Dafna Naphtali

Dafna Naphtali is an American composer, guitarist, and singer. A 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, she formed the duo Mechanique(s) and released the album What Is It Like To Be A Bat? (2003). Biography After spending a few years playing piano as a child, she began composing while she was a student at Stuyvesant High School. She studied at New York University, where she got a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz vocal performance and a Master of Music degree in music technology. While at NYU, she discovered Max, a MIDI software which she would later use for most of her compositions. She and Hans Tammen formed the duo Mechanique(s); Allan Kozinn of The New York Times said that they “had the most direct ties to classical electronic experimentalism” of all the work at the 2002 Electronic X-travaganza. She performed for the electroacoustic InterAction series in February 2002. In 2003, she and Kitty Brazelton released the album What Is It Like To Be A Bat?, with Naphtali as electric guitarist and vocalist. She was guest vocalist for Barbez’s 2013 concert at (Le) Poisson Rouge. In 2023, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition. She worked for NYU as an adjunct faculty member, before