Ofer Ben-Amots

Ofer Ben-Amots (Hebrew: עופר בן-אמוץ; born October 20, 1955) is an Israeli-American composer and teacher of music composition and theory at Colorado College. His music is inspired by Jewish folklore of Eastern-European Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish Ladino traditions. The interweaving of folk elements with contemporary textures creates the dynamic tension that permeates and defines Ben-Amots’ musical language. Biography Born in Haifa, Israel, Ofer Ben-Amots gave his first piano concert at age nine and at age sixteen was awarded first prize in the Chet Piano Competition. Ben-Amots would attend the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University from 1978 to 1979, where he pursued undergraduate studies in composition and theory with Josef Dorfman, piano with Alexander Volkov, and percussion with Gideon Steiner. Soon after, Ben-Amots was invited to study at the Conservatoire de Musique in Geneva, Switzerland. There he studied composition with Pierre Wismer, and privately with Alberto Ginastera. In 1980, Ben-Amots would begin attending Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, Germany, where he would receive degrees in composition, music theory, and piano upon his graduation in 1986. Following his arr