kolet and Scorpions' singer Klaus Meine.^[18] The CD was even more successful than its predecessor, and went platinum.^[3] Later in 1993 D'Or participated in the televised competition to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest (Kdam Erovizion), with his song "Parpar," and came in fourth place.^[19][20]

In 1995 he released a new album, David & Shlomo (also known as David and Salomon),^[21] with Shlomo Bar^[22] and the band "Habrera Hativit" ("The Natural Gathering," or "Natural Selection").^[23]

That year he also received an invitation from the Vatican to perform for the Pope. His repertoire at this concert united original ethnic music with European classics. After performing for the Pope in 1995 ("He held my hand and gave me his blessing, D'Or said. "I just kept thinking: 'Here I am, little David from Israel, singing in Hebrew ... It was a very powerful thing.'"),^[6] D'Or was subsequently invited to perform in Italy, where he took appeared on TV shows such as Mauricio Constenzo on Channel 1, and Paulo Limiti on Channel 2.^[23] The Italian press, such as Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica, gave D'Or positive reviews.^[23]

In 1997 D'Or and Etti Ankri released his fourth album David D’Or & Etti Ankri.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). That year as well, the Ra'anana Symphony Orchestra commissioned an original work, especially written for D'Or, called "The Children of God". The lyrics are comprised of sentences that appear in the Jewish, Moslem, and Christian religions, emphasizing the message of "love your neighbor." The work was composed by Georgian composer Josef Bardanashvilli, and subsequently opened in a series of concerts of the orchestra in Israel and throughout the US.^[24]

In 2001 D’Or was named Israel's Singer of the Year (receiving the "Tamuz Prize") and Best Vocal Performer, and received the award for Best Song at the Israel Music Awards.^[3][14] His fifth album, and fifth platinum album, was Baneshama ("In the Soul"), released on March 31, 2001.^{[25] [26][23]} D’Or then released David D’Or & the Philharmonic on April 1, 2003.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).^[27]

In November 2003, the Israel Broadcasting Authority (the "IBA") chose D'Or to represent the country in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest.^[23] D'Or represented Israel in the contest in Istanbul, with the song "Leha'amin" (To Believe),^[1] which he co-wrote with Ehud Manor.^[28] The song was chosen on February 5, 2004, in voting during the program "Israel Selects a Song," held during a break in a televised Maccabi Tel Aviv Euroleague basketball game at which videos of four songs sung by D'Or were shown.^[29] The vote was by both a special IBA Eurovision Committee (including prior Israeli entrants Lior Narkis and Gali Atari), which accounted for 40% of the vote, and a televote by viewers, who accounted for the remaining 60% of the vote. The basketball game attracted 13.7% of Israeli TV viewers.^[30] The song won 60% of the jury's vote, and 66% of the viewers' televotes.^[31]

During Eurovision rehearsal week D'Or left Istanbul to be with his father, who was suffering from diabetes and had been rushed to a hospital, where one of his legs had to be amputated.^[32] D'Or then returned to Istanbul to perform on May 12, 2004,^[11] and placed 11th, while 19% of Israeli viewers watched on television.^[1][33] His father has since died.^[1][32]

On June 1, 2004, he also released the CD Le Haamin ("To Believe"),^[34] which was followed on March 27, 2006, by the release of Kmo HaRuach ("Like the Wind"), which included duets with Israeli singers such as Arkadi Duchin, Arik Einstein, Shlomi Shabat, Ehud Banai, Meir Banai, and others.^[35][36]

On May 19, 2007, D’Or performed with soprano Seiko Lee in the world premier performance of the 40-minute ten-movement "peace cantata," "Halelu--Songs of David," in Belgrade, Serbia. The concert was televised to six other Eastern European countries. The composition for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, was a collaborative effort of D’Or and American composer/conductor David Eaton, Music Director of the New York City Symphony, who conducted the combined Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and the 120-voice choir of the Academic Cultural Artistic Society. Halelu is sung in English, Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin, with greetings of peace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam figuring prominently in the lyrical content of several movements, and with Psalm 113 (sung in Hebrew by D’Or) as the basis of the 4th movement.^[37] He then released Halelu (2007), in which he was accompanied by Lee, the Ra'anana Symphony Orchestra, and members of the Philharmonia Chorus of Israel.^[38]

D'Or sang for Dr. Martin Luther King III at a Middle East Peace Initiative (MEPI) Conference in the summer of 2007 in Tel Aviv. King was in tears as D'Or finished his rendition of "Summertime," and the crowd was on its feet cheering. King was so impressed that he extended an invitation to D'Or to sing at the 2008 "Realize the Dream" celebration honoring King's birthday at the Covenant Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem, New York -- the last church in New York City that Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke at prior to his 1968 assassination. D'Or obliged, with a performance of "Amazing Grace" before a crowd including former President Bill Clinton and Dr. King, who was reduced to tears.^[6]

On December 11, 2007, D'Or released Live Show.^[39]

D'Or became an Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation (IcExcellence) chosen artist in 2008, receiving one of Israel's highest recognitions for excellence in the arts.^[40] D'Or also released Shirat Rabim ("Prayers") in 2008.

D'Or sang a medley including "Amazing Grace" and a rendition of the traditional Hebrew melody "Avinu Malkeinu" at New York's Apollo Theater in Harlem on April 28, 2009, with three New York gospel choirs.^[41][42]

D'Or's voice has a range of more than four octaves.^[13][23] His vocal range in head voice is from G3 in scientific pitch notation, up to a well-defined G5 (as heard in one of the final notes in the "Phantom of the Opera" track in his album David D'Or and the Philharmonic), thus making him a "mezzo-soprano" type of countertenor.

D'Or's voice is unusually versatile and flexible,^[8][23] and notable for its unique tone and color,^[43] and for having a very recognizable sound. His voice is characterized by powerful fullness and richness, making it seem as though it is his natural singing voice, created without use of the falsetto technique. However, despite its richness his voice cannot be compared to the color of a contralto, unlike singers such as David Daniels, given that D'Or has a unique, male-sounding timbre. When he sings in modern fashion, he employs his speaking—or chest—voice, instead of his singing, alto voice.

In addition to singing for the Pope, D'Or has also sung for Israeli President Shimon Peres, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, the King and Queen of Sweden at the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, Nelson Mandela, and Bill Clinton.^{[6][7][8][15]}

D’Or has performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Rome Philharmonic, the London Symphony,^[14] the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Budapest Philharmonic, the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra,^[13] the New York Symphony Orchestra, the Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.^[3][15]

D'Or has performed across the world, including in the United States, England, the Canary Islands, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Italy, Turkey, Australia, China,^[44] Taiwan, Singapore, and Israel. He sang before audiences of 55,000 people in Trafalgar Square in London, and 40,000 in Paris.^[15]

• David D'Or's official site
• Bingham, Walter, "David D'or interview," Israel Beat Jewish Music Podcast, 6/6/06, accessed 5/8/09

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