Israel on Music Theory Print

Alexander Uriah Boskovich

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Alexander (Sándor) Uriah Boskovich (Boskovits, Boskowitz, etc.) (; August 16, 1907 – November 5, 1964) was an Israeli composer born to a Hungarian-Jewish family. Life and career Boskovich was born in Kolozsvár, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania). The origin of his family and of his name was the town Boskovich in Moravia. In Cluj, Boskovich studied in a Jewish high school called “Culture” which accommodated both Neolog and Orthodox Jews. In 1937, Boskovich sent a piano version of his work “The Golden Chain” to the conductor Issay Dobrowen. This work, based on Jewish songs from the Carpathian Mountains, was originally written for piano and later on, in 1936, transcribed for orchestra. In 1938, Dobrowen suggested to the newly founded Jewish “Palestinian Orchestra”, which later on evolved into the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, to embed this work in a concert under his baton. Boskovich was invited from abroad to the premiere of his composition “Jewish Folk Songs”, which was performed by the Palestinian Orchestra. One consequence of that event was that Boskovich decided to stay in the country and settle in Tel Aviv. In the coming years, Boskovich often said that Do

Ami Maayani

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Ami Maayani (; January 1936 – February 17, 2019 ) was an Israeli composer. The founder and conductor of the Israel National Youth Orchestra, the Tel Aviv Youth Orchestra, the Haifa Youth Orchestra and the Technion Symphony Orchestra, from 1970 to 1973 and 1976–1980 he was the chairman of the Israel Composers’ League. Of note is Maayani’s Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, Qumran and Serenade in D. Zvi Keren in his book Contemporary Israeli music: its sources and stylistic development (1980) said “The works of Ami Maayani, which have formed a continuation and extension of this school, have a style which might be described as post-Eastern-Mediterranean.” The American Organist said, “The lush improvisatory elements and Arabic modal influences in the music of Ami Maayani complement the pandiatonic polyphony of Yuval Rabin. Sabin Levi, on the other hand, employs minimalism and Sephardic folklore.” Ami Maayani died of cancer on 17 February 2019, at age 82. - Four Baroque Sonatas Sonata for Solo Violin; Sonata for Solo Cello; Sonatina for Guitar; Sonatine en trio Bing Jing Yu, violin; Natalia Khoma, cello; Tali Roth, guitar; Orit Wolf, piano IMP Digital / FONS 01-2096 - Piano Music – Perc

Amir Shpilman

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Amir Shpilman (; born December 4, 1980) is an Israeli composer. Education and career Shpilman was born in Tel Aviv where he started his composition studies at the age of 17. After three years in Paris where he studied solfege, harmony piano and composition, he moved to the United States, in 2006, to study at the City University of New York where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in music composition under the tutelage of Tania León, Jason Eckardt and with close mentorship of pianist Ursula Oppens. He received his master’s degree in composition with a focus on conducting from the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden under the tutelage of Mark Andre, Manos Tsangaris, and Franz Martin Olbrisch. In 2011, He founded the Ensemble Moto Perpetuo, a New York-based chamber orchestra specializing in contemporary music and collaborative creations, and served as its artistic director until 2015. During his career, Shpilman has worked with a variety of performers, orchestras, and ensembles including the Ensemble Intercontemporain (Paris), International Contemporary Ensemble (New York), Mivos Quartet, Ensembles Meitar and Nikel (Tel Aviv), Interface (Frankfurt), AuditivVokal Dresden

Amit Golan

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Amit Golan (; 1964 - 2010) was an Israeli pianist, composer, and jazz educator. Born in Haifa and educated first at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and then at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, he returned to Israel in the 1990s to teach the style. He was the founder of the Center for Jazz Studies at the Israel Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv and performed with the Amit Golan Jazz Quintet. Life and career Golan received his initial music education at The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance where he studied classical music and composition. After he finished his classical studies, he went to New York City where he discovered his passion for jazz. He was influenced by Bill Evans’s playing, but decided that to understand Evans’s technique he had to learn what influenced Evans himself. He then attended The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York and studied privately with “old school” players like Walter Bishop, Jr., Reggie Workman, Billy Harper, Jim Hall, Kenny Werner, and Barry Harris. He focused his studies on Jazz History, studying with Phil Schaap and Ira Gitler. Between 2004 – 2007, he was the music director of many jazz worksho

Amos Elkana

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Amos Elkana (Hebrew: עמוס אלקנה; born 1967) is a composer, guitarist, and electronic musician. His works span chamber, orchestral, electroacoustic, and multimedia forms, often integrating algorithmic and fractal processes with narrative and philosophical elements. Biography Elkana studied composition at the New England Conservatory in Boston and Jazz guitar at the Berklee College of Music. He pursued graduate studies in computer music at Bard College, where he worked with Pauline Oliveros, George Lewis, and Larry Polansky. His music has been performed by ensembles and orchestras worldwide, including Ensemble Meitar, the Israel Contemporary Players, Ensemble Reconsil (Vienna), UMZE (Budapest), the Tel Aviv Soloists, and the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion. His chamber and electronic works have been featured at international festivals such as the Venice Biennale, ISCM World Music Days, the Cervantino Festival (Mexico), and the MISE-EN Festival (New York). In 2025, Elkana released Que sais-je? on New Focus Recordings, performed by Ensemble Meitar under Pierre-André Valade. The album was included on the 2026 First Round GRAMMY® Ballot. His next album, Gefunden, is scheduled for

Andre Hajdu

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André Hajdu (; ; 5 March 1932 – 1 August 2016) was a Hungarian-born Israeli composer and ethnomusicologist. Biography Hajdu studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Endre Szervánszky and Ferenc Szabó (composition), Erno Szégedi (piano), and Zoltán Kodály (ethnomusicology). As a Kodály disciple, he was involved for two years in research about Gypsy musical culture and published several articles on this subject. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Hajdu escaped to Paris and continued his studies at the Paris Conservatoire with Darius Milhaud (composition) and Olivier Messiaen (philosophy of music), obtaining the 1st prize in the discipline. Among his class mates were Gilbert Amy, William Bolcom, Philip Corner and Paul Méfano. In Paris he met a variety of stimulating people from the playwright Samuel Beckett to Prof. Israel Adler of the Hebrew University, who brought him on his first visit to Israel in 1966. Hajdu took up residence in Jerusalem in 1966. He taught at the Tel Aviv Music Academy from 1966 to 1991 and at Bar-Ilan University since 1970. He served as chairman in the Music Department there and founded a composition department. His notable students hav

Armand Amar

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Armand Amar (born 1953 in Jerusalem (Israel)) is a French composer, who grew up in Morocco. He won the 2010 César Award for Best Original Music for Le Concert (Radu Mihăileanu). Life and career Armand Amar is a French composer living in Paris. In 1968, he began playing the congas. He also practiced the tabla and the zarb in the following years. In 1976 he met South African choreographer Peter Goss, who introduced him to dance. In the subsequent years, he worked with a number of choreographers in contemporary dance. His works are focused particularly on Eastern music. He is the author of several ballets and soundtracks films such as The Trail, Days of Glory, Live and Become, The First Cry, Earth from Above, Bab’Aziz and Home. Since Amen., he has also collaborated with Costa-Gavras scoring all of his subsequent films. He founded the label Long Distance in 1994 with his partners Alain Weber and Peter Gabriel. Compositions Films * 2002: Amen. by Costa-Gavras * 2004: Earth from Above by Renaud Delourme * 2004: Tabous (Zohre & Manouchehr) by Mitra Farahani * 2005: Live and Become by Radu Mihăileanu * 2005: The Axe by Costa-Gavras * 2006: La Piste by Éric Valli * 2006: Bab’Aziz by Nacer K

Avi Benjamin

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Avi Benjamin (; ; born 3 March 1959) is an Israeli composer and performer, musical director of the Israeli Gesher Theater since its foundation in 1991. Biography Avi Nedzvetsky (later Benjamin) was born in Tallinn, Estonia. His father was a professor of psychology at the University of Tartu and his mother was a physician. At the age of 4, Benjamin started to learn piano in Tartu, and when he was 15 his family moved to Tallinn, where he continued his studies at the Musical College with the pianist and teacher Renate Goznaya. Benjamin is married to the actress Evgenia Dodina who works at Habima Theater (she met Benjamin when both were working at Gesher). They have a daughter Anna (b. in 1995). Benjamin has also a son Gur (b. in 1985) from his first marriage. Music and theater career After graduation he was accepted to the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater. At the academy, Benjamin studied piano under Bruno Lukk (himself a student of Arthur Schnabel and Paul Hindemith) and Toivo Nahkur. Among his teachers were pianist Anna Klas and composer Jaan Rääts. In the mid-70s, in Tallinn, Benjamin became familiar with the contemporary Western music, mostly prohibited in the USSR at that ti

Avi Schönfeld

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Avi Schönfeld is a Polish pianist and composer. He was born in Lodz, Poland on 15 December 1947. Life Schönfeld gave his first concert in his native Poland at the age of 19 before going to Israel to become a pupil of the Bartók disciple Ilona Vincze-Kraus. After winning several national and international prizes, including one with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and first prize in the Leo Kestenberg competition, Schönfeld made his debut in 1968 with the Israeli Radio and Television Orchestra playing Rachmaninov’s Paganini Variations. In November 1972, at the invitation of the French government, Schönfeld undertook study with Vlado Perlemuter, Yvonne Lefébure, Arthur Rubinstein, and Marcel Ciampi in piano, Henryk Szeryng in chamber music, and Nadia Boulanger and Alexandre Tansman in composition. After a period of teaching at the Royal Brussels Conservatory, Schönfeld was appointed to a post at the Maastricht Conservatory in the Netherlands. In addition to his creative work, Schönfeld is artistic director and founder of the European Pianistic Research Institute of Maastricht (EPRIM) and artistic adviser to the Anglo Dutch Piano Platform and the Académie Pianistica of the Maastricht

Avner Dorman

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Avner Dorman (Hebrew: אבנר דורמן; born April 14, 1975, in Tel Aviv, Israel) is an Israeli-born composer, educator and conductor. Education Dorman holds a doctorate in music composition from the Juilliard School, where he studied as a C.V. Starr fellow with John Corigliano. He completed his master’s degree at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music of Tel Aviv University (where he majored in music, musicology, and physics) studying with Josef Bardanashvili. Career At age 25, Dorman became the youngest composer to win Israel’s Prime-Minister’s award. He has since been awarded the ACUM prize for his Ellef Symphony. and the performance of his song cycle “Boaz” received the Israeli Cultural Ministry Prize for best performance of Israeli music the same year. Dorman’s “Variations Without a Theme”, premiered by Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2003 and won the 2004 Best Composition of the Year award from ACUM. This piece led to a commission from Zubin Mehta, PercaDu, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for “Spices, Perfumes, Toxins!”, a concerto for percussion duo and orchestra. Orchestras that have performed Dorman’s music include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,

Ayal Adler

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Ayal Adler (), is an Israeli composer. Active internationally, his works are continuously performed worldwide. Serves as associate professor in composition and theory at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Recipient of numerous awards, including: Two Prime- Minister Awards for Composers; Two Acum Prizes (equivalent to ASCAP), and International prizes. Serves as the Director of the Israel Composers’ League. Biography Ayal Adlerr’s compositions were performed in recent years in the United States; Canada; Germany; Austria; England; Lithuania; Spain; Finland; Czech Republic; Russia; Hungary; Croatia; South Korea, and more. Adler’s oeuvre includes music in various genres including solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral. His work, In Motion - Concerto for Continuo and Large Orchestra was commissioned by the Bregenz Festival in 2023. Resonating Sounds for Large Orchestra was commissioned and premiered by Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern DIVAN Orchestra, at the following venues: BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall; Lucerne Festival; Salzburg Festival; Colon Theatre, Buenos Aires. His song cycle, Alone, I return from the Night, was commissioned and premiered by the Munich Philharmonic, co

Bart Berman

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Bart Berman (; born 29 December 1938) is a Dutch-Israeli pianist and composer, best known as an interpreter of Franz Schubert and 20th-century music. Career Bart Berman studied piano with Jaap Spaanderman at a predecessor of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and complemented his piano education with Theo Bruins and a master class by Alfred Brendel. In 1978 he moved to Israel. the Friends of the Concertgebouw Award and four first prizes at competitions for young soloists. He has performed in Israel, Europe and the United States, as a soloist and in chamber music. Berman was a soloist with many Dutch and Israeli orchestras and has recorded for radio and television. Collaborations included those with flautist Abbie de Quant (since 1970), Duo 4 with pianist Meir Wiesel, the Tamar Piano Trio with violinist Itzhak Segev and cellist Louis Rowen, as well as ensembles with several vocalists among whom Bat-Sheva Zeisler. Past partnerships include Duo Beer Sheva with the late pianist Sara Fuxon, Ensemble M, and Negev Baroque. From 2004 until 2008 Berman accompanied the remake of Hanoch Levin’s satirical cabaret You, Me and the Next War, in 2007 he was the pianist and musical director of Schube

Baruch Berliner

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Baruch Berliner (; born in 1942) is an Israeli composer, mathematician and poet. He is the author of musical works, songs, books, and articles. Biography Baruch Berliner was born in Tel Aviv. He completed his doctoral studies in mathematics at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, where he also worked as an actuary at the Swiss reinsurance company “Swiss Re”, One of The largest Reinsurance in the world, until 1990, when he returned with his family to Israel. From 1990 until his retirement in 2007, he served as a senior researcher at the Faculty of Management at Tel Aviv University and as the chairman of the Erhard Scientific insurance Institute. As part of his work and research, he was invited to lecture at many universities and actuarial conferences. Wrote two books and over 100 articles on actuarial, finance and economics. For years he has been writing poetry in Hebrew, German and English. Besides the work “The Creation of the World”, other works such as “Abraham” which is a symphonic poem for a philharmonic orchestra, a narrator and a male choir, as well as pleasant South American dances to the waltz rhythm. In 2016 a memorial concert was held in Kyiv that marked the 75th ann

Ben-Zion Orgad

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Ben-Zion Orgad (Hebrew: בן ציון אורגד, originally Ben-Zion Büschel; born Gelsenkirchen, Germany, 21 August 1926; died Tel Aviv, Israel, 28 April 2006) was an Israeli composer. His family emigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1933, where he started violin lessons in 1936. From 1942 until 1946, Orgad studied violin and composing with Rudolf Bergmann and Paul Ben-Haim in Tel Aviv and in 1947 with Josef Tal in Jerusalem. In the years 1949, 1952, and 1961 he took part in composing courses at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, with Aaron Copland and others. From 1960 until 1962 he studied composing at Brandeis University in Waltham. Beginning in 1956, Orgad was employed by the Israeli Ministry of Education, in the department of its school of music. His musical works consist primarily of choir music and songs, although he also wrote orchestral works and chamber music. Awards *In 1952, Orgad received the Kussewitzky Prize of UNESCO. *In 1961, he received the Joel Engel Prize of the city of Tel Aviv. *In 1997, he was awarded the Israel Prize, for music. See also *List of Israel Prize recipients References External links * Ben-Zion Orgad bio * Bibliography on Ben-Zion Orgad, in Ronit Sete

Benjamin Yusupov

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Benjamin Yusupov (; born November 22, 1962, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan) is a classical composer, conductor and pianist. Biography Yusupov was born in Dushanbe, Tajik SSR (today in Tajikistan) in 1962. He studied piano, composition and conducting at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow with Roman Ledeniov, Yuri Fortunatov and Dmitri Kitajenko. He received his PhD degree at Bar-Ilan University. Yusupov works closely with outstanding artists as Maxim Vengerov, Mischa Maisky, Vadim Repin, Alexander Kniazev, Maxim Rysanov, Sergei Nakariakov, Konstantin Lifschitz, Reinhold Friedrich and others. His extensive catalogue, which is published exclusively by Sikorski Musikverlag (Hamburg), has been performed extensively by a wide range of renowned artists and orchestra across the globe the likes of the London Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Bogota Philharmonic, New World Symphony, NDR Radio-Philharmonie Hannover, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, to name a few. In 2005, Yusupov’s Viola Tango Rock Concerto - written for the internationally renowned violini

Betty Olivero

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Betty Olivero (; born 16 May 1954) is an Israeli composer and music educator. Biography Olivero was born in Tel Aviv, Israel to parents Dora Kapon and Eli Olivero. She graduated with a Bachelor in Music from the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University in 1978, where she studied with Ilona Vincze-Kraus for piano and Yizhak Sadai and Leon Schidlowsky for composition. She continued her studies at Yale University where she studied under Jacob Druckman, Bernard Rands and Gilbert Amy, and graduated with a Masters in Music in 1981. She continued her studies in Florence with Luciano Berio from 1983 to 1986 and began her develop career as a composer in Europe. She married Raffaello Majoni and had two children, and returned to Israel in 2002 to take a position as professor of composition at Bar-Ilan University, where she received her tenure in 2008. She was the first female professor of composition at an Israeli institution. In 2004-2008, she served as composer-in-residence at the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Olivero’s music has been performed internationally by orchestras and ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard Ensemble, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the N

Chaya Czernowin

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Chaya Czernowin (, ; born December 7, 1957) is an Israeli American composer and Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music at Harvard University. She is the lead composer at the Schloß Solitude Sommerakademie, a biannual international academy of composers and resident musicians at the landmark Schloß Solitude, in Stuttgart, Germany. She is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow. Education and early career Czernowin was born in Haifa and raised in Israel. She studied in Israel, Germany, and the United States. She also received fellowships to compose in Japan and in Germany. Czernowin studied at the Rubin Academy of music at Tel-Aviv University, Bard College, and received her PhD from the University of California, San Diego in 1993. At UCSD, she studied with Brian Ferneyhough and Roger Reynolds. Czernowin spent several years after her formal studies on residencies and fellowships in Japan, Europe, and the United States. She was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize in 2003. From 1997 to 2006, she was professor of composition at UCSD, and between 2006 and 2009 she was professor of composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. Musical works Source: Early works *Dam Sheom Ha

Claude Abravanel

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Claude Abravanel (; 16 July 1924 – 14 December 2012) was a Swiss-Israeli pianist and composer of classical music. Activities He studied piano with Dinu Lipatti at the Geneva Conservatory of Music. He also studied composition with Arthur Honegger and piano with Yvonne Lefébure at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. A lecturer and director of the library at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (Rubin Academy) until 1992, Abravanel became director of the Archives of Israeli Music at the Academy. Personal history Abravanel was born in Montreux, Switzerland, and settled in Israel in 1951. See also *Aria *Chamber Music *Music of Israel *Petrarca *Pierre de Ronsard *Yemenite References Additional reference material *©The National Library of Israel. All rights reserved retrieved 23/9/11 *book written by Abravanel retrieved 23/9/11 External links *israelcomposers *jnul

Daniel Gortler

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Daniel Gortler (Hebrew: דניאל גורטלר; born April 12, 1965) is an Israeli pianist. Education and early life Born and raised in Israel, Gortler began studying classical music and piano with Naomi Hachohen. He graduated from the Rubin Music Academy in Tel-Aviv and continued his musical studies at the Musikhochschule Hannover, studying with Arie Vardi. Gortler was faculty member of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel-Aviv University until 2011. From 2011 to 2013, he was a guest artist in piano studies in the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at New York University’s Steinhardt School. Career As a soloist, Gortler has performed with orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bochum Orchestra, the New World Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Huston Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony as well as orchestras in Brazil and South Africa. He has worked with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev and Michael Tilson Thomas. Gortler has performed in festivals such as the Montpellier Festival, Lucer

Dov Seltzer

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Dov “Dubi” Seltzer (; born 1931) is a Romanian-born Israeli composer and conductor. Early life and education Seltzer was born in Iași, Romania, and raised in Bucharest, where he began studying music at an early age. He received instruction in music theory and harmony from Alfred Mendelsohn and Mihail Jora. At the age of 15, he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. A musical comedy he had composed prior to his emigration continued to be performed for two years by a professional youth theater in Bucharest. He completed his secondary education while living in Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek. On the recommendation of pianist Frank Pelleg, he was awarded a scholarship to pursue further musical studies at conservatories in Haifa and Tel Aviv-Jaffa. At 18, Seltzer joined the Israel Defense Forces, where he became one of the founders and the first official composer of the Lehakat HaNahal military ensemble. His work with the ensemble and subsequent compositions became part of the core repertoire of Israeli music. He also performed as an accordionist and arranger for the Israeli musical group Oranim Zabar, and was married to its lead singer, Geula Gill. During his military service, Seltzer received a sp

Dror Elimelech

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Dror Elimelech (Hebrew: דרור אלימלך; born 1956 in Israel) is an Israeli psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and poet, and a composer and performer of contemporary classical music. Elimelech studied composition with Sergiu Natra and piano with Bart Berman, Ruth Hilman, and Pnina Salzman. He has published eight books of his poetry. References External links *Biography in English with a picture *Biography in Hebrew with bibliography in the Lexicon of New Hebrew Literature

Dudu Tassa

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David “Dudu” Tassa (; born February 10, 1977) is an Israeli rock musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Since 2011, Tassa has been the leader of Dudu Tassa & the Kuwaitis, which performs Iraqi and Kuwaiti songs by his deceased grandfather and great-uncle, Daoud and Salih Al-Kuwaity. He also has a solo career, and has collaborated on several occasions with the Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood. Life and career Tassa was born and raised in Hatikva Quarter in Tel Aviv, Israel, to a Jewish family who immigrated to Israel from Yemen, Iraq and Kuwait. He was active in the local community center during his childhood. He studied in the theater program at Ironi Alef High School, and at the age of 15 he released his debut album, “Ohev et Ha’Shirim” (Hebrew: אוהב את השירים, “Loving the Songs”), produced by Yishai Ben Tzur. In 2000, after finishing his military service, Tassa released the album Yoter Barur (יותר ברור, “Clearer”), which was critically acclaimed despite slim sales. in 2002 he joined the band of Israeli satirist Eli Yatzpan’s late night show as lead guitarist. In 2003, Tassa released his third album, Mitokh Behira (מתוך בחירה, “By Choice”), gaining larger exposure th

Eitan Avitsur

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Eitan Avitsur (; 5 September 1941 Jerusalem – 24 February 2018 ) was an Israeli composer and conductor. Avitsur’s formal education commenced with study for a teaching certificate in music theory (1967) and a degree in music composition and conducting (1972) at the Rubin Academy of Music. His studies were concluded in 1976 at the Rubin Academy, directed by Igor Markevitch and Salzburg’s Mozarteum where he specialized in conducting. Commencing a professional involvement with Bar-Ilan University in 1972, he was appointed in 1987 as conductor of the Jerusalem Youth Orchestra. In 2003, he created the foundations of the electro-acoustic music program which was developed under his tutelage, also establishing there a computer-music laboratory. In 2016 Avitsur won the Jerusalem Award for his life work in music educating thousands of students. In 1972 Avitsur was a founding member of the Music Department at Bar-Ilan University. He has created or composed more than three hundred works, including oratorios, cantatas, symphonies, chamber music and background music for more than two hundred movies and television programs. References External links * Bar-Ilan University webpage list of conducting

Ella Milch-Sheriff

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Ella Milch-Sheriff (Hebrew: אלה מילך-שריף) is an Israeli composer, winner of ACUM award for lifetime achievement (2022). Born in Haifa, Israel on September 1, 1954, Milch-Sheriff began her career as a composer at the age of 12. During her military service she composed, performed and interpreted her own songs after which she returned to classical music studying composition under the direction of Professor Tzvi Avni and graduating in composition from the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. Milch-Sheriff, who is based in Tel Aviv, has composed operas, chamber, orchestral and vocal music as well as popular music and solo works. Selected works * Clarinet Quartet, Clarinet, Violin, Viola and Cello, 2022, Intonations festival. Berlin, Germany. Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival. * Abschied (Farewell Eng.), Soprano and Orchestra, 2021, Bochum Symphony Orchestra, Germany. * “The Eternal Stranger” (Der ewige Fremde), Actor and symphony orchestra, 2020, Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, Leipzig, Palermo, London. * “The Banality of Love” (Die Banalitaet der Liebe), Opera, 2018, Staatstheater Regensburg, Germany. * “Baruch’s Silence” (Baruchs Schweigen), A chamber opera, 2010, Staatstheat

Emanuel Amiran-Pougatchov

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Emanuel Amiran-Pougatchov (Hebrew: עמנואל עמירן-פוגצ’וב; born Emanuel Pugaczow; 8 August 1909 – 18 December 1993) was a composer and teacher. Biographical information In Warsaw, Emanuel Pugaczow began his musical studies at the age of 10 years with Joseph Engel, Professor David Shore and Engel Weinberg. He later continued his musical studies for a period of three years within Berlin. From 1928 to 1930, he studied with Solomon Rosowsky within Jerusalem. His studies of music (combined with pedagogy ) continued from 1934 onward at the Trinity College of Music in Britain with Sir Granville Bantock and Alex Rowley. He returned to Israel again in 1936 again to be involved in teaching activities, at some time founding with Prof. Leo Kestenberg the Music Teachers’ Seminary in Tel Aviv, both continuing as primary authorities and charges of. In 1948 he was officer in charge of military music, establishing a joint initiative with artillery commander, Samuel Edmond. Together with Captain Jacob Pleasant he founded an Israeli Army Band. The military band they formed was one of the foundations for the establishment of the Israel Defense Forces Orchestra, together with an orchestra of Alexandria,

Eres Holz

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Eres Holz (born September 26, 1977 in Rehovot), is a German composer of Israeli origin. He has been living in Germany since 2003. Life Biography Holz studied composition with Ruben Seroussi in Tel Aviv. From 2003 to 2011 he studied composition with Hanspeter Kyburz and electronic music with Wolfgang Heiniger at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin, where since 2008 he has taught Algorithmic Composition with OpenMusic and Common Music. His works have been performed in Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Spain and Australia, by Ensemble Adapter, Ensemble Zafraan, Modern Art Sextet, Trio Nexus, Ensemble Risonanze Erranti, Israel Contemporary Players, Ensemble Meitar and others, as well as broadcast on the national German public broadcaster Deutschlandradio and on Hessischer Rundfunk. Since 2014 he has been a member of the Academy of German Composers (Akademie Deutscher Musikautoren) Grants & Awards The Hanns Eisler Prize in Composition, in the category “Competition for Composition and Performance of Contemporary Music”, 2005, 2008 and 2010. Nominated in 2012 for the German Music Authors’ Prize, in the category “Promotion of young composers”. In 2012 he received the half-year re

Erich Walter Sternberg

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Erich Walter Sternberg (; May 31, 1891, in Berlin – December 15, 1974, in Tel Aviv) was a German-born Israeli composer. He was one of the founders of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Biography After graduating with a law degree from Kiel University in 1918, Sternberg began studying composition with Hugo Leichtentritt and piano with H. Praetorius in Berlin. From 1925 Sternberg visited Palestine annually and moved there in 1932, along with other Jewish musicians who fled Germany prior to World War II. His life was devoted to composition and teaching of composition. In 1936 he helped Bronisław Huberman found the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and promoted the Palestine chapter of the International Society for Contemporary Music. Sternberg found it difficult to overcome the trauma of displacement from his German heritage and never felt entirely comfortable in Israel. He was never offered a permanent position at the Palestine Conservatory or the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, although he occasionally taught there as a guest lecturer. This advocacy for an individual style stood at odds with many of his colleagues’ quest for a distinctly national style. As a result, Sternberg’s works do

Gary Bertini

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Gary Bertini (; May 1, 1927 – March 17, 2005) was one of the most important Israeli musicians and conductors. In 1978 he was awarded the Israel Prize for Music. Biography Gary Bertini was born Shloyme Golergant in Bricheva, Bessarabia, then in Romania, now in Donduşeni District, Moldova. His father, K. A. Bertini (Aron Golergant), was a poet and translator of the Russian (Leonid Andereyev) and Yiddish (A.Sutzkever, H. Leivick) literature into Hebrew, and of the Hebrew works into Yiddish. His mother Berta Golergant was a physician and biologist. They immigrated to Palestine in 1946. Gary studied music at the Music Teachers’ College in Tel Aviv and then in Milan, Italy, and at the Paris Conservatoire. Upon returning to Israel, Bertini established Rinat (the Israel Chamber Choir) in 1955. He was musical advisor to the Batsheva Dance Company and composed original music for numerous productions of Habima, the Israel national theater, and the Cameri Theatre. He founded the Israel Chamber Orchestra in 1965 and was its conductor until 1975. In 1971 he conducted the world premiere of Josef Tal’s Ashmedai at the Hamburg State Opera. Bertini was conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra f

Gil Shohat

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Gil Shohat (; born 7 September 1973) is an Israeli classical music composer, conductor, pianist and lecturer. Biography Gil Shohat was born in Tel Aviv. His mother is Ha’aretz theatre critic Tzipora (Tzipi) Shohat. He grew up in Ramat Gan. As a child, he attended a music program for gifted children at Tel Aviv University. His father is an Iraqi Jew. He earned his BM and MM from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University in 1991-1995. In 1995-1997, he studied piano and composition at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and the following year studied with Alexander Goehr of Cambridge University. Shohat lives in Jaffa with his life partner. Music career His first orchestral work was performed by the Israel Chamber Orchestra when he was 18. In the army, he served as commander of the Israel Defense Forces Chamber Orchestra. Shohat has composed numerous symphonies, concertos, operas, and chamber and solo compositions. Awards and recognition Shohat was named Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters of France in 2009. Selected works :Shohat’s works are published by Casa Ricordi, Israel Music Institute, Israeli Music Center, OR-TAV Music Publications and Gil Shoh

Gilad Hochman

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Gilad Hochman (Hebrew: גילעד הוכמן; born 26 July 1982 in Herzliya) is an Israeli composer of contemporary classical music based in Berlin, Germany. * S&R Washington Award, Washington D.C., USA (2017) * Cambridge Chamber Singers Composition Competition, USA – 1st Prize (2018) * Mandolin Composition Competition by Edition 49, Germany – 2nd Prize (2023) * North Carolina NewMusic Initiative Orchestral Composition Competition, USA – 1st Prize (2024) * American Viola Society – Gardner Competition for Composers, USA – 2nd Prize (2026) Grants Hochman’s work has received support from the Goethe-Institut, Austrian Cultural Forum, America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the Adele and John Gray Endowment Fund, Yehoshua Rabinovich Arts Foundation, Zfunot Tarbut, and the Ronen Arts Fund. External links * Official website

Haim Tukachinsky

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Haim Tukachinsky (Also Haim Zimra Tukachinsky ; November 10, 1987 – September 24, 2018) was an Israeli Jewish Orthodox pianist, composer, conductor and musical director. Biography Haim Tukachinsky was born in Haifa and raised in Kiryat Motzkin. He was the fourth child of a Jewish Orthodox family with nine brothers and sisters. has made contributions to charities and to the Association Against Animal Experiments, and he was a vegetarian for animal welfare reasons. Educated in Chabad educational institutions and continued his studied Talmud Torah in a small yeshiva in the Krayot Region. Tukachinsky was interested in music from his infancy, His first documented work was written when he was 9 years old. when he was 10.5 years old he first met a professional teacher of composition and showed him a work he had written called “Malkush” (the first rain). when he was 11 years old, by the recommendation of the same teacher, he began studying at the Kiryat Motzkin conservatory. he maintaining a Jewish orthodox lifestyle and sanctifying God through music. Upon graduation, Tukachinsky decided to pursue music studies at the academy, and after successfully passing the matriculation and psychometr

Hanan Ben Ari

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Hanan Ben Ari (; born 8 April 1988) is an Israeli singer, songwriter, and composer. His debut album, Izun (Balance), released 21 February 2016, was certified gold in Israel with 15,000 copies sold in three months and received heavy radio play on Galgalatz. He has been noted as one of relatively few religious artists, including Ishay Ribo and Nathan Goshen, who have found success in the secular Israeli mainstream. Early life Ben Ari grew up in Karnei Shomron, the fifth of six siblings; his father works in the financial sector of Bat Yam, while his mother works in special education. Hanan sang in choirs from the age of six, learned keyboard from age 12, and began composing music at age 13. In 2013, he collaborated with musicians Yaakov Asraf and Nir Rubin on an educational stage musical called Mitbagrim (“Growing Up”), which ran for over 100 performances. Ben-Ari’s debut single, Mimecha Ad Elay (“From You to Myself”), was announced by his uncle in November 2014. The song, whose lyrics reference Song of Songs and other Jewish scripture, was added to the Galgalatz daily playlist, Several of his subsequent singles were also placed in heavy rotation on Galgalatz, Ben-Ari’s debut album, I

Hanoch Jacoby

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Hanoch (Heinrich) Jacoby (; March 2, 1909 – 13 December 1990) was an Israeli composer and viola player. Biography Hanoch Heinrich Jacoby was born on March 2, 1909, in Königsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia). There he learned to play the viola. From 1927 until 1930 he studied in the Royal Academy of Musical Performing Art (now the Berlin University of the Arts). His composition and viola teacher there was Paul Hindemith. He played in Michael Taube’s chamber orchestra in Berlin and from 1930 in the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 1933 he was fired due to the Nuremberg Laws. In 1934 he immigrated to Palestine as part of the Fifth Aliyah as a viola player in the Jerusalem string quartet formed in Jerusalem by Emil Hauser. He was one of the founders of a conservatory that later became the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He taught violin, viola, music theory, and composition there, and was also its head from 1954 until 1958. During the same years he was also first viola player in the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and often conducted it. Since 1958 he played the viola in Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, which also performed his compositions, until his retirement in 1974. T

Idan Raichel

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Idan Raichel (, ; b. 12 September 1977) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and musician known for his “Idan Raichel Project” (Hebrew: ), distinctive for its fusion of electronics, traditional Hebrew texts, and diverse musical influences. Prior to the project, Raichel was a keyboardist, collaborating with artists such as Ivri Lider. Biography Idan Raichel was born in Kfar Saba, Israel, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. He began to play the accordion at the age of nine. He was attracted to gypsy music and tango, and studied jazz piano in high school. As the musical director of the band, he learned to do arrangements and produce live shows. Following his military service, Raichel worked as a counselor at Hadassim, a boarding school for immigrants. There he met young Ethiopian Jews who took him to Ethiopian bars and clubs in Tel Aviv and introduced him to Ethiopian folk and pop music, including that of Mahmoud Ahmed, Aster Aweke, and Gigi. Music career After working as a backup musician and recording with some of Israel’s most popular singers, Raichel struck out on his own. He began working on a demo recording in Kfar Saba and invited other singers and musicians to collaborate with him to cr

Igor Krutogolov

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Igor Krutogolov (; born 1976, Tashkent, Uzbekistan) is an Israeli musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer, graphic designer, artist, the founder and the leader of the bands Kruzenshtern & Parohod (KIP) and Igor Krutogolov’s Toy Orchestra. Biography Igor Krutogolov was born in 1976 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. His love for music started at the age of 12, when he first listened to Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8. In 1989, he played drums in a local punk band in Tashkent. After he finished school in 1992, he immigrated with his parents to Israel. Music career Early collaborations Igor Krutogolov started his music career soon after he immigrated to Israel. Beginning in 1997, he took an active part in the Israeli indie music scene under the nickname Igor18 as a composer, bass player, vocalist and an album cover designer. Krutogolov collaborated with a number of Israeli musicians including Ruslan Gross, Vadim Gusis, Vera Agnivolok, Slava Smelovsky, and Anton Weiss. He played bass guitar, drums and experimented with unconventional musical instruments (saw, bow, children’s toys etc.). Together with his friend Ruslan Gross, a clarinetist and bassist with Rabies Cas

Israel Sharon

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Israel Sharon (; born in Tel Aviv, 25 May 1966) is an Israeli composer, pianist, arranger, conductor and a teacher in Israel Arts and Science Academy. As a young man Israel Sharon studied piano with Alexander Volkov and composition with Abel Ehrlich. Later, he studied at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv, where he continued his composition studies with Leon Schidlowsky. Israel Sharon also studied at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Since 1992 he has been a leading member of the Israeli Kaprizma Ensemble as a composer, conductor and pianist. He has composed numerous works for the ensemble many of which were also recorded by the ensemble. He has done arrangements of other compositions including one of Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe for 16 instruments. His works have been performed by Kaprizma as well as by leading international artists such as Pierre Strauch, Alain Damiens, Julius Berger, Wolfgang Meyer, Cihat Askin, Sava Stoianov and members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to name but few. His composition were presented concerts and festivals in many countries including Germany, Austria, Russia, South Korea, USA, Cyprus, Hungary and Israel. Compositi

Issak Tavior

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Isaak Tavior () was a pianist, composer and conductor. He was born in Haifa , Israel on 18 September 1943 to Rosa and Avraham Vichodetz. Tavior was the recipient of the Prize for Creativity in the field of Zionism in 2012, granted him by the Israeli Minister of Culture, Limor Livnat, for his 2004 composition “Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones” named for the prophecy of the same name. Biography Tavior was born in Haifa. He began learning music at the age of seven. Throughout his musical studies, he received support from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Tavior graduated from the Dunya-Weizmann Conservatory in Haifa, where he was tutored by Rachel Katz. At the age of 14 he participated in “Tochnit Bechora”, a classical music program at Israel radio network, Kol Israel. He would later regularly participate in classical music programs of the network. At 16, Tavior was accepted as a second year student to the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, receiving a full scholarship, where he studied under the pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Alisa Hertz-Sommer. At the age of 20 he graduated from the Music Academy of Tel Aviv with Prof. Ilona Vincze-Kraus as a Master. Tavior completed his st

Jacob Gilboa

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Jacob Gilboa (; May 2, 1920 – May 9, 2007) was an Israeli composer. Biography Erwin Goldberg (later Jacob Gilboa) was born in Košice, Czechoslovakia. Some years later he lived in Vienna, where he received training in playing the piano. In 1938 he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine, where he initially studied in Haifa at the Institute for Technology. Starting in 1944 he studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music with Josef Tal and Paul Ben-Haim. Music career His participation in the Courses for New Music in Cologne in 1963 and 1964 under Karlheinz Stockhausen and Henri Pousseur made a strong impact on his style, which changed to include clusters, quarter tones, electronics, and unconventional instrumental combinations. His best-known work is Twelve Glass Windows of Chagall in Jerusalem, for voice and instruments (1966). In addition, he composed Thistles, for horn, percussion, piano, and cello (1967), Pastels for two pianos, the piano suite Seven Little Insects (1956), and The Grey Colours of Käthe Kollwitz for mezzo-soprano, chamber orchestra, and tape. He died in Tel Aviv, Israel. See also *Music of Israel References

Jan Freidlin

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Jan Freidlin (Hebrew: יאן פריידלין; Ukrainian: Ян Михайлович Фрейдлін) is a Soviet (Ukrainian SSR) and Israeli composer. He is the author of works for solo instruments, ensembles and orchestras, as well as music for film and television. Biography Jan Freidlin was born on 12 August 1944 in Chita. Already in 1946, at the age of two, he moved with his family to Odesa (Ukraine) — a city that would become Freidlin’s home for the next 44 years of his life. Here he began studying piano at the Glazunov Music School No.2, in the class of Maria Isaakovna Horvits. After graduating, he enrolled in the Odesa Music College (1959–1963), where he studied piano performance, composition, and music theory. Later, under the guidance of A. Kogan, he continued his studies in composition and music theory at the Odesa State Conservatory (1965-1971). From 1974 to 1990, Freidlin was the head of the Music theory department at the School of Stolyarsky, a Special Music School in Odesa established by Pyotr Stolyarsky. He also served as the Artistic director and Principal conductor of the Odesa Philharmonic Theatre Jazz Orchestra. for flute, violin, violoncello and piano. 1982 Chamber music - Theatre of Beranger

Jan Radzynski

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Jan Radzynski (; born June 18, 1950) is a Polish-born Israeli-American composer. Early life and education Jan Radzynski was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1950 to a musical family. His mother supported and guided his early piano studies, and one of his great-grandfathers had served as an army bandmaster in the Austro-Hungarian military before World War I. He was also awarded a Creative Work and Research Grant from the Rothschild Foundation in 1995, as well as various faculty grants and residencies in Israel and Switzerland. Radzynski has continued to influence contemporary music through both his compositions and his teaching at Ohio State University. Awards * Two ASCAP Standard Awards (1989, 1997) * Mellon Fellowship (1985) * Morse Fellowship * Distinguished Scholar Award, The Ohio State University (1996) * Frederick W. Hilles Publication Grant * Yale University Griswold Research Grants * Summer Residency at the Foundation Artist’s House, Boswil, Switzerland (1983) * Residency at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, Israel (1995) * Creative Work and Research Grant from the Rothschild Foundation (1995) * Individual Artist Grants from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and Ohio Arts Council Referenc

Joan Franks Williams

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Joan Franks Williams (April 1, 1930 – January 30, 2003) was an American composer. Life Joan Franks Williams was born in Brooklyn, on April 1, 1930 to her father, Harold Franks, and her mother. Both of her parents enjoyed classical music, leading Williams to absorb the world of classical music through piano and viola lessons and frequent attendance to live concerts and performances. She attended the High School of Music and the Arts in Manhattan and continued with music into her college studies. Williams earned a bachelor’s in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music in 1952, and a Bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music 1961. While still in New York, she met her future husband Irving Williams on a blind date in Manhattan; suitingly, they enjoyed a live symphonic performance followed by dinner. Joann married Irving in 1954, and moved to Seattle with her family in 1962. In Seattle, she founded New Dimensions in Music (NDM), a non-profit organization that was one of the early and most influential promoters of new music in the Pacific Northwest. As a part of NDM she also established the first electronic music studio in Seattle. In 1971, the Williams f

Jonathan Bar Giora

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Jonathan Bar Giora (; born 8 July 1962) is an Israeli composer and pianist. Since 2000, Bar Giora has composed scores and soundtracks for over 150 Israeli films such as Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi, Time of Favor, A Quiet Heart and Aviva, My Love. He also worked as a composer and music arranger and producer with Israeli artists such as Yossi Banai, Shalom Hanoch, Riki Gal, Miri Mesika and many others. From 2011 until 2015, Bar Giora served as the head of the film music and sound design department at the School of Audio & Visual Arts at Sapir Academic College, where he is now the head of the BFA program. He also teaches at Beit Berl College. His composition style presents diverse influences, from Mizrahi music, Jazz, Classical music, Rock music to Electronic music. He has collaborated with various Israeli musicians, such as Meir Banai, Riki Gal, Haïm Ulliel, Miri Mesika, Yehonatan Geffen, Ninet Tayeb and Ester Rada. Biography Jonathan Bar Giora was born in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1962. When he was 16, he left high school and started playing in local piano bars. All through the 1980s he played jazz and wrote music-related articles for the local press. In 1990 he staged a one-man show I’d be

Josef Tal

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Josef Tal (; September 18, 1910 – August 25, 2008) was an Israeli composer. He wrote three Hebrew operas; four German operas, dramatic scenes; six symphonies; 13 concerti; chamber music, including three string quartets; instrumental works; and electronic compositions. He is considered one of the founding fathers of Israeli art music. Biography Josef Grünthal (later Josef Tal) was born in the town of Pinne (now Pniewy), near Poznań, German Empire (present-day Poland).Soon after his birth, his family (parents Ottilie and Rabbi Julius Grünthal, and his elder sister Grete), moved to Berlin, where the family managed a private orphanage. Rabbi Julius Grünthal was a docent in the Higher Institute for Jewish Studies (Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums), specializing in the philology of ancient languages. Tal’s first encounter with music was at the synagogue, where there was a choir and his grandfather served as a non-professional cantor. After attending his first concert, he began to take piano lessons. Tal was admitted to the Staatliche Akademische Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and studied with Max Trapp (piano and composition), Heinz Tiessen (theory), Max Saal (harp), Curt Sa

Lior Navok

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Lior Navok (; born September 6, 1971) is an Israeli classical composer, conductor and pianist. He was born in Tel Aviv. Navok studied composition privately with the Israeli composer Moshe Zorman, and completed a Bachelor’s degree at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where he studied composition (with Yinam Leef) and conducting. He later completed he studied for a Master’s and Doctorate at the New England Conservatory, where he studied with John Harbison. His music has been performed internationally by orchestras and ensembles including the Oper Frankfurt, Nuernberg Opera, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra. Amongst the awards he has received are those from the Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. He has also received awards from the Fromm Music Foundation, Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Award, and Israel Prime Minister Award. In 2004, he was one of seven composers awarded commissions for new musical works by the Serge Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation. His stage music includes two operas, The Bet, based on a short s

Lola Folman

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Lola Folman (1912–1979) was a Polish Jewish singer and composer popular in Poland in the 1930s. Folman was a folk singer. She was often accompanied by pianist-improviser Max Fishman, was soloist with the Moshe Shneur Choir in Warsaw and later a composer and performer in kleynkunst and revi-teater. Folman married lyricist Yitskhok Perlov (who wrote the words to her famous Dos Baytshl Kreln). “Then Lola Folman, a woman of about thirty, slightly plump, dressed in short trousers fashioned, apparently, from an old floral dress and an open, sleeveless shirt - the finest of feminine fashion on the ship - climbed to the top of the companionway ladder. It was hard to guess, from her appearance, why she had gone up there, but when she opened her mouth and began to sing in a lovely clear strong voice, folk-songs from a world no longer extant, a shudder ran through the audience. … Lola Folman sang a new song, Exodus, which excited all of us and was cheered to the echo. The words were written by her husband Yitzhak Perlov.” Folman gave performances in the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp in 1948. She emigrated to New York and was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Queens, NY in 1979. See al

Marc Lavry

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Marc Lavry (; December 22, 1903, Riga – March 24, 1967, Haifa) was an Israeli composer and conductor. Born in Latvia and trained in Germany, Lavry immigrated to Palestine in 1936, where he was instrumental in developing the “Mediterranean School” of composition, that merged elements of oriental Jewish and Arab music with modern European classical music. Biography Lavry was born Mark Levin in Riga, Latvia on December 22, 1903. As a child, he studied piano at the Riga Conservatory of Music, where he also began composing. After graduating high school, he moved to Germany, where he earned a degree in architecture, and continued his music studies at the Leipzig Conservatory. He studied piano with Professor Robert Teichmüller, and composition with Paul Graener, and later with Alexander Glazunov. After discovering there already was an older, then more established composer and conductor named Mark Levin, he decided to change his own name to Marc Lavry. He began his conducting career as music director of the opera house in Saarbrücken, and later, of the Tanzbühne Laban, the dance theater directed by modern dance pioneer Rudolf von Laban. In 1929, he became conductor of the Berlin Symphony O

Mark Kopytman

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Mark Kopytman (; December 6, 1929 – December 16, 2011) was a composer, musicologist and pedagogue. He was a professor and a rector of the Rubin Academy (Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance), and a Laureate of the Serge Koussevitzky Prize for his composition Voices of Memory (1986). Awarded the title “People’s Artist of Moldova” in (1992) by the Moldovan President for the creation of the first Moldovan National Opera «Casa mare» («The Great House»). Biography Kopytman was born in Kamianets-Podilskyi in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union) in 1929. He received his initial training in piano and music theory at Chernivtsi Music College and later went on to study medicine at the Chernivtsi Medical Institute. After graduating from medical college, Kopytman studied composition with Roman Simovych at the Lysenko Academy of Music in Lviv and with S. Bogatirev at Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow. After gaining his second PhD in theory and composition, Kopytman taught at the conservatories of Moscow, Almaty and Chişinău. Several of his compositions won prizes and distinctions in competitions and festivals. Emigration In 1972 Kopytman emigrated to Israel, where he became a Professo

Max Brod

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Max Brod (; 27 May 1884 – 20 December 1968) was an Israeli author, music critic, composer, and journalist, born as a German-speaking Czech. He is notable for promoting the work of writer Franz Kafka and composer Leoš Janáček. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is best remembered as the friend and biographer of Franz Kafka. Kafka named Brod as his literary executor, instructing Brod to burn his unpublished work upon his death. Brod refused and had Kafka’s works published instead. In 1939, as the Nazis occupied Prague, he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine, taking with him a suitcase of Kafka’s papers, many of them unpublished notes, diaries, and sketches. Biography Max Brod was born in Prague in Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic). At the age of four, Brod was diagnosed with a severe spinal curvature and spent a year in corrective harness; despite this he would be a hunchback his entire life. He would later pass stewardship of the Kafka materials in his possession to Esther in his will. Another close companion was Felix Weltsch. Their friendship lasted 75 years, from the elementary school of the Piarists in Prague to Weltsch’s death in 1964. He incre

Menachem Avidom

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Menachem Avidom (; January 6, 1908 – August 5, 1995) was an Israeli composer. His Hebrew surname is the combination of the names of his daughters Daniella and Miriam (Avi - the father of; D - for Daniella; O - and; M - for Miriam). Biography Avidom was born Mendel Mahler-Kalkstein in Stanislaviv, Austria-Hungary on January 6, 1908. This put him in Poland after World War I. He emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1925 and, soon after, went to study at the American University of Beirut (from 1926 to 1928). After further studies at the Paris Conservatory (from 1928 to 1931) with Henri Rabaud, he moved to Tel Aviv, where he taught music theory. From 1945 through 1952 he served as general secretary of the Israeli Philharmonic. He was also chair of the Israel Composer’s League from 1958 through 1971. Awards * In 1961, Avidom was awarded the Israel Prize for music, in recognition of his opera Alexandra ha’Hashmonait. Works ;Vocal *In Every Generation, opera, 1955 *Alexandra ha’Hashmonait, opera, 1961 *The Farewell, opera, 1971 *The First Sin, opera, 1980 *Me’Arat Yodfat, opera *4 other operas *Kantatat t’hilim, cantata, 1955 *12 Hills, cantata, 1976 ;Orchestral *Symphony No. 3: Yam tichoni

Michael Seltenreich

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Michael Seltenreich (; born 1988 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City. He is known for his distinctive, rhythmically captivating and technically sophisticated music, blending elements of modernism and experimentation. His works have been performed by leading ensembles and orchestras around the world, including the Munich Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Juilliard Orchestra. He earned commissions from staple institutions such as Lucerne Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Seltenreich was the first Israeli to win the prestigious Toru Takemitsu Composition Award and is a recipient of the Israel Prime Minister Award in Composition. In 2022, he received the Music Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Biography Seltenreich was born in Tel Aviv. He graduated from Thelma Yellin High School for The Arts in 2006. By 2011 he received a bachelor’s degree in music composition from Buchmann-Mehta School of Music of Tel Aviv University, where he primarily studied with composer Gil Shohat. In 2014 he relocated to New York to pursue a master

Mindia Khitarishvili

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Mindia Khitarishvili (; Batumi, born January 1, 1973) is an Israeli and Georgian composer. Biography Mindia Khitarishvili is an Israeli and Georgian composer, music arranger, music producer and teacher, currently residing in Haifa, Israel. Originally from Batumi, Georgia, Khitarishvilli studied choir conducting, piano and music theory at the Musical College of Batumi from 1987-1991. Upon graduating from the program, he continued his studies at the Tbilisi State Conservatory and the Academy of Arts of Georgia where he studied Musicological-Composition from 1991-1996. His studies included composition with Professor, N.Mamisashvili. Since 1996, Khitarishvili worked at the Batumi Music College. He worked as a musical editor at Adjara TV. Khitarishvilli is a member of the Union of Composers and Authors of Georgia. He is also a member of the Adjarian union, since 2001, and organizes theatrical productions in Georgia. From 2001, Khitarishvilli worked at the Batumi State Conservatory (State University of the Arts) where he introduced courses in polyphony, orchestration, musical instrument classification (organology), jazz harmony and improvisation. Since 2004, Khitarishvilli worked as an o

Misha Segal

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Misha Segal () is an Israeli music producer and film composer. He studied music, film, and philosophy at Tel Aviv University and apprenticed under Dieter Schöhnbach in Germany. Segal also studied composition and conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, after which point he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Segal has stated that he has been influenced by jazz, Elton John and The Beatles. Segal has worked on several projects, including Blue Lou and Misha Project - Highly Classified, a Christmas CD with Diane Arkenstone, and a piano collection made to raise awareness for lung cancer awareness. Segal was born in Haifa, Israel, to a Jewish family. He served in the Israel Defense Forces Orchestra of the Israeli Air Force. Awards * Award of the Israeli Film Academy for Best Music (2008, nominated - Sof Shavua B’Tel Aviv) * Black Reel for Best Original Score (2012, nominated - Mooz-lum) * Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition in Children’s Programming (1984, won - for “Andrea’s Story: A Hitchhiking Tragedy”, episode 12.4 of ABC Afterschool Specials) * Brit Award (The Phantom of the Opera) Discography * Let it In (1979, as Charme) * The Phanto

Mordecai Seter

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Mordecai Seter (; February 26, 1916 – August 8, 1994), was a Russian-born Israeli composer. Early life Seter was born Marc Starominsky in Novorossiysk, Russia, in 1916 and emigrated with his family to Mandate Palestine in 1926. Seter learned to play the piano from the age of seven in Russia, and continued with his lessons and studies in Tel Aviv. In 1932, he went to Paris, France, where he studied composition at the Ecole Normale de Musique with Paul Dukas and Nadia Boulanger. There, he pursued a musical language founded on his own unique synthesis of the latter, and other, European influences with more local ones. Style Upon his return to Palestine in 1937, Seter grew interested in developing a style inspired by Middle Eastern Jewish musical traditions. In Paris, he had been fascinated with cantus firmus-based techniques found in Western Medieval and Renaissance music, which derived from Catholic plainchant. Therefore, when, in 1938, he encountered the volumes of Abraham Zevi Idelsohn’s Thesaurus of Hebrew Oriental Melodies that contained traditional Sephardic and Mizrahi liturgical tunes, he consciously adopted them as a major influence, not only in and of themselves, but eventua

Mordechai Yissachar Ber Leifer

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Mordechai Yissachar Ber Leifer (; 19554 October 2020) was the third Rebbe of the Pittsburgh Hasidic dynasty. Born in the United States, he joined his father, Grand Rabbi Avraham Abba Leifer, in Ashdod, Israel, to serve as rosh yeshiva of a new Pittsburgher yeshiva in that city in 1981. After succeeding his father as Rebbe, he expanded the Hasidic presence in Ashdod with new schools and institutions, and increased the number of Pittsburgher families to nearly 200 in Ashdod. He also shepherded Pittsburgher Hasidim in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Beit Hilkia, New York City, and California. An accomplished Torah scholar and musical composer, he led the Hasidut for three decades until his death in 2020. Early life and family Mordechai Yissachar Ber Leifer was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1955. Leifer traced his paternal ancestry to Rabbi Mordechai of Nadvorna, the founder of the Nadvorna dynasty, who was the great-grandson of Grand Rabbi Meir the Great of Premishlan, a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. At the time of his birth, his father was teaching Torah and Hasidut and eventually founded a Hasidic yeshiva in Newark. He also studied in the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland, Ohio. And in the Lakewoo

Mordechai Zeira

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Mordechai Zeira (; July 6, 1905 – August 1, 1968), born in Kiev as Dmitry Greben, was an Israeli composer. Mordechai Zaira (Greben) was one of the most important Israeli composers and songwriters. He wrote melodies for the best poets and songwriters, including Jacob Orland, Nathan Alterman, Aharon Ashman and Alexander Penn. His works are still played today, some in modern versions by young artists. At the time he was called “the troubadour of the Hebrew singer”. Biography Mordechai Zaira was born Dmitry Mark (Mitya) Greben in the city of Kiev in the Russian Empire (now the capital of Ukraine). He studied mechanics at the Polytechnic of Kyiv, but due to the difficulties of earning a living, he stopped his studies after two semesters and moved to sewing shoes. In 1924 he was arrested for being in the Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzair, but received a permit to leave the Soviet Union and immigrated to Israel at the age of 19. In Israel, he joined Kibbutz Afikim (then called “Kibbutz Hashomer Hatzair S.S.S.R.”), which was then located near Yavne’el. The members of the kibbutz staged a performance of a Hebrew opera called “Carmela”. The orchestra, which included a concertina and co

Mosh Ben-Ari

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Moshe “Mosh” Ben-Ari (; born 21 September 1970) is an Israeli musician, lyricist, and composer. Biography Ben-Ari was born in Afula, Israel, to a family of Mizrahi Jewish background. He first discovered music as a child through the traditional Jewish and ethnic chants that were part of his everyday life. He started playing music at the age of 16 and has since studied music around the world, including in India, the Sahara, and the Sinai. He plays various string instruments including acoustic and classic guitar, Indian sarod, Persian tar, Turkish cümbüş, Moroccan sintir, and bass. In 1997, together with a few friends, he founded the world music ensemble Sheva (, Seven). The band members come from Muslim and Jewish backgrounds and the main theme in their songs is the call for peace in the Middle East and around the world. Their first album, (, “Heavenly Wedding” or “Celestial Marriage”) featured the hit song Salaam ("", from Arabic: ), also known as ′Od Yavoh′ Shalom ′Alaynu ("" lit. “Still, it will come, Peace upon us”). The band has released four studio albums and one live album. In 2001, Ben-Ari’s debut solo album, Ad Elay ("", “Unto me”), came out. In 2004, he released his second

Moshe Wilensky

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Moshe Wilensky (, also, “Vilensky”; 17 April 1910 – 2 January 1997) was a Polish-Israeli composer, lyricist, and pianist. He is considered a “pioneer of Israeli song” and one of Israel’s leading composers, and was a winner of the 1983 Israel Prize, the state’s highest honor. Life Wilensky, who was Jewish, was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1910, the son of Zelig and Henia (née Liebman). He studied music at the Warsaw Conservatory in Warsaw, specializing in conducting and composition, and immigrated to Palestine in 1932. Music career A pianist and composer, Wilensky wrote music for theaters and musical troupes of the Israel Defense Forces, including the Nahal choir in the 1950s. He worked with the Kol Yisrael orchestra. Among his songs are “Kalaniyot” (“Anemones”), “Hayu Zmanim” (“In Those Times)”, “Autumn,” “Ring Twice and Wait,” “Each Day I Lose,” “The Last Battle”, and “Mul Har Sinai” (“Opposite Mt. Sinai”). He wrote music for many of Natan Alterman’s poems. In 1983, Wilensky was awarded the Israel Prize, for Hebrew song (melody). In 1990, a special concert in honor of his 80th birthday was given by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2005, Vilenski was voted the 187th-greatest Isra

Moshe Zorman

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Moshe Zorman (Hebrew: משה זורמן; born 15 May 1952) is an Israeli composer, winner of the ACUM award for lifetime achievement (2023). His works include nine operas —among them “The Inn of Spirits” after Natan Alterman’s play of the same name—as well as works for symphony orchestra, chamber groups and choirs. His works and arrangements have been performed by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Welsh BBC Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (IBA), the Israel Sinfonietta Beer-Sheva and the Baltimore Symphony, among others. He has also written music for theatre productions at the Habima and Cameri theatres in Israel and for the Inbal and Bat-Sheva dance companies. Biography Zorman studied composition with Prof. Leon Schidlowsky and Prof. Tzvi Avni. After graduating from the Tel Aviv Music Academy, he studied for his Ph.D at New York City University Graduate Ceber CUNY with George Perle and participated in composers’ seminars in Vermont (with Mario Davidovsky) and in Canada (with John Cage). He returned to Israel in 1985 to teach at Tel Aviv University and is a professor at the Levinsky College of Education. occupation=Composer, arranger, musicologist Zorman was a member of the

Nachum Heiman

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Nachum Heiman (; May 6, 1934 – August 17, 2016) was an Israeli composer and musician. Some of the over 1,000 songs he composed have become classics of Israeli folk music. Biography Nachum (Nakhche) Heiman was born in Riga, Latvia in 1934 to a musical family that immigrated to Mandatory Palestine when he was five years old. As a child he began playing the piano. After becoming ill with polio at the age of nine, he switched to playing the accordion and the harmonica. He was hospitalized for three and a half years in an iron lung until he recovered. At age 14, following his parents’ divorce, he moved to Kibbutz Na’an as a yeled hutz (child from outside the kibbutz), where he studied with kibbutz members Yehuda Oren and composer David Zahavi. After his mother remarried, he moved with her to Rehovot, where he composed his first song, “Nitzanim niru ba’aretz” (text from the Song of Songs) at 17 years of age. Since he did not get along with his stepfather, he moved to Kfar HaMaccabi, where he met Matityahu Shalem from nearby Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan. He worked with Shalem as a shepherd and studied with him and his colleagues. Under the influence of Gurit Kadman, one of the pioneers of Israel

Netta Aloni

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Netta Aloni (; born 1945) is a contemporary Israeli composer who composes for vocal and instrumental ensembles. He has written chamber, choral and instrumental works for both solo and group performers. Formal education Aloni studied musical composition with the Israeli composer Andre Hajdu, and continued his studies with Reuven Sarrousy, Betty Oliviero and Gideon Levinson, also Israeli composers. He took supplementary courses in composition during 2005-2007 at the Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Performances and awards Aloni’s work is performed in Israel and abroad. His compositions were recorded by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority and were broadcast over the radio, on the Voice of Music station in Israel, which is devoted to broadcasting both classic and contemporary classical music by foreign and Israeli composers. His work I Have Told Myself Completely was chosen to represent the Israel Broadcasting Authority in the International Rostrum of Composers.He is one of six recipients of the 2013 Composition by Classical Composers Award sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Sport and given by the Israeli Prime Minister. http://mcs.gov.il/Culture/Professional_Information/Announcements

Nimrod Borenstein

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Nimrod Borenstein (; born 1969) is a British-French-Israeli composer and conductor whose music is widely performed throughout Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan. His works are becoming part of the repertoire of many ensembles and orchestras. Education Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Borenstein grew up in Paris, France, where he started his musical education at the age of 3. In 1984, he became a Laureat of the Cziffra Foundation and moved to London, England, in 1986 to pursue his studies as a violinist with Itzhak Rashkovsky at the Royal College of Music. He was then awarded the highest scholarship from the Leverhulme Trust to study composition with Paul Patterson at the Royal Academy. As of 2014, he is an Associate of the Academy and listed amongst the alumni. Composer Vladimir Ashkenazy has been a supporter of Borenstein’s music for many years. In 2013 Ashkenazy conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra for a performance of The Big Bang and Creation of the Universe. Later that year he conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in the world premiere of If you will it, it is no dream. The past few years have seen Nimrod Borenstein’s compositions premiered and per

Noam Sheriff

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Noam Sheriff (; 7 January 1935 – ) was an Israeli composer, conductor, educator, and arranger. Noam Sheriff was Artistic Director of the Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra, Music Director of the Israel Rishon LeZion Symphony Orchestra, Professor of Composition and Conducting at the Samuel Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University, and Director of the Academy from 1998 to 2000. He was also artistic director of the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the Haifa Symphony Orchestra. Awards *1991: ACUM Prize for his life’s work. *2003: EMET Prize for music. Personal life Noam Sheriff was married to the Israeli composer Ella Milch-Sheriff from 1982 until Noam Sheriff’s death in 2018. References External links * Noam Sheriff’s website * Sheriff’s home page at C.F. Peters edition

Ödön Pártos

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Ödön Pártos alternate transcription in English: Oedoen Partos, , (Eden Partosh) (1 October 1907 in Budapest – 6 July 1977 in Tel Aviv) was a Hungarian-Israeli violist and composer. A recipient of the Israel Prize, he taught and served as director of the Rubin Academy of Music, now known as the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv. Biography Partos was born in Budapest (at that time, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, together with Antal Doráti and Mátyás Seiber, studied the violin with Jenő Hubay and composition with Zoltán Kodály. Upon completing his studies, he was accepted to the position of Principal Violinist in an orchestra in Lucerne, after which he played in other European orchestras, among them, in Berlin. In 1934, following Hitler’s ascendance to power, Partos returned to his birthplace, Budapest, where he was Principal Violinist in the city’s symphony orchestra. In 1936, Bronisław Huberman founded the Palestine Orchestra (now: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra), for which he recruited Jewish musicians cast out of Europe’s orchestras. Huberman sought to include Partos, though the latter’s take-up of the post was delayed

Orit Wolf

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Orit Wolf (; born 8 October 1974 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli pianist, composer, poet and lecturer. She is an Associate Professor of Creative Arts at the Department of Humanities & Arts at the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology. Education Starting at the age of six, Orit Wolf studied piano with Hanna Shalgi. At the age of 16, she graduated from Thelma Yelin High School for the Arts and studied with Alexander Volkov. She then began her academic studies at the Tel Aviv University under the direction of Arie Vardi. She also studied music composition and improvisation with Andre Hajdu while attending masterclasses given by Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, Menachem Pressle r, György Sebők, Gilbert Kalish and Peter Serkin. In 1991, Wolf attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and then received a full Dean’s scholarship to Boston University. She graduated from Boston University summa cum laude in piano performance under Benjamin Pasternack and Composer Lukas Foss. Wolf received a post-graduate degree and her master’s from the Royal Academy of Music in 1998 under the direction of Christopher Elton. She was also studying with Maria Curcio. In 2007, Wolf earned a PhD under the Pr

Paul Ben-Haim

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Paul Ben-Haim (or Paul Ben-Chaim, ; 5 July 1897 – 14 January 1984) was an Israeli composer. Biography Paul Frankenburger (later Ben-Haim) was born in Munich, Germany. He studied composition with Friedrich Klose and he was assistant conductor to Bruno Walter and Hans Knappertsbusch from 1920 to 1924. He served as conductor at Augsburg from 1924 to 1931, and afterwards devoted himself to teaching and composition, including teaching at the Shulamit Conservatory in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ben-Haim immigrated to British Mandate of Palestine in 1933 and lived in Tel Aviv, near Zina Dizengoff Square. He Hebraized his name, becoming an Israeli citizen upon that nation’s independence in 1948. Music career Ben-Haim composed chamber music, works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments, and songs. He championed a specifically Jewish national music: his own compositions are in a late Romantic vein with Middle Eastern overtones, somewhat similar to Ernest Bloch. Ben-Haim’s Symphony No. 1 premiered in 1941. It is considered the first symphony written in Israel. His students include Eliahu Inbal, Henri Lazarof, Ben-Zion Orgad, Ami Maayani, Shulamit Ran, Miriam Shatal, Rami Bar-Niv and Noam Sheriff. Be

Rachel Galinne

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Rachel Galinne (Rachel S. Gluchowicz; Hebrew: רחל גלעין; born 7 February 1949) is an Israeli composer. Life and career Rachel Galinne was born in Stockholm, Sweden. She graduated from Uppsala University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974 and then studied composition with Leon Schidlowsky at the Rubin Academy at Tel Aviv University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1984 and a Master of Music degree in 1988. She also studied composition with Witold Lutoslawski in France, and attended Darmstadt. After completing her studies, she worked as a composer. In 1994 she received the Prime Minister’s Prize for Composers and the ACUM Prize. Discography Galinne has issued the following CD albums available at the Israel Music Institute: *Rachel Galinne (1999) *Prisms (2004) *I Will Walk in the Land of the Living (2008) *A Voice Crieth in the Wilderness (2011) Works Selected works include: *Islossning, 2 pianoforte, percussion, 1984 *Cycles, 1986 *Concerto, 2 pianoforte, orchestra, 1988 *Trio, cl, va, pianoforte, 1989 *Symphony no.1, 1996 *Symphony no.2, 1998 *Uneginotai Nenagen And We Shall Sing my Song of Praise (Isaiah xxxviii), 16-pt mixed chorus, 1993 *Amitai in memo

Rami Bar-Niv

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Rami Bar-Niv (; born December 1, 1945) is an Israeli pianist, composer and author. Life and career Bar-Niv is a graduate of the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, where he studied piano with Karol Klein and composition with Paul Ben-Haim, Alexander Boskovitch, and Ödön Pártos. He won a grant from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation in 1966 to continue his studies at Mannes College of Music in the United States, where he studied with Nadia Reisenberg and with the theorist Carl Schachter. During the summer of 1968, Bar-Niv studied with duo pianists Vronsky & Babin. In 1970, William Gunther asked Rami Bar-Niv to replace him in the First Piano Quartet. Bar-Niv has performed in concerts worldwide. In 1974, he performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Paul Paray. He presented a series of violin and piano recitals with Shlomo Mintz in Israel, and has performed extensively with various chamber ensembles in Israel and abroad. He was the first Israeli musician to perform in Egypt after the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, and in 1989, received the annual “Best Performer Award” from the Israeli government. Bar-Niv’s compositions have been

Ron Weidberg

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Ron Weidberg (; born 1953 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli composer, musicologist, and pianist. His works have been performed by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Israel Camerata Jerusalem, among others. Biography Ron Weidberg studied at the Tel-Aviv Academy of Music with Leon Schidlowsky and Yizhak Sadai. He later received his master’s degree at Northwestern University Bienen School of Music in Evanstone, Illinois, USA. In 2000 he received his doctorate degree in musicology at Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University. The dissertation title was: “The Evolution of Sonic Design in the Jean Sibelius’s Orchestral Music 1892-1914”. Music career In 1988, he collaborated with other Israeli composers initiating a concert series titled “Music Now”. In the first concert, his work “Bithonot” (“Securities”) after David Avidan was premiered with vocalist Adi Etzion-Zak. The series was active for five years and premiered some 70 Israeli new works. His works have been commissioned and performed in the framework of the Israel Jerusalem Festival, including “Introduction, Chromatic Fugue and Polk Circus” for 8 pianos in 32 hands (1984), “Fanfare for Brass Ensemble” (1986), “Pressure Songs” (1990)

Sarah Feigin

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Sarah Feigin (; ; 1 July 1928 – 24 April 2011) was a Latvian music educator and composer who lived and worked in Israel. Early life Sarah Kugel was born in Latvia, and studied piano and composition at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music originally known as the Riga Conservatory of Music. She graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees. A Holocaust survivor, she moved to Israel in 1972 and founded a Conservatory of Music in Holon in 1973, working as its director until 1983. Feigin worked for “Jeunesses Musicales d’Israel” from 1973 to 1990, organizing concerts for youth. Her music has been performed internationally. Musical achievements Feigin taught children as well as at music education institutions when she lived in Israel. Her preferred instruments were the organ and piano when composing music. Her work has been published by the Israel Music Institute and her pieces have been on the Israeli radio on a regular basis. Feigin composed pieces such as chamber music, music for piano, educational pieces, songs for ballets, and vocal music. In 2000, Feigin received an award for her work Thoughts On Playing at the International Composition Competition in Miami, Florida. She has

Sasha Argov

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Alexander “Sasha” Argov (; born Alexander Abramovich; Moscow, 26 October 1914 – Tel Aviv, 27 September 1995) was a prominent Israeli composer. Life and career Argov was born Alexander Abramovich in Moscow, Russia in 1914. Later he changed his last name to its Hebrew version, Argov, in 1946. His father was a dentist and his mother a concert pianist. He never made a living with his music, working first as a bank clerk and later owning and operating a bookshop. Among them were “Hareut” and songs for the Israel Defense Forces, film, and theater. In 1948 he published Ha’Chizbatron, a collection of his songs written for the entertainment of Israeli troupes. He also composed several film scores and musicals for the stage; of which the most successful was Shlomo hamelech ve’Shalmai hansandlar (‘King Solomon and the Cobbler’), based on a comedy by Sammy Gronemann in Nathan Alterman’s translation, which premiered in 1964. Dramatic works *Rak lo be’Shabat (film score, 1964) In collaboration with singer Roni Ginosar, Gon Halevi produced an album featuring new interpretations of the works of Argov. The album presents a contemporary take on Argov’s music, with Halevi reimagining the original com

Sergiu Natra

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Sergiu Natra (; 12 April 1924 – 23 February 2021) was an Israeli composer of classical music. Life and work Natra was born in Romania as Sergiu Nadler in April 1924 into a Jewish family of Austrian, German and Czech origin. As a child he studied piano and took up music studies in 1932. He continued to study at the Jewish conservatory until 1942, and graduated from the Music Academy of Bucharest in 1954. In 1961, Natra and his wife, Sonia, a sculptor and multidisciplinary artist, emigrated to Israel. He died in February 2021 at the age of 96. Main works Most of the composers scores were published by Natra Publications, some by IMI in Tel Aviv and some by Harposphere in Paris. Part of the composers scores, the respective recordings, books and articles are found also in libraries, such as Beit Ariela Public Library and Cultural Center (Israel), the National Library of Israel, the Library of Congress (USA) and the Harold B. Lee Library (USA). The main source of the list is the composer’s documentation and archive. Additional references are found in: References External links * Official website

Shalom Hanoch

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Shalom Hanoch (; born 1 September 1946) is an Israeli rock singer, lyricist and composer. He is considered one of the founders of Israeli rock and modern Israeli music in general, both of which have been profoundly influenced by his work. His collaboration with Arik Einstein produced some of the first Israeli rock albums. He is often referred to as “The King of Israeli Rock”. Biography Shalom Hanoch was born in Kibbutz Mishmarot in 1946, roughly 16 months before the establishment of the state of Israel. His musical talent as a child was recognised in the kibbutz, where he began to play, sing, and compose his first songs. Before discovering rock music, he was exposed to a wide variety of genres (from Classical, through Russian folk music, Gospel, to Blues). Musical career Hanoch began writing and composing music after getting his first jazz guitar from his dad when he was around 12 years old. By 14, he had completed his first song, Laila (Night). He continued writing lyrics and music with another member of the Kibbutz, singer-songwriter Meir Ariel. Hanoch and Ariel joined the Kibbutz’s band, HaMishmaron in their teens. Songs from that time include classics such as Agadat Deshe (Gras

Shaul Berezovsky

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Shaul Berezovsky (, , , 1908–1975) was a Polish and Israeli composer, pianist, and music director. He composed music for productions by many of the leading figures of the Polish Yiddish Theatre of the interwar and postwar period, including Shimon Dzigan and Israel Shumacher, Moishe Broderzon, and Ida Kamińska. He was also well known as a choir director and arranger. Biography Early life Berezovsky was born in Grodno, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire (today located in Belarus) on 5 June 1908. However, when his mother fell ill, he returned to Grodno and became a pianist in a silent film theatre for a time. As the war approached, Shaul was drafted into the Polish army, being stationed in the 42nd infantry based in Białystok. During that time he organized an army string ensemble, and was also permitted leave at night to supplement his income by playing in ensembles in cafes. The troupe managed to stage two full shows in 1940: (Singing and Dancing) and (Raisins and Almonds). He died on 2 April 1975 in Tel Aviv. A number of his compositions are still performed today. These include (under the ruins of Poland, an adaptation of an Itzik Manger poem), (I am tired, also a Manger poem), (ada

Shoshana Riseman

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Shosh (Shoshana) Riseman (or Raizman, ; born 10 April 1948) is an Israeli music educator, stage director and composer. She studied composition and orchestration with Noam Sheriff, Leon Schidlowsky and Yosef Dorfman at Tel Aviv University in Israel, with Hans Heimler, at Guilford University in England, and Ralph Shapy, Chicago University in the USA. She also studied electroacoustic music with Sanday and voice with Mira Zakai and Hanna Hacohen at Tel Aviv University. Reisman is highly regarded for her extensive work composing music for dozens of theatre productions across Israel’s major stages. Her compositional work spans nearly every genre, from original plays and Israeli drama to classical and modern international works. She teaches theater arts at Tel Aviv University. Honors and awards *1969 - America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship *1986 - First prize for the music to “Hymn for David”, Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre *1987 - Special prize, Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre *2001 - Nominee for Israeli Theatre Award Works Riseman has composed music for about fifty plays. Selected works include: *1972 - The Good Soldier Svejk, operetta *1972 - Backgro

Shuki Levy

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Shuki Levy (; born June 3, 1947) is an Israeli-American music composer and television producer. Levy created soundtrack compositions for children’s television programs of the 1980s, such as The Real Ghostbusters, Inspector Gadget, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, M.A.S.K., Dinosaucers, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. In the 1990s, he worked on the Power Rangers franchise, Digimon: Digital Monsters, Masked Rider, VR Troopers, and Big Bad Beetleborgs. He has also written and directed episodes for some these television shows, and directed a few films, such as Perfect Victims (1988) and Blind Vision (1991). He was also part of the musical duo Shuky & Aviva (alternatively Shuki & Aviva), with his partner Aviva Paz. Early life Levy was born in Jaffa, British Mandate of Palestine. His father was an Ashkenazi Jew originally from Russia, and his mother of Sephardi Jewish origin. His career began as a singer and music performer, playing in various clubs around Tel Aviv. He also appeared in the musical Hair. Career Shuky & Aviva During the 1970s, Levy performed in France and Germany with Aviva Paz as the duo “Shuki & Aviva”

Talia Amar

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Talia Amar (; born 1989) is an Israeli composer and pianist. Since 2017, she has been a composition faculty member at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where she serves as the Head of Innovation and Technology in Pedagogy. Many of her works focus on the connection between music and technology and their points of interaction. Biography Amar was born in Jerusalem. Her mother and grandmother are piano teachers who immigrated to Israel from Paris. She began playing the piano at five, studying under Luisa Yoffe. She commenced composition studies at fourteen with composer Mark Kopytman. Career From a young age, Amar participated in international competitions. At seven, she won the Shostakovich International Competition in Germany; at eleven, she secured first place in the International Piano Competition in Vicenza and the national competition in Paris. Amar earned her Bachelor of Music with honors in composition from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, studying under professors Mark Kopytman, Ari Ben-Shabetai, and Yinam Leef. She also studied piano at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music under prof. Emanuel Krasovsky. Between 2007 and 2013, she received scholarships from the

Tomer Biran

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Tomer Biran (born July 10, 1976) is an Israeli music producer, arranger, composer, and singer. Biography Biran was born in Ofakim under the name Tomer Biton, to David and Yaffa Biton. Biran has a brother and sister, soundtrack designer Assaf Biton and fashion designer Yarden Biton. After his military service, Biran moved to Tel Aviv. Early in his career, Biran worked with Haim Tsinovich and participated in his album “Today’s Tears Are Tomorrow’s Honey” which he created in 2000, composing and arranging songs including “Habel, the Vanity of Grace, the Lie of Beauty.” Biran was also involved in his next album, “And the Fire Will Burn” from 2001. In 2007, he arranged the song “Abba” for Shlom Shabbat, which reached third place in the 2008 annual chart. In 2012, he arranged the song “Shmayim” for Yigal Bashan, which was a success and even reached the top of the chart for one week. In 2019, after Bashan’s death and at the request of the family, he arranged the song “Tabit. In 2019, two songs that he arranged and produced musically achieved great success: “Shevet Achim and Achiyot” performed by Omni Israel and “Aluf Ha’olam” performed by Hanan Ben Ari. The following year, the songs “Im Ta

Tsippi Fleischer

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Tsippi Fleischer (; born 20 May 1946) is an Israeli composer. Life Tsippi Fleischer was born in Haifa, Israel, of Polish-born parents, and grew up in a mixed Jewish-Arab environment. She studied piano and theory at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and graduated from the Hebrew Reali School of Haifa, later pursuing degrees in music, Hebrew language, Middle Eastern history, and Arabic language and literature. In 1978, she married comparative linguist Aharon Dolgopolsky and had one son. She teaches at Bar-Ilan University and Levinsky Institute in Tel Aviv. As a composer In the early 1970s, Fleischer became known for her activity in jazz, theater, and light music. She composed and arranged extensively in these genres, and already then, her activity had a prominent educational component, which was expressed, among other things, in her work with the Children’s and Youth Theater under the direction of Orna Porat in Tel Aviv, and as arranger and conductor of the educational television series “Music in the Theater” hosted and musically directed by Gary Bertini. In 1970-1972, she founded and directed the light music band ‘Banot Chava’; in 1973-1975, she was the music director of the

Verdina Shlonsky

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Verdina Shlonsky (; January 22, 1905 – February 20, 1990) was an Israeli composer, pianist, publicist and painter. Biography Verdina (Rosa) Shlonsky was born to a Hasidic Jewish family in Kremenchuk in the Russian Empire, the youngest of six children. (The Hebrew root of the name Verdina is וורד “vered” or “rose”.) The family immigrated to Palestine in 1923, but she remained in Vienna to continue her music education. From there, she moved to Berlin, where she studied with pianists Egon Petri and Artur Schnabel. In Paris, she studied composition with Nadia Boulanger, Edgard Varèse and Max Deutsch. In 1925, she and her sister a successful opera singer Judith Shlonsky (Nina Valery), who had returned to Europe, married two brothers: Sigmund and Alexander Sternik. Both couples soon divorced. Her own date of immigration to Palestine is not clear; evidence suggests that she visited Palestine several times since 1929, before finally settling in 1944 or 1945. Upon settling in Palestine, she joined the faculty of the Tel Aviv Academy of Music. Among her noted compositions were “Hebrew Poem” (1931) and “Quartet for Strings”, which won an award at the 1948 Béla Bartók Competition in Budapest.

Vibe Ish

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Or Shoshana (Hebrew: אור שושנה; born January 17, 1992) known by the stage name Vibe Ish (Hebrew: וייב איש) is an Israeli singer-songwriter, composer and music producer. Biography Shoshana was born in south Tel Aviv and grew up without a father. By the age of 17 he was frequenting open mics and free-styling at school. In 2017 he began his musical journey in collaboration with rapper Ron Asael. The two founded the group “Tala Moveb”. That same year they released their first self-titled album. The album was chosen by “The Sponge” magazine as the best rap album of 2017. In 2019, he was a guest on Israeli hip-hop duo Shrek and Tsukush’s album, “In my head”, on the song “Adayin”. In 2020 he released his first solo album, “The Ascent”. The album features guest appearances by Eden Derso, Michael Suisa, Teddy Ngosa and Yasmin Moalem, and was produced by DJ Mash and various producers. Later that year, she released the single “Julie” which samples Abigail Rose cover of the Ofra Haza song, “Oud Mechait La Ehad”, which was included on the Haza tribute album “Kol HaNsema: Ofra Haza Sings”. The song was very successful and even entered the playlist of the Galgalat radio station. In June 2021, he

Vladimir Shainsky

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Vladimir Yakovlevich Shainsky (, ; 12 December 1925 – 25 December 2017) was a Soviet and Russian composer. He was a recipient of the People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1986). Biography Shainsky was born in Kiev to a Jewish family. He first studied violin at the music school in Kiev. His studies there were interrupted in 1941 by World War II, when his family was evacuated to Tashkent in the Uzbek SSR. He continued his musical education at the , until he was enlisted in the Red Army. After the war he entered Moscow Conservatory, where he graduated as a violinist. In the 1950s, Shainsky played in Leonid Utyosov’s orchestra, taught students, and worked as a music manager at various dance orchestras. He later studied composition at the Baku Conservatory. His first compositional works were a string quartet, created in 1963 during his studies at the Baku Conservatory, and a symphony, written in 1965. During his career as a composer, Shainsky wrote a large number of works for children. He created music and songs for cartoons such as Cheburashka, Katerok, Mamontenok and Kroshka Enot; also for films including Breakfast on the Grass, Aniskin and Fantomas, Aniskin Again, School Waltz, Finist, the B

Vyacheslav Ganelin

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Vyacheslav (Slava) Ganelin (, , ; born 17 December 1944) is a Soviet, Lithuanian and Israeli jazz pianist, composer, and pedagogue. Primarily a pianist, he also plays other keyboards (organ and synthesizer) as well as bass, guitar, and percussions. He was the leader of the Ganelin Trio, described by critic Chris Kelsey as “arguably the world’s greatest free jazz ensemble” of the 1970s and ’80s. He was a founder of Lithuanian jazz (Soviet jazz, when Lithuania was controlled by the Soviet Union). Early career Ganelin was born in Kraskovo, near Moscow. In 1948 his family moved to Lithuania, where he learned to play piano in the music school. Later he studied piano and composition at the Vilnius Conservatory where he graduated in 1968. For many years, Ganelin taught composition at the Vilnius Conservatory, and was music director of the Vilnius Russian Drama Theatre. Ganelin trio In 1968, Ganelin formed a trio with percussionist Vladimir Tarasov and saxophonist Vladimir Rezitsky. Rezitsky left the trio in 1971, and was replaced with Vladimir Chekasin. and in 1986, in the US. In 1999 he founded the Ganelin Trio Priority with soprano saxophonist Petras Vyšniauskas and percussionist Klaus

Yankel Talmud

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yaakov Dov (Yankel) Talmud (; 18 December 1885 – October 1965) was a Hasidic composer of Jewish liturgical music and choirmaster in the main synagogue of the Gerrer Rebbes both in Ger, Poland, and in Jerusalem, Israel. Known as “the Beethoven of the Gerrer Rebbes”, Talmud received many requests from other choirs and musicians to compose music for them, but he demurred, reserving his talent solely for the Gerrer Rebbes and their Hasidim. Move to Mandatory Palestine Talmud married, went into business, and served as a community activist in Poland. He was a representative to the first Knessiah Gedolah of the World Agudath Israel in Frankfurt in 1923. He traveled to Jerusalem for every Shabbat Mevorchim (the Shabbat preceding a new month) to lead the prayers in the synagogue of the fourth Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Yisrael Alter (the Beis Yisrael, who succeeded his father as Rebbe in 1948), and to eat a meal by the Rebbe. Talmud suffered a heart attack in his later years and underwent surgery in 1963. Shortly after conducting the Ger choir in Jerusalem for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur 1965, he fell ill. He died a few days later during the Sukkot holiday. The Beis Yisrael led his funeral. As soo

Yardena Alotin

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yardena Alotin (Hebrew: ירדנה אלוטין; October 19, 1930 in Tel Aviv – October 4, 1994 in New York City) was an Israeli composer and pianist. As a pianist and teacher, Alotin also wrote educational music and music for young musicians, such as Six Piano Pieces for Children. Alotin won the Nissimov Prize for her 1956 work, Yefei Nof. Biography Yardena Alotin began studying piano at the age of five with Rivka Sharett-Hoz, the sister of Moshe Sharett, and the wife of Dov Hoz. Yardena Alotin studied from 1948 to 1950 at the Music Teachers’ College in Tel Aviv and then from 1950 to 1952 at the Israel Music Academy. Among her teachers were Alexander Uriah Boskovich (theory), Mordecai Seter (harmony, counterpoint), Paul Ben-Haim (orchestrator), Ilona Vincze-Kraus (piano) and Ödön Pártos (composition). Her first workYefei Nof (‘Beautiful Landscape’), composed in 1952 for mixed choir, won the Nissimov Prize and was premiered by the Rinat Choir (of which she was a member) in Tel Aviv and at the Paris International Festival in 1956. Cantata for a cappella choir (1958) was performed at the Perugia Religious Music Festival in 1960. She produced both didactic and commissioned work, and rewrote Yefe

Yedidya Admon

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yedidya Admon, also given as Yedidiah Admon, Yedidyah Admon Gorochov, or Yedidyah Admon-Gorokhov, (5 December 1894 – 2 April 1982) was an Israeli composer and singer. As a composer he was known for blending Western classical music with Middle Eastern music. Some of his best known works include the songs “Shir Hagamal” and “Shoshanat Yaakov”. where he was a pupil of Abraham Zvi Idelsohn. During World War I, Admon enlisted in the British Army and stationed in Egypt. After the war he returned to Palestine where he obtained employment as an accountant. While working he studied singing with Jehuda Har-Melaḥ; training as a countertenor. In 1923 Admon left Palestine to continue his music studies in the United States studying at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1927 after four years of study. In Baltimore he studied composition and singing. While in America he was commissioned to write a vocal composition in the Arab-Bedouin style, and enlisted the help of Lazare Saminsky to complete this work. Admon himself was a gifted singer in the type of vocalizing. His first songs, “Ya leil” (‘Oh night’) and “Bein nhar prat” (‘Between the River Euph

Yisrael Borochov

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yisrael Borochov (; born in Tel Aviv in 1950), is an Israeli musician, composer, and arranger. Biography Borochov was born in Tel Aviv, and raised in Tiberias. He is a self-taught musician who plays the fretless bass guitar, double bass, the dulcimer, jumbush, and percussion. He played in an IDF army band, and recorded with musicians including David Broza and Yehudit Ravitz. Borochov was one of the original founders of The Natural Gathering (HaBreira Hateeveet) with Shlomo Bar, and played in and arranged the group’s first two albums. Borochov founded the East West Ensemble in 1985. Over his 40-year-long career Borochov has merged East and West concepts and rhythms with his group, the East West Ensemble. He has played with famous names including Laurie Anderson, and L. Shankar from Shakti, Yas-Kaz, an avant-garde drummer from Japan, and has collaborated with influential eastern musicians such as Omar Faruk Tekbilek. At the first Red Sea Jazz Festival in 1987, his East West Ensemble won first place. When the State of Israel celebrated its 40th anniversary, the East West Ensemble won an award for original art and culture in Israel. The labor union of Israel (The Histadrut) gave Boroch

Yosef Karduner

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yosef Karduner (; born 1969) is an Israeli Hasidic singer, songwriter, and composer. His biggest hit, In his early teens he studied music and in particular the bass guitar. After discussions with Hitman and his father, who was from a Hasidic Lubavitcher family, Karduner suspended his career and began studying in a yeshiva run by the Breslover Hasidim for Jews who had turned to Orthodox Judaism (“baalei teshuva”). Shir LaMaalot has been covered by numerous Israeli artists, including Sheva. Although he has released 11 albums, Karduner’s work has not reached a wide audience due to his aversion to public relations and advertising. He rarely gives interviews. including annual appearances in Crown Heights, Brooklyn from 2011 to 2019 with Aryeh Kunstler. Karduner also joins Moshe Weinberger, rabbi of Congregation Aish Kodesh at the annual Hilula of Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the rebbe of Piacezna. At those annual events, Weinberger preaches while Karduner performs. He and his wife, Vered, and reside in Beit Shemesh, Israel. Musical style The teachings of Nachman of Breslov are a major source for Karduner’s musical inspiration. He has also been referred to as The “Sweet Singer of Breslov”.

Yuval Avital

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yuval Avital (; born 1977) is a multimedia artist, composer, and guitarist based in Milan, Italy. His installations and performances have been presented in prominent museums, biennials, opera houses and cultural institutions worldwide. Avital’s multidisciplinary practice spans sound, visual art, performance, video-art and theater, often in collaboration with scientific institutes such as NASA, ethnographic archives, master craftsmen, traditional performers and entire urban communities. In 2016, his icon-sonic opera “Fuga Perpetua” received the sponsorship of the UNHCR. Biography Yuval Avital was born in 1977 in Jerusalem, Israel. His works are developed in a variety of spaces, including public venues, industrial archaeological sites, theaters and museums. Including monographic exhibitions, large-scale sound and video installations, and collective performances and compositions described as ‘icon-sonic operas’. Composed for soloists, choirs, orchestras and ensembles, sometimes involving traditional masters of ancient cultures, dancers, performers and non-musicians. In addition to technological projects, with the participation of scientists and usage of artificial intelligence. Art Av

Ziv Cojocaru

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ziv Cojocaru () is an Israeli composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist. He serves as Associate Professor and Head of the Music Division in the Department of the Arts at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is also Composer-in-Residence with the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion. Cojocaru is the recipient of the ACUM Prize (2025) and the Prime Minister’s Award for Composers (2015). Biography Ziv Cojocaru was born and raised in Beersheba. He began his musical training studying piano at the city’s conservatory. Cojocaru studied composition and conducting at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in both fields, and completed his doctorate in composition at Bar-Ilan University. He has also participated in masterclasses with Philippe Leroux, Pierre-André Valade, Ivan Fedele, Fabian Panisello, and others. From 2018 to 2023, he served as Conductor in Residence for the Israel Sinfonietta Beersheba. Currently, he serves as Associate Professor and Head of the Music Division in the Department of the Arts at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, as Composer-in-Residence of the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion (since 2024), and as a