All events held in the Voxman Music Building, Concert Hall - 2101 unless otherwise noted. Schedule subject to change. Individual concert programs to be added by March.

Nadav Cohen started his bassoon studies with Uzi Shalev. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as an outstanding musician, he completed his B. Mus degree in the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (JAMD) in bassoon with Mr. Mauricio Paez and composition with Professor Yinam Leef. He continued his bassoon studies under the tutorship of Professor Ole Kristian Dahl in Cologne alongside baroque-bassoon studies with Donna Agrell at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. ​A devoted chamber music player, Cohen was a member of the Parisian woodwind quintet "Le concert impromptu" between 2014 and 2017. Today, he is a member of the Tel-Aviv Wind Quintet and a member of Meitar Ensemble, where he functions also as a faculty member in the "Tedarim" program - a unique master’s degree track for contemporary music performance in the JAMD. (see more of Cohen's biography)

Yotam Einstein, is an accordionist born in 1998 who earned his Bachelor degree at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and currently studies in the "Tedarim" Masters program at the same academy. He has performed as a soloist with the Beer Sheva's Conservatory Accordion Orchestra and with Jerusalem Festival Orchestra. Additionally, he has participated in productions of the Khan Theater in Jerusalem and is a member of the Israeli Klezmer Orchestra.

Amos Elkana is a multi-award-winning composer, guitarist, and electronic musician. In 1993, Elkana had his Carnegie Hall debut with "Saxophone Quartet No.1" composed for the Berlin Saxophone Quartet. In 1994, Elkana composed "Tru’a," a concerto for clarinet and orchestra, that was recorded by Richard Stoltzman and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Tru’a was premiered in Israel by Gilad Harel and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra under Frédéric Chaslin and in Taiwan by the TNUA orchestra. Elkana is an expert of the open-source program "Pure Data" and he teaches it and electronic music, in general, as well as composition. In the past, he taught at UC Santa Cruz and gave lectures on his music at the Munich Academy of Music and Theater, Academia de Muzică "Gheorghe Dima” in Cluj-Napoca, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music among others. (see more of Elkana's biography)

András Gelléri is an active, emerging member of the international new music scene as a composer and as a pianist. Currently he is a participant of the “Tedarim track,” a specialized MA program for contemporary music performance. Gelléri studied composition and piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest between 2014 and 2021. In 2020-2021, he worked with Johannes Maria Staud at the Mozarteum Salzburg with the support of an Erasmus+ scholarship.

Jonathan Gotlibovich is one of the most prominent cellists to emerge from Israel. He is a member of the Meitar Ensemble and was the principal cellist for the Tel-Aviv Soloists Ensemble, with which he was featured as soloist numerous times as well as with most Israeli orchestras. As a teacher, Gotlibovich founded the cello class in the Barenboim-Saed School in Nazereth, and is involved in numerous educational projects in Israel and abroad. (listen to Gotlibovich's work on their SoundCloud channel)

Jonathan Hadas was born in Tel Aviv in 1986. He has been the principal bass-clarinet player for the Israël Philharmonic Orchestra since 2010. He began playing the clarinet at the age of 11 with Mrs. Sarah Elbaz at the Ramat Gan Music Conservatory, followed by the Israeli Music Conservatory in Tel Aviv, and later with Mr. Richard Lesser. Hadas is a member of the Israël Contemporary Players Ensemble. He is also a member of the Balkan group “Kbetch!” with which he won the “Klezmer Prize” in the Fürth Klezmer Festival, 2014, and is the clarinet player in “the Shuk duo.” He is one of the founding members of Meitar Ensemble and has been an active member since its establishment. (see more of Hadas' biography)

Talia Herzlich started playing the violin at the age of 4 with Carmela Leiman, and has been a member of Meitar Ensemble since 2020. In 2022, Talia performed the Israeli premiere of Pierre Boulez’s "Anthèmes 2". In the same year, she was invited to play with Mivos Quartet on their tour in Israel. Talia graduated with her M.A and B.A from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, studying with Roi Shiloah, and continued another academic year in the Tedarim program for contemporary music. She also studied one year in the Erasmus program in Budapest Liszt Academy, with violinist Ábrahám Márta. In 2019, Talia received the 2nd prize award in the David Gritz Strings competition in the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Talia has recorded several contemporary pieces, and regularly participates in orchestral projects in Israel and abroad, such as Tel Aviv Soloists ensemble, Jerusalem East and West orchestra, the Revolution orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra. (watch Herzlich's work on their YouTube channel)

Yaara Mokady is a young Israeli harpist and part of the Tedarim program at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She is an active harpist in the Israeli harp community, performed in the Summa Cum Laude Festival, three-time winner of the Israeli harp competition, and took part in the CEME festival with the Meitar ensemble.

Hagar Shahal began her flute studies at the age of 10 at the Haifa Rubin Conservatory, studying with the late Osnat Lavi. After graduating with distinction from the Wizo High School for Arts in Haifa, she commenced both her military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and her B.Mus studies at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel-Aviv University in the class of Eyal Ein-Habar. In 2005 she won the 2nd prize of the Woodwinds, Percussion, and Harp Competition of the Buchmann-Mehta School. She was a regular scholarship recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, as well as the Buchmann-Mehta school’s scholarship program. After completing her studies, Hagar was appointed solo-flutist with the Israeli Kibbutz Orchestra for the season of 2007-2008. She then pursued her M.Mus degree at the Karlsruhe school of Music in Germany in the class of Professor Renate Greiss-Armin. During her studies she completed a practicum at the South-Western Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart (SWR). Upon completing her degree, she was offered a position in the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon-LeZion with whom she then played the 2011-2012 season. (see more of Shahal's biography)

Pierre-André Valade is a prominent interpreter of contemporary music. He was born in France in 1959 and co-founded the Paris-based Ensemble Court-Circuit in 1991, of which he was music director for 16 years. He held the position of music director of the Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen from 2009 to 2014, and remains an active guest conductor of the ensemble. He was also appointed principle guest conductor of the Lyon-based Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain in 2013, and since 2014, he is conductor-in-residence at the Meitar Ensemble Tel-Aviv. (see more of Valade's biography)

Jonathan Allen joined the faculty at the University of Iowa in 2011 where he serves as lecturer of trombone. Dr. Allen holds degrees from the University of Iowa, University of Utah, and the University of Northern Colorado. His teachers have included Edwin “Buddy” Baker, Dr. Nathaniel Wickham, Larry Zalkind, Dr. Donn Schaefer, and Dr. David Gier. (see more of Allen's biography)

Katy Ambrose is a visiting assistant professor of horn. She also serves as solo horn in the New Orchestra of Washington, solo horn of Victory Hall Opera, and fourth horn in the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. (see more of Ambrose's biography)

Anthony Arnone is a cellist who enjoys a varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, conductor, recording artists, composer, and teacher throughout the country and around the world. Mr. Arnone is an associate professor of cello at the University of Iowa School of Music and is also on the faculty of the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City, where he teaches and conducts. (see more of Arnone's biography)

Ben Coelho, professor of bassoon, has been at the University of Iowa since 1998. He has appeared as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, teacher, and clinician in several countries including the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Panama, Portugal, France, Romania, Australia, Canada, and Czech Republic. (see more of Coelho's biography)

Scott Conklin regularly appears as a recitalist, soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and teaching clinician throughout the United States and abroad. He is an associate professor of violin at the University of Iowa School of Music and a violin teacher at the Preucil School of Music. Conklin has performed as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Louisville, Nashville, and Berlin Symphony Orchestras. He is a recipient of the Iowa String Teachers Association Leopold LaFosse Studio Teacher of the Year Award and has been a featured artist/clinician at the conferences of the Music Teachers National Association and the Suzuki Association of the Americas. (see more of Conklin's biography)

Nicole Esposito is the flute professor at the University of Iowa. She has achieved a career as a soloist, teacher, chamber musician, and orchestral musician on an international level having been featured across the United States, Europe, Central and South America, and Asia. Esposito has also performed at flute festivals and events around the world. (see more of Esposito's biography)

Michael Gause is a visiting assistant professor at the University of Iowa, with a focus on brass and trumpet. (see more of Gause's biography)

Mark Heidel is director of bands and professor of music in the School of Music at the University of Iowa where he conducts the Iowa Symphony Band, teaches graduate courses in conducting and band literature, guides the graduate band conducting program, and oversees all aspects of the University of Iowa band program. Ensembles under Dr. Heidel’s direction have performed at national, regional, and state conferences including those of the College Band Directors National Association, Music Educators National Conference, Iowa Bandmasters Association, Wisconsin Music Educators Association, Illinois Music Educators Association, and National Band Association-Wisconsin Chapter. He has also led concert tours to the Republic of Ireland and United Kingdom as well as throughout the Midwest. (see more of Heidel's biography)

Alan Huckleberry is professor of piano pedagogy and collaborative arts at The University of Iowa. There, he heads the piano pedagogy program, which is now recognized as one of the leading programs in the nation. He is sought-after speaker on pedagogical topics, including talks at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and the Music Teachers National Conference. At the University of Iowa, he also maintains a studio of national and international students, who themselves are beginning to leave their mark in their field. (see more of Huckleberry's biography)

Réne Lecuona is professor of piano at the University of Iowa. A devoted teacher, Lecuona has prepared students for admission and scholarship in performance programs at prestigious institutions such as the New England Conservatory, the University of Michigan, Florida State University, the Manhattan School of Music, the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, Peabody Conservatory, and Aspen Music Festival. Her former students hold teaching posts in Germany and Brazil as well as in the U.S. (see more of Lecuona's biography)

John Manning is associate professor of tuba at the University of Iowa and is a founding member of the award-winning Yamaha performing ensemble, the Atlantic Brass Quintet. Originally from Raynham, Massachusetts, Manning received his undergraduate degree from Boston University and his graduate degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. From 1986 to 1989, Manning served as the solo tubist with the Air Force Band of the Golden West. While stationed in California, former staff sergeant Manning was involved in numerous recordings and performed extensively throughout the Western United States. (see more of Manning's biography)

Courtney Miller is the oboe professor at the University of Iowa where she teaches oboe, chamber music, and reed classes. Before her position at the University of Iowa, she served on faculty at Boston College in Massachusetts and Ashland University in Ohio. During the summers, Dr. Miller performs with the Cedar Valley Chamber Festival.

Jorge Montilla is internationally considered one of the best clarinetists in Latin America and one of the world’s best Eb clarinet players. He has an extensive repertoire including the major works for the clarinet and he has been appointed to premiere solo works by important composers such as Paul Desenne, Diana Arismendi, Roberto Cedeño Laya, Fidel Rodríguez, Mischa Zupko, Alfred Prinz, Ken Froelich, Alexandre Eisenberg, Víctor Varela, and Efrain Amaya. (see more of Montilla's biography)

Ksenia Nosikova is a pianist and professor at the University of Iowa. The scope of her concert engagements across the globe expands from professional concert venues, such as Shanghai City Hall in China, City Hall Theatre in Hong Kong, Chetham’s International Piano Series in England, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, to major academic institutions, including over 170 American universities’ guest artist series. Her extensive repertoire list reflects her commitment to presenting diverse programs of masterworks and lesser-known compositions and includes over 30 piano concertos. (see more of Nosikova's biography)

Damani Phillips is a native of Pontiac, Michigan, where he began playing at the age of 10. He currently serves as director of jazz studies and associate professor of African-American studies at the University of Iowa, where he teaches applied jazz saxophone, directs jazz combos, and teaches courses in African-American music, African-American culture, jazz education, and improvisation. He has earned bachelor and master of music degrees from DePaul University (Chicago) and the University of Kentucky in classical saxophone; and a second master of music degree in jazz studies from Wayne State University (Detroit). Phillips completed the doctor of musical arts degree in jazz studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2009; becoming one of the first African-Americans in the country to do so. He was named a Yamaha performing artist in 2014. (see more of Philips' biography)

Christine Rutledge is a violist, musician, and educator of eclectic interests and talents. She is equally at home with performances of the most cutting-edge new music, works from the standard repertoire, and performances on baroque viola. She has commissioned, premiered, and recorded new music by such composers as Claude Baker, Zae Munn, Jeremy Dale Roberts, C. P. First, and David Gompper, with whom she frequently collaborates with the Center for New Music. Her performances and recordings (The Blissful Violist, String Trios of Paul Hindemith, and David Diamond:  Chamber Works for Strings and Piano) have been praised in such publications as The Strad, Fanfare, the New York Times, and The New York Concert Review. (see more of Rutledge's biography)

Katie Wolfe is a violinist who leads an intriguing career mix as a soloist, recording artist, chamber musician, orchestral leader, and adjudicator. She has performed in the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, the Soviet Union, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. She also shares her passion for music as a teacher. Originally from Minnesota, she joined the string faculty of the University of Iowa in 2004 as associate professor of violin. Prior to teaching in Iowa, Wolfe taught violin, viola, and chamber music at Oklahoma State University. She also served as associate concertmaster of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. (see more of Wolfe's biography)

Ayal Adler is an associate professor of composition at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and completed his doctorate from McGill University in Montreal. He is the recipient of many awards and grants, and his works can be heard on a number of CDs. His compositions are performed worldwide, and includes a wide range of genres including solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral. (see more of Adler's biography)

Talia Amar is an Israeli composer, pianist, and is on the composition faculty at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She studied at both JAMD and the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, and earned her MM at the Mannes College of Music. She is currently a PhD candidate at Brandeis University. Her compositions are heard worldwide, and have been performed by leading ensembles including Ensemble Itinéraire, ICE, Collage New Music, and the Lydian String Quartet, among others. Her works have been included in a number of festivals, including ISCM World New Music, Asian Composers League Festival, and the London Ear Festival. (see more of Amar's biography)

Omer Barash is a composer who explores movement and gesture in music and is inspired by Hebrew texts, and is a graduate from JAMD, McGill, University of Music, and Performing Arts Vienna. He is currently studying at the Cursus de composition et d’informatique musicale at IRCAM, Paris, a computer music training program for young composers. His works haven been performed by the McGill Symphony Orchestra, McGill’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, Ensemble Reconsil (Austria), and Ensemble Modern (Germany), among others. (see more of Barash's biography)

Josef Bardanashvili, born in 1948 in Batumi, Georgia, studied at the Music Academy in Tbilisi under Aleksandr Shaverzashvili, where he graduated with a doctorate in composition in 1976. He served as director of the Music College in Batumi (1986-1991) and Cultural Vice-Minister in Adjaria (1993-94) before settling in Israel in 1995. He is a faculty member of the Academy of Music at Tel-Aviv University and JAMD. He has composed over 100 works, including five operas, four ballets and symphonies, and various concerti. He has also been involved with many films and theatre productions. His music has been conducted by many leading directors (Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev) of various orchestras (Israel Philharmonic, Berliner Symphoniker,  Ensemble Contempo, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne). (see more of Bardanashvili's biography)

Chaya Czernowin was born and brought up in Israel. After her studies in Israel, at the age of 25, she continued studying in Germany (DAAD grant), the U.S., and then lived in Tokyo, Japan (Asahi Shimbun Fellowship and American NEA grant), and in Germany (a fellowship at the Akademie Schloss Solitude). Her music has been performed throughout the world, by the best orchestras and performers of new music, and she has held a professorship at UCSD and was the first woman to be appointed as a composition professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria (2006 - 2009), and at Harvard University (2009 - present) where she has been the Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music. Together with Steven Kazuo Takasugi and Jean-Baptiste Jolly, the director of Akademie Schloss Solitude near Stuttgart, she has founded the summer academy at Schloss Solitude, a biannual course for composers, 2003 - 2019. Takasugi and Czernowin also taught at Tzlil Meudcan, an international course based in Israel founded by Yaron Deutsch of Ensemble Nikel. (see more of Czernowin's biography)

Shai Cohen is a composer-researcher, educator, and jazz performer. He specializes in diverse fields ranging from free improvisation to electronic and contemporary classical music. Cohen is the director of the Music, Technology, and Visual Media Program at Bar-Ilan University teaching courses in Audio Synthesis, Advanced Studio Recording, Live Electronics Workshop, Arduino Workshop, Max/MSP/jitter Applications, Sound Engineering, Audio Applications, and Music Cognition Workshop. He is also a lecturer in the Levinsky College of Education and in the Open University Music Departments. (see more of Cohen's biography)

Sivan Cohen Elias is a composer, interdisciplinary artist, and performer who often integrates different art forms into a unified medium. Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Elias' works have been commissioned, broadcast, and performed by ensembles and performers (including herself) in and around Europe, Israel, Russia, and the United States, including Klangforum Wien, MusikFabrik, Mosaik, Dal Niente, Distractfold, Mocrep, Jack Quartet, Nikel among many more. (see more of Elias' biography)

Ziv Cojocaru is a composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist who is a multidisciplinary musician, active in the fields of classical, contemporary, and popular music. Cojocaru received his master degree in composition (with honors) at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, studying with Professor Zvi Avni and Professor Haim Permont. (see more of Cojocaru's biography)

Carmel Curiel is a bachelor’s degree student in composition at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance under the direction of Professor Yinam Leef. Previously she studied under the direction of Daniel Akiva (2014 - 2015), Professor Haim Permont (2016) and Dr. Ziv Cojocaru (2017 - 2019). Carmel has played the violin from the age of 8, under the direction of Yana Yot, Bella Purisman, and Guy Figer. Carmel participated in orchestras and ensembles, such as the Young Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Music Center, Bnei Hakibbutzim Orchestra, and Tel Aviv soloist’s ensemble. (see more of Curiel's biography)

Amos Elkana is a multi-award-winning composer, guitarist, and electronic musician. In 1993, Elkana had his Carnegie Hall debut with "Saxophone Quartet No.1" composed for the Berlin Saxophone Quartet. In 1994, Elkana composed "Tru’a," a concerto for clarinet and orchestra, that was recorded by Richard Stoltzman and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Tru’a was premiered in Israel by Gilad Harel and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra under Frédéric Chaslin and in Taiwan by the TNUA orchestra. Elkana is an expert of the open-source program "Pure Data" and he teaches it and electronic music in general as well as composition. In the past, he taught at UC Santa Cruz and gave lectures on his music at the Munich Academy of Music and Theater, Academia de Muzică "Gheorghe Dima” in Cluj-Napoca, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music among others. (see more of Elkana's biography)

Edo Frenkel is a young conductor, composer, and pianist, whose work, in its breadth and quality, is quickly gaining attention for his "performances of both intimacy and intensity" (Opera Magazine) and "three-dimensional ductile precision" (Diapason). He is currently on music staff of The Royal Opera House as the Jette Parker Young Artist Ballet Conductor. He has served as rehearsal pianist in Royal Ballet productions of Rhapsody and A Month in the Country. In addition to his work with The Royal Ballet, Frenkel has served as an assistant conductor in productions of the Royal Opera. Edo is a regular guest conductor with Ensemble Meitar, and has appeared in performances with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Baltimore Symphony, Tonkünstler Orchester-Niederösterreich, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Northern Ballet, LUDWIG, Spóldzielnia Muzyczna, Charleston Symphony, and Ensemble Mise-en. (see more of Frenkel's biography)

Yair Klartag is an Israeli composer currently living in Tel Aviv. He has studied composition at Tel Aviv University, Basel Musikhochschule, and Columbia University with Ruben Seroussi and Georg Friedrich Haas. His music has been commissioned by the Donaueschinger Musiktage, Münchener Kammerorchester, MATA festival, Münchener Biennale, and ZeitRüume festival and performed by ensembles such as Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Sinfonietta, Wrocław Philharmonic Orchestra, ensemble recherche, Ensemble Musikfabrik, ensemble mosaik, Ensemble Linea, Meitar ensemble, JACK quartet, and the MIVOS quartet in festivals such as Ultraschall Berlin, La Biennale di Venezia, Schwetzinger Festspiele, ECLAT Festival, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, Tage für Neue Musik Zürich, and others. (see more of Klartag's biography)

Uri Kochavi is an Israeli composer, guitar player, and improviser based in New York. He writes music for acoustic instruments, self-made objects, DIY instruments, electronic, and electro-acoustic settings. His recent work seeks to challenge the (assumed) nature of every sound generator he writes for, at the meeting point of technology and acoustic sound. Kochavi is currently a doctoral fellow in composition at Columbia University, where he studies primarily with Georg Friedrich Haas, George Lewis, and Annie Gosfield. He has received his master’s degree in composition from McGill University studying under the guidance of Philippe Leroux, and his bachelor’s degree from the Jerusalem Academy of Music. Between 2014 - 2016, he was a composition fellow in Meitar Ensemble’s Tedarim project for contemporary music. (see more of Kochavi's biography)

Yinam Leef, born in Jerusalem in 1953, is one of the most prominent and active composers in Israel today. He grew up in a cultural melting pot, where East meets West, old and new coexist. He studied piano and violin and his childhood musical influences include classical music, jazz, and the unique mixture of Jewish prayers, the chant of the Moazzin, and the Old City’s church bells. (see more of Leef's biography)

Boaz Ben-Moshe, born in Tel Aviv in 1962, is the winner of the "Engel" Prize (2021), the "Yizchak Navon Life achievement Award" (2020), and the Prime-minister prize for composers (2003 and 2021). Ben-Moshe has composed over 50 compositions - symphonic music, concerti, music for voice and orchestra, chamber music for various instrumentations, solo pieces, and cross-disciplinary pieces. (see more of Ben-Moshe's biography)

Osnat Netzer is a composer, performer, and educator. Netzer creates her compositions collaboratively, tailoring her work to the performer’s sensibilities, physicality, and improvisational inclinations. She takes inspiration from cognitive linguistics, and in dialogue with the embodied experience of physical forces, such as potential and kinetic energy, resulting in compositions that are rich in musical languages and connected to the fulsome pursuit for tension and relaxation. (see more of Netzer's biography)

Betty Olivero is a contemporary Israeli composer, who has lived during most of her career in Florence, Italy. She is a full professor of composition at the music department in Bar-Ilan University. In Olivero's works, traditional and ethnic music materials are processed using western contemporary compositional techniques; traditional melodies and texts undergo processes of development, adaptation, transformation, assimilation, resetting and re-composition, to the point of assuming new forms in different contexts. These processes touch on wide and complex areas of contrast, such as east and west, holy and secular, traditional, and new. (see more of Olivero's biography)

Erel Paz  was born in Israel in 1974. Paz began studying composition at the age of 15 with Eyal El-Dor and Professor Sergio Natra. In 1991, he graduated from the "Thelma-Yellin High School of the Arts." In 2000, he received his B.Mus. in composition from the "Rubin Academy of music & Dance" in Jerusalem, where he studied with Dr. Ari Ben-Shabetai and Professor Mark Kopytman. Paz's works have earned him several awards, including two Israeli Prime Minister Awards (2006, 2017), first prize and audience prize at the first Seoul International competition for composers (2001), the Yoshiro Irino Memorial prize (2004), first prize at the Libershon Composition Competition (2000 & 2006), and three ACUM awards (2005, 2010, 2013 & 2019). Paz's music is regularly performed in Israel by its leading contemporary music ensembles – MEITAR Ensemble & the Israeli Contemporary Players. His works had also been performed in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, England, Denmark, Lithuania, Italy, Canada, and the United States. Apart of his compositions for acoustic ensembles, Paz has also written works for Electroacoustic sound tracks with video, and he also experiments in the field of live electronics. Since 2008, he teaches music in MUZOT Arts high school – an alternative school that supplies a safe home environment for youth who didn’t fit in other schools. (see more of Paz's biography)

Ofer Pelz composes music for diverse combinations of instruments and electroacoustic media, he is also an active improviser. He has studied composition, music theory, and music technology in Jerusalem, Paris, and Montreal. The work of Pelz has been recognized by the reception of many international prizes, including two ACUM awards and the Ernst Von Siemens Grant. His music is played regularly in Europe, the U.S., Canada, and Israel at La Biennale di Venezia and Manifeste IRCAM/Pompidou among others. (see more of Pelz's biography)

Udi Perlman is an Israeli-born composer based in Berlin and New Haven, Connecticut. Currently a doctoral candidate in composition at Yale, Perlman holds degrees from the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin (Artist Diploma) and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (B.Mus & M.Mus), and has studied with Christopher Theofanidis, Aaron Jay Kernis, David Lang, Martin Bresnick, Jörg Widmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Yinam Leef, and Menachem Wissenberg. (see more of Perlman's biography)

Haim Permont is a graduate of the Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem, Israel, and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Studying composition with Mark Kopytman in Israel and with Richard Wernick and George Crumb in the U.S., his works include music for all genre and media including symphonic, chamber, vocal music for mixed and children's choirs, vocal music for soloists and orchestra, concerti, opera, music for the theatre and cinema, and multi-media works.

Ruben Seroussi is a composer and guitarist who was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1959, and settled in Israel in 1974. He finished 'cum laude' in his composition studies at the Rubin Academy of Music of Tel Aviv University under the guidance of Leon Schidlowsky. Important distinctions include: ISCM selection representing Israel in Warsaw 1992, two ACUM prizes in 1992, a prize in the competition for an orchestral work held by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 1993, the Prime Minister Prize for Composition in 1995, and a Life Achievement Prize from the Israel’s Author’s Society in 2012. (see more of Seroussi's biography)

Ari Ben-Shabetai studied composition with Mark Kopytman at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music, and with George Crumb and Richard Wernick at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a PhD in composition. He has been a faculty member at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music since 1987, teaching composition as well as orchestration, form & analysis etc. Influenced by the contemporary music of the 1980-90's and oriental music, Ben-Shabetai can be categorized as one of the earliest composers of the post-modern style, his own individual style incorporating influences of heterophony, post-impressionistic harmony, minimalism as well as influences of modern rock and jazz music ('Tan-Du Blues" for Saxophone & Piano, 'Hard Rock Shock' for mixed ensemble, 'Deus Ex Machina' for electric violin & DJ).

Karel Volniansky is a composer, musicologist, and faculty member at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He holds a PhD in musicology from the Herzen State Pedagogical University (RGPU), Saint-Petersburg, Russia and is a graduate in composition and music education from the Rimsky-Korsakov Saint-Petersburg State Conservatory (Russia), where he studied composition with Professor Sergei Slonimsky; from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in theory and composition with Professor Mark Kopytman, and in performances arts – clarinet with Professor Ilan Schul. He was the head of the Music Theory, Composition & Conducting Department at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (2014 - 2017); visiting professor at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, Canada (2017 - 2018); lectured at Berklee College of Music, Harvard University, the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory, and other venues. (see more of Volniansky's biography)

Amit Weiner is a music composer for films, trailer music, and library music with more than 15 years of experience in the industry. He lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, and has the pleasure of working with companies in the film industry such as Universal Production Music, Warner/Chappell Music Group Production, Sonoton (Germany), Non Stop Music, and Gothic Storm Music (UK).​ In addition, he teaches composition and is head of the Cross-Disciplinary Composition Department at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in Israel. (see more of Weiner's biography)

Michael Wolpe is an Israeli composer and has been a member of Kibbutz Sde-Boker for the last 30 years. He studied composition in the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and in Cambridge University in England. He is also a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he wrote his PhD about the British Symphony during the mid-twentieth-century. (see more of Wolpe's biography)

Oded Zehavi is an Israeli composer, arranger, pianist, and a professor of music at the University of Haifa. In 1995, he founded the music department at the University of Haifa and served as chair of the department until 2006. Additionally he teaches in the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and is active in the music field in Israel. (see more of Zehavi's biography)

Parking – The Capitol Street parking ramp is located at 220 S. Capitol Street, with entrances on both Capitol Street and Clinton Street. Parking is $1/hour and the first hour is free. The parking ramp is directly across the street from the Voxman Music Building.

Bus Service – The University Capitol Centre is located adjacent to the Downtown Interchange bus stop. A number of University of Iowa (CAMBUS) and city buses frequent this location. This is located one block north of the Voxman Music Building.

Voxman Music Building location – The Voxman Music Building sits on the corner of Burlington and Clinton Streets and is across the street from the Capitol Street parking ramp and the University Capitol Centre Building. Linked is a map of campus. The address is:

93 E. Burlington Street
Iowa City, Iowa 52240

Visiting from out of town? Below are some highlights for places to eat, things to do, and hotel options close by. If you are a presenter, refer to your event contact for details on what meals are provided and what hotel you are staying in.
 

Places to Eat
For places to eat located inside the University Capitol Centre, visit the Old Capitol Town Center's directory.

For places to eat in downtown Iowa City, visit the Iowa City Downtown District food and drink guide.

For more options, visit Think Iowa City's restaurant guide.
 

Hotels
The Iowa House Hotel is conveniently located on the University of Iowa Campus inside the Iowa Memorial Union, overlooking the Iowa River.

For hotels within walking distance of the University Capitol Centre (UCC), visit the Iowa City Downtown District hotel guide.

For more options, visit Think Iowa City's hotel guide.

Shopping
Shops located within walking distance of campus can be found on the Iowa City Downtown District shopping guide.

Located 5 miles from campus is the Coral Ridge Mall.
 

Things to Do
Looking for events and activities happening in the area? Visit the Think Iowa City visitor guide.