Mr. Golijov was just named Composer of the Year 2006 by The Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts which has been long considered the bible of the music business. The 45-year old Boston based Argentine composer has emerged as one of the leading figures of contemporary music today and is currently composing the sound track for Francis Ford Coppola's new film. A festival of his music was presented at New York's Lincoln Center in early 2006, and Deutsche Grammophon has begun releasing an extensive series of his works on CD. His last work for Cello and Orchestra was premiered on August 2006 by Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
World renowned classical and Klezmer clarinetist Giora Feidman is a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina and for eighteen years was a principal of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and a Tel Aviv University faculty member. Mr. Feidman travels extensively to bring his special talent and enthusiasm for Jewish vitality and continuity to all the people of the world, both Jewish and non-Jewish. He led a Center three day Klezmer workshop in Ojai California in 1990 and was Artist in Residence in the Center's 1991 Creative Artists Institute. In addition he appeared in many Center concerts throughout the years.
Professor Tzvi Avni was born in Germany and musically educated in Israel and in the U.S.A. He is world renowned for his innovative contemporary musical creativity emphasizing Jewish themes which are regularly performed by major orchestras in Europe, Israel and North America. Professor Avni is a winner of both the Israeli Prime Minister's Prize for his contribution to Israeli culture and the coveted Israel Prize awarded to Israel's leading artists. He is Chairman of the Center’s board in Israel.
Dr. Ofer Ben-Amots was born in Israel and musically educated in Germany and the United States. He is concurrently Professor of Composition at both Tel Aviv University's Rubin Academy of Music and Head of the Department of Composition at Colorado College and is a frequent lecturer on Jewish music in Central Europe, Israel, North America and Japan. His numerous and prolific award winning compositions on Jewish themes are regularly performed, recorded and broadcast by major orchestras throughout the world. He is the winner of both the Kobe and Vienna Prizes. Dr. Ben-Amots is the Center’s Artistic Director for North America and Chairman of our Bi-Annual Music Competition Awards jury. He co-founded and runs ISAM – the Center’s International Summer Academy of Music in Michelstadt, Germany.
The music score page of "I Jerusalem"
by Ofer Ben-Amots
Neal Stulberg
Conductor and pianist Neal Stulberg currently serves as Visiting Director of Orchestral Studies at UCLA and Director of Chamber Music at the Crossroads School in Santa Monica. Formerly assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, music director of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and recipient of America's most prestigious conducting prize, The Seaver/NEA Conductors Award, Mr. Stulberg is a frequent guest conductor and soloist across the United States, Europe, Israel and Asia. Ongoing Center-related activities include a collaboration with West German Radio to record the complete symphonic works of Lazare Saminsky (1882-1959), co-founder of the St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music. The Center has provided support for research into the work of the Society, and plans to co-sponsor a series of activities in 2008 to celebrate the centennial of its founding. Mr. Stulberg has also served as advisor to the Center's new-music group Synergy and as adjudicator for its new music competitions.
Mr. Brostoff has held the positions of music specialist for the Skirball Cultural Center, cultural affairs director for the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles and concert manager of The Pasadena Symphony. He currently serves on the music faculties at the University of Judaism and Pierce College. Currently Mr. Brostoff serves as artistic director of the Center’s Synergy ensemble and runs the Center’s bi-annual Music Competition. In 2003, Mr. Brostoff's citywide Los Angeles festival "Beyond Bim-Bam - New Directions in Jewish Music," received critical and popular acclaim. The festival provided the impetus for UCLA Extension's parallel program "The Future of Jewish Culture in America." A classically trained pianist, Mr. Brostoff has soled with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and also functioned as orchestra pianist and/or soloist with the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, New West Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Burbank Symphony and COTA Orchestra. Active as a chamber music recitalist, Mr. Brostoff performed regularly at the Monday Evening Concerts at LACMA, on tour with the American Ballet Theater, and he has recorded for motion pictures and television. He has also participated as chamber and orchestral pianist in European concerts and festivals.
Composer, conductor, and performer Russell Steinberg received a Ph.D. in Music from Harvard University, an M.M. from the New England Conservatory, and a B.A. from UCLA. Recent commissions include the world music ensemble MANY AXES, Los Angeles Philharmonic violinist Mitchell Newman, the Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity (Cello Tropes), the Music Conservatory of Westchester, (Fanfärgnügen) NY, and the Daniel Pearl Foundation (Stories From My Favorite Planet). His awards include an ASCAP Young Composers Grant, Composers Inc. and NACUSA prizes, MacDowell and Aspen Fellowships, and First Prize in the New World String Quartet competition. Dr. Steinberg is Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra, a group that includes students from over 60 schools in the LA area. He also regularly lectures at UCLA in music composition and music listening. Other available recordings include Stories From My Favorite Planet, produced by the Daniel Pearl Foundation (available at www.danielpearl.org) and Desert Stars, a recording of Steinberg’s music for piano and classical guitar. Was sent to Israel in 2004 as a Cultural Ambassador where he studied with Prof. Joseph Dorfman. Composition for unaccompanied cello "Cello Tropes" was a direct outcome of this experience. Composed and performed solo guitar piece in memory of John Rauch in 2006. Future performance scheduled with cello virtuoso Armen Ksajakian.
Website: www.russellsteinberg.com.
Ms. Schwartz is an internationally acclaimed Yiddish vocalist. Her recordings include the soundtrack for the documentary film “L’Chayim, Comrade Stalin!”, the Naxos World releases “Garden of Yidn” and “Klezmer: Café Jew Zoo”, featuring special guest artist Andy Statman and the upcoming “Dveykes (Adhesion)" for Global Village. She is featured in the documentary “Goldfadn’s Legacy” and is the subject of an upcoming Romanian documentary. She has performed with noted musicians Yale Strom, Alicia Svigals, Mark Dresser, Marty Ehrlich, Gary Lucas and David Krakauer. Solo'ed with the St. Louis Symphony and San Diego Symphony Orchestras in the Yale Strom composed "Aliyot", commissioned by the Center. A former Hollywood film executive, Schwartz is also an independent filmmaker. Her credits (as screenwriter and producer) include the documentary films “L’Chayim, Comrade Stalin!” (Bronze Phoenix Award, Warsaw Jewish Film Festival) and “Klezmer on Fish Street” (Jury Prize, Palm Beach Int'l Film Festival), both produced under the auspices of the Center. Both were screened theatrically in the U.S., Canada and Europe, and were seen at Jewish and secular film festivals around the world.
Website: www.voiceofklezmer.com
Mr. Glaser tours internationally to over fifty cities a year as a performer, composer, educator and cantorial soloist. Considered one of the top ten Jewish artists in the U.S. by Moment Magazine and an ASCAP Award winner, Sam’s music has become part of the fabric of Jewish life in communities nationwide. Among the many recordings of his compositions are the best-selling CDs Presence, The Bridge, Kol Bamidbar, Across the River, A Day in the Life and Hineni, all produced under the auspices of the Center. Sam received a BS in Business and Music from the University of Colorado, as well as having attended Berkelee College of Music and the UCLA Film Scoring Program. He has served as Executive Director of the Jewish Music Commission, Music Coordinator for the University of Judaism, Producer of the American Jewish Song Festival and Musical Director of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute. Mr. Glaser scores for film, television and radio and produces albums for a wide variety of recording artists. He teaches of classes on Jewish topics, is active in the Coalition for Advancement of Jewish Education, and was a Jewish Big Brother for seven years. Mr. Glaser was a participant in the Center's first Creative Artists Institute in 1991 and since had many concerts with the Center. More CDs produced under the auspices of the Center: The Songs We Sing, Edge of Light, Nigun/Voice of the Soul. Mr. Glaser won the Parents Choice Recommended award, Second place in the International Songwriters Competition, NAAPA Award (National Association of Parenting Publications), Children's Music Web. He lives in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles with his wife Shira and children Max, Jesse and Sarah. Website: www.samglaser.com
Mr. Ron is an international composer and record producer. He has been actively involved in creating musical bridges between people of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths. His film and TV scores have been broadcast worldwide and include Proteus, Oliver Twist, The Spiral Staircase, Susie Q and Someone to Die For. Mr. Ron has been affiliated with the Center for many years and was commissioned by the Center to compose and perform works such as Miracles and Lights and Thew Legend of the Baal Shem. His ensemble, The Yuval Ron Ensemble, includes Arabic, Jewish and Christian Armenian artists who unite the sacred musical traditions of Judaism, Sufism (Islamic mystical tradition) and the Armenian Church into an unusual mystical, spiritual and inspiring musical celebration. The ensemble was featured in the World Festival of Sacred Music 2002 & 2005 and performed in numerous events in the US and worldwide since 2000. A recipient of multiple grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Composers Forum and the California Council for the Humanities, Mr. Ron has worked with the Moscow Symphony, the LAJS Symphony, and the New Hampshire Philharmonic. He has also collaborated with various international choreographers including Daniel Ezralow (American Repertory Ballet), Ashley Roland (ISO dance company) , Oguri (Renzoku Dance Company) and Paula Jose-Jones. In 1997 he was the musical supervisor and vocal director for the double CD album of the musical "Masada - the musical Saga" featuring Davis Gaines. His original scores for theater productions include Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest”, Yeats’ “Amer’s Jeleasy” and Beckett’s “Casscando”. He is also a noted lecturer and leader of workshops and master classes at numerous schools and universities in the US and abroad, including Berklee College of Music, MIT, UCLA, UCSD, SCUN, UCSC, Boston Center for the Arts and the Sam Spiegel Jerusalem Film School. He had been the curator and host of the world music concert series The International Underground at the UCLA Hammer Museum from 2000-2002.
Website: www.yuvalronmusic.com / www.myspace.com/yuvalron
Mr. Gluck is a pianist, composer and performer of music for live electronic music systems and interactive sound installation and a music historian and rabbi. Mr. Gluck's performances feature works for computer-assisted piano, shofar and electronics. His installation works include 'Layered Histories,' with Cynthia B. Rubin, (2004) and 'Sounds of a Community' (2001 - 2002). His work has been performed and shown in Boston, New York City, Montreal, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Prague, Miami, Bucharest, Berlin, and at Dartmouth, Brown, Bard, Bennington, Middlebury, Johns Hopkins, Keele (UK) and other universities. Mr. Gluck’s essays have been published in Leonardo Music Journal, Organized Sound, Journal SEAMUS, Leonardo, Living Music Journal, The Reconstructionist, Tav+, and the EMF Institute. His recordings include 'Stories Heard and Retold' (1998), 'Electric Songs' (2003) and 'Electric Brew.' Mr. Gluck's musical training is from the Julliard, Manhattan, and Crane schools of Music, the State University of New York at Albany (BA, 1977) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (MFA, 2001). He is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of the Electronic Music Studio at The University at Albany, and Associate Director at the Electronic Music Foundation.
Website: www.electricsongs.com
Vanessa Paloma was born in Colombia and was musically educated in Latin America and Indiana University from which she holds a Master of Music Degree in voice and Medieval European music. She specializes in early Jewish music and the role of music in Jewish societies. An accomplished professional operatic singer, Ms. Paloma is also a sought after music coach and Jewish educator. She is an affiliated artist of the Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity, an alumna of its Israel Residency Program, and Co-Director of its "Flor de Serena" Ladino ensemble.
Dr. Avi Eilam-Amzallag was born in Morocco and musically educated in Israel. He is one of Israel's foremost musicians, composers, conductors and music educators. Dr. Amzallag established the critically acclaimed globe touring Andalusian Orchestra which interprets the Jewish musical heritage of North Africa. He is among the founders of the Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity and a member of its International Scholastic and Artistic Advisory Council.
Israeli born Ms. Farber has received critical acclaim as a composer in the Concert world, as well as that of Film and TV. She brings to her music influences from her Middle Eastern heritage, as well as her extensive knowledge of Classical and Western music. Ms. Farber received her degree in Concert & Film Music (dual major) from Berklee College Of Music, then moved to Los Angeles in 1997. Since then, she has been working with such prestigious companies as NBC, Showtime and WB. She won the Telly Award for best score (“California 2000” series), and has recently completed the score for the feature film "When Nietzsche Wept", starring Aramand Assante and Ben Cross (Millennium Films). Her next film is Folie a Deux for director Sean Martin(UK). Ms. Farber’s concert works have been performed internationally. Her chorale composition, The Third Mother/Mother’s Lament, in memory of slain reporter Daniel Pearl, had its world premiere with the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Her concert work for mixed choir and chamber ensemble, ASHKINA was performed twice in NYC and will be performed again in Boston in March 2007. She has recently been commissioned by the Israeli Chamber Orchestra to compose a new work for the 2007/8 opening concert. She has been affiliated with the Center for the past six years on different projects, ranging from choir arrangements to composing new pieces, commissioned by the Center.
Website: www.sharonfarber.com
Composer Ariel A Blumenthal is a graduate of the Rimon School of Music in Israel and Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Blumenthal composed for films such as Things Behind the Sun (Cannes Film Festival 2006), Pretty Persuasion with Evan Rachel Wood, James Woods and Ron Livingston (Sundance 2005) and RX with Eric Balfour and Colin Hanks (Berlin 2005). Mr. Blumenthal regularly composes for network and prime time shows such as Extra (NBC), Tyra (syndication), the Dr. Ablow Show (FOX), and the Bachelor (ABC) among others. In 2006 he formed his company Sentient Music for Media which clients include music libraries, editorials, trailer houses and advertisement agencies in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. As a concert composer, Mr. Blumenthal is the winner of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Composition Competition among other awards. His orchestral, choral and chambermusic is performed regularly in the US, Europe and Israel. Mr. Blumenthal’s cross over career is a natural vessel to effective hybrid style combining traditional, acoustic sounds and digital and electronic elements. This innovative signature was most recently heard in the Trumpet Concerto (commissioned and performed by the IK Orchestra, Israel, with NYC soloist Avishai Cohen in 2005) and his score for San Diego’s Malashock Dance Company’s Fathom, performed by the San Diego Master Choral and percussionist Steven Schick. Mr. Blumenthal’s engagements and commissions for 2007 include new pieces for the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, and the Israeli Philharmonic. Mr. Blumenthal has been affiliated with the Center for several years and served as the conductor of the center’s choir as well as the director of the center’s chamber ensemble Synergy.
Website: www.arielablumenthal.com , www.sentientMFM.com
artists / Music
