"Rainbow Warrior," completed on July 10, 2024, is a single-movement composition lasting approximately 8 minutes and 15 seconds. This piece, written for the ensemble Reconsil from Austria, unfolds in six main sections, each contributing to an evolving musical narrative. The title, "Rainbow Warrior," reflects both the emotional journey within the music and the significance of completing it on the anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, as well as the Native American prophecy of the Rainbow Warrior.

The composition begins with a somber and atmospheric texture, featuring long sustained notes from the Bb clarinet, English horn, horn in F, trombone, cello, and contrabass. These tones create an ambient soundscape that sets a reflective mood, evoking a sense of contemplation and remembrance. This opening represents the silent strength and enduring spirit of the Rainbow Warrior, embodying the calm before a storm of activism and change.

The entrance of the piano introduces a rhythmic change, with flowing phrases from the other instruments weaving around the piano's patterns, symbolizing the resilience and determination of a warrior’s spirit. This shift illustrates the initial call to action and the awakening of a collective movement toward environmental protection and justice.

Following this, the melodic instruments sustain long notes over the piano's rhythmic foundation, leading to a section where the piano alone plays a series of long, resonant chords. The strings then enter with a pizzicato rhythm similar to the earlier piano motif, joined by the piano's left hand, which produces a muted sound by placing a heavy cloth on the strings inside the piano. The winds overlay long notes and melodic lines, building a rich tapestry of sound. This interplay represents the harmonious yet challenging journey of the Rainbow Warrior, fighting for a cause with both passion and serenity, mirroring the unified efforts of people from different backgrounds coming together for a common purpose.

As the piece progresses, a steady pulse emerges in the piano's right hand, which eventually stands alone as the other instruments fall silent. This pulse evolves through repeated notes of varying lengths, creating intricate rhythmic interplay. One by one, the instruments re-enter with short staccato notes, enhancing the rhythmic energy. This section reflects the growing momentum of the movement, as more voices join the cause, creating a powerful and coordinated effort.

A sudden drop-out of the piano leaves the remaining instruments to continue the rhythmic momentum. When the piano returns with a pulsating chord, the other instruments increase their intensity, building towards a climax. The composition reaches its peak and concludes with a powerful and unified ending, symbolizing the culmination of the movement's efforts and the realization of its goals.

"Rainbow Warrior" is a journey through contrasting textures, rhythmic vitality, and dynamic interplay, capturing a range of emotions and culminating in a resonant and compelling conclusion. The title not only pays homage to the enduring spirit of a warrior but also marks the poignant anniversary of the Rainbow Warrior, adding a layer of historical and emotional depth to the piece. Additionally, the title draws inspiration from the Native American prophecy of the Rainbow Warrior, which foretells a time when people of all colors and creeds will unite to heal the Earth. This composition embodies that vision, representing a harmonious convergence of strength, unity, and hope.

This piece is a 3-minute composition for voice, two electric guitars, bass, drums, and electronics. It is a personal project where I had the opportunity to compose, record, and produce every element of the piece myself.

Lyrics:
You gaze at the mirror's edge
A crack splits your reflection
Fragments of memories melt into sound

You reach out to touch the fractured wedge
Blood distorts your reflection
Fragments of memories spill to the ground

I draw a line with your finger
the contour of my reflection
Fragments of memories fade and unbound

In "Zhuzh" I explore the interplay between three electric guitars and electronics, aiming to create a soundscape that reflects both complexity and accessibility. This composition is an extension of my ongoing interest in blending electronic elements with traditional instruments to discover new sonic possibilities.

Drawing on the techniques I've developed in my previous works, such as the real-time interaction and layering found in "Prita," "Zhuzh" similarly seeks to push boundaries while remaining grounded in the emotive and expressive potential of music. The piece invites listeners and performers alike to engage with the texture and dynamics of sound, encouraging a shared experience of exploration and discovery.

• 1 Apr 2024 Triple Helix guitar trio Studio Anette Tel Aviv

"Blast", for woodwind quintet, is a reflection of my continuous exploration of both musical innovation and current realities. This piece follows my previous compositions, including "Que sais-je?", "Echoes of Eíkosi", "Roots" and "Mostly Cloudy", each embodying my commitment to creating music that resonates with contemporary experiences while being rooted in a rich musical tradition.

The title "Blast" emerged from a confluence of meanings and personal reflections. It alludes to the fundamental act of blowing into wind instruments, forming the essence of this quintet. This direct, physical engagement with the instruments creates a visceral connection between the musicians and their art, mirroring the intimate connection I strive to maintain with my creative process.

However, the title also carries a deeper, more poignant significance. Living in Tel Aviv, I am constantly reminded of the harsh realities of conflict, where the sounds of blasts are a grim reminder of the ongoing strife in our region. As someone who deeply opposes war and champions human rights and peace, "Blast" is my artistic response to these troubling times. It is an expression of my longing for a world where the creative and life-affirming act of making music can overpower the destructive sounds of conflict.

• 11 May 2024 Talia Herzlich and Michael Pavia Studio Anette Tel Aviv

• 4 May 2024 Meitar ensemble Studio Anette Tel Aviv

This composition is a tribute to my father, an exploration of his memories, and a reflection of his profound impact on my life. My father, a survivor of the Holocaust, lived a life rich in experiences and insights. He was frequently interviewed, sharing his thoughts on life, work, and his past.

This work interweaves recordings of him recalling events from his life—both harrowing memories of his survival and joyous recollections as a contented father of four, leading a successful and intriguing life. Memory played a pivotal role in his existence and his philosophies. His most provocative article, 'The Need to Forget,' challenged traditional narratives of Holocaust remembrance. He presented compelling arguments for the act of forgetting, igniting ongoing debates.

Above all, this piece is an artistic expression, a manifestation of my identity as a composer. It encapsulates over 30 years of my musical journey. The composition features an ensemble of six musicians performing on traditional instruments, accompanied by an electronic track broadcast through multiple speakers enveloping the audience. Complementing the auditory experience is a video projection, adding depth and commentary to both the music and its themes.

In essence, this work is a confluence of art, memory, and legacy—a homage to my father and a representation of my artistic voice.

All the spoken texts heard inside the music can be viewed here: Que sais-je? texts.pdf

• 3 Nov 2023 Meitar Ensemble, Pierre-Andre Valade - cond. MDW Vienna Austria
• 18 Apr 2023 Meitar Ensemble University of Iowa Iowa City
• 14 Apr 2023 Meitar Ensemble Van Leer institue Jerusalem
• 13 Apr 2023 Meitar Ensemble Studio Anette Tel Aviv

This piece was written for a collaboration between two music enesmbles. One is my electric-guitar trio Triple Helix and the other is the Cibisescu-Duran piano quartet from Cluj, Romania.

• 8 Jul 2024 Triple Helix + Meitar Ensemble Studio Anette Tel Aviv
• 19 Oct 2022 Triple Helix with the Cibisescu-Duran family AGNMD Cluj-Napoca Romania

• 28 Dec 2023 Triple Helix (guitar trio) Studio Anette Tel Aviv
• 23 May 2023 Triple Helix guitar trio Haifa University Haifa
• 26 May 2022 Triple Helix Trio Hateiva Tel Aviv
• 27 Feb 2022 Triple Helix Trio קונסרבטוריון למוסיקה צהלה Tel Aviv
• 13 Jan 2022 Triple Helix Trio Studio Anette Tel Aviv
• 19 Dec 2021 Triple Helix Trio, Merav Eldan Elma Arts Center Zikhron Yaacov

This concerto, a fruitful collaboration with Oded Geizhals, evolved from my previous work for him combining percussion and electronics. It represents a progression to a larger scale piece - a concerto, embodying the multifaceted nature of 'Time'. This concept is not only reflective of the duration it took to compose and learn the piece but also resonates with the essence of musical timing, a domain often led by the percussionist.

Spanning seven uninterrupted movements, each segment of the concerto transitions the soloist to distinct percussion instruments, creating unique atmospheres and sonic landscapes. The opening and closing movements are marked by a drum set, akin to those in non-classical music, emphasizing a groove-centric approach. The second movement introduces the Kalimba, an unconventional, petite instrument with African origins. Subsequent movements explore keyboard percussion instruments - marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, and glockenspiel - showcasing a blend of wooden and metal sounds. The fourth movement is dedicated to gongs, and the climactic fifth movement to a variety of drums, mirroring the setup used by Xenakis in "Rebonds". The sixth movement features bells, before the finale circles back to the drum set.

Despite its classification as a percussion concerto, the other ensemble members play a crucial and challenging role. They are not merely accompaniments but equal partners in the musical journey, contributing to the depth and complexity of the piece.

This work is dedicated to my four beloved children.

• 6 Mar 2021 Israel Contemporary Players, Oded Geizhals (soloist), Yuval Zorn (cond.) Tel Aviv Museum Tel Aviv Israel

Judgment Day was written in 2020 for bassoon and narrator. The piece was commissioned by the Meitar Ensemble and specifically created for the opening event of the CEME 2021 festival, titled "SPEAK UP!" The work's duration is approximately two minutes, and it was originally composed for Yossi Zabari’s video, which critiques the political situation in Israel. In the premiere performance, Nadav Cohen played the bassoon, delivering an emotionally charged performance that underscored the piece's intense themes.

The composition can be performed with or without the narration, offering flexibility in how it is presented. Elkana's work in Judgment Day explores the intersection of music and political commentary, using the bassoon's deep and resonant tones to convey a sense of urgency and reflection.

• 13 Jul 2023 מוזיאון ת״א - אולם אסיא תל אביב
• 8 May 2023 Meitar Ensemble, Yossi Zabari Studio Anette Tel Aviv Israel
• 22 Oct 2022 Nadav Cohen - Bassoon Studio Anette Tel Aviv

• 11 Feb 2024 SEV trio Studio Anette Tel Aviv
• 28 Aug 2021 Trio SEV גלריה תאטרון החנות
• 30 May 2021 Trio SEV New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater

בֶּן אָדָם מַה לְּךָ נִרְדָּם
שְׁפֹךְ שִׂיחָה דְּרֹשׁ סְלִיחָה
וּמְהֵרָה רוּץ לְעֶזְרָה
וּמִפֶּשַׁע וְגַם רֶשַׁע
בְּרַח וּפְחַד מֵאֲסוֹנִים

חמש שורות מתוך הפיוט ״בן אדם מה לך נרדם״ אשר נכתב ע"י ר' יהודה אבן בַּלְעָם, שחי בסביליה באמצע המאה ה-11. ההשראה לפיוט לקוחה מספר יונה שבו מסופר איך בזמן סערה גדולה בה הספינה כמעט וטבעה ירד יונה לירכתי הספינה ונרדם. השאלה המטאפורית מתאימה כמובן גם לימינו ויכולה להשאל על מספר רב של נושאים, ממשבר האקלים ועד לשחיתות שלטונית.

Five lines from the piyyut "Man, why do you fall asleep" written by Rabbi Yehuda Ibn Balaam, who lived in Seville in the middle of the 11th century.
The inspiration for the piyyut is taken from the biblical book of Jonah in which it is told how during a great storm in which the ship almost sank, Jonah descended to the stern of the ship and fell asleep.
The metaphorical question is of course also relevant today and can be asked on a large number of issues, from the climate crisis to government corruption.

• 23 Nov 2020 Tel Aviv Soloists Israel Conservatory Tel Aviv

Mushin for flute and electronics (can also be performed by 4 flutes) draws inspiration from the Japanese concept of "mushin," a Zen state of "no-mindness." In this mental state, as described by D.T. Suzuki, the mind is free from distractions such as anger, fear, or ego, allowing for instinctive, unhesitant action. It is not a state of inactivity or relaxation but one of heightened awareness and intuitive response, where the mind moves fluidly without attachment to thought.

Mushin consists of four continuous movements. The first and second movements are characterized by repetitive patterns with subtle variations, creating a meditative atmosphere. The third movement shifts into a freer, more improvisatory style, though it is fully composed. The final movement begins with sustained harmonies, eventually returning to the music of the opening, completing the cycle. This structure reflects the fluid, instinctive nature of mushin, where repetition, variation, and spontaneity coexist, guiding the performer through a journey of mindfulness and presence.

In this composition, we delve into the enigmatic world of Ikkyu Sojun, a 15th-century Zen Buddhist monk renowned for his poetry that defies conventional boundaries. Ikkyu's work often reflects Zen principles, blending deep philosophical insights with a stark, often provocative simplicity. Among his most striking poems is "Crow with No Mouth," a piece that captures the essence of Zen’s emphasis on the ineffable nature of reality and the limits of language.

"Crow With No Mouth"

In these lines, Ikkyu conjures an image that is as perplexing as it is profound. The crow, a traditional symbol of mystery and the unknown, is rendered even more inscrutable by its lack of a mouth - a paradoxical figure that seems to transcend ordinary existence. This poem encapsulates the Zen concept of "mu," or the negation of fixed concepts, challenging the listener to embrace the boundless nature of understanding.

In my composition, I have strived to translate this philosophical depth into music. The interplay between the piano and the voice is crafted to reflect the paradoxical imagery of the poem. The music moves through moments of tension and release, mirroring the poem’s journey from perplexity to a serene acceptance of the unknown.

This piece is an invitation to explore the spaces between notes, between words, where the essence of understanding might lie.

The emotional core of this composition is also deeply personal. It resonates with my own longing for my father, who passed away seven years prior to the creation of this work. Just as Ikkyu's poem reflects a yearning for a connection with the past, this music embodies my own journey of grief, memory, and the search for peace in the echoes of loss. The intertwining of my personal narrative with Ikkyu’s profound words aims to offer a universal contemplation on the themes of absence, longing, and the ephemeral nature of existence.

In creating this work, my aim has been to offer not just a musical experience, but a doorway into the profound simplicity of Zen thought. Through the synthesis of voice, piano, and Ikkyu's evocative poetry, we embark on a journey that transcends the mere act of listening, inviting contemplation, and perhaps, a glimpse into the boundless sky of our own perception.

• 12 Apr 2022 Revital Raviv - soprano, Talia Amar - piano Hateiva Tel Aviv

• 27 Nov 2023 UMZE Gregory Vajda (cond.) South Africa
• 21 Dec 2021 Israel Contemporary Players, Ilan Volkov - conductor Hateiva Tel Aviv
• 22 Oct 2020 UMZE Chamber Orchestra, Conductor: Gergely Vajda BUDAPEST MUSIC CENTER Budapest Hungary

Prita is a composition for guitar and electronics. The electronic component does not produce independent sounds or alter the guitar's tone; rather, its sole purpose is to record segments of the performance in real time and play them back at designated moments, creating layered textures. As the live music unfolds, these layers accumulate, forming intricate loops that evolve into a complex canon through the use of an advanced looping system.

The recording utilizes binaural technology, a technique designed to create a 3-D stereo sound experience, making the listener feel as though they are in the room with the performers. Prita is structured in four movements.

• 25 Mar 2021 Nadav lev - guitar Hateiva Jaffa
• 23 Nov 2019 Nadav Lev - Guitar Spectrum New York

• 24 Oct 2020 Meitar Ensemble Tel Aviv Museum
• 17 Sep 2018 Ensemble Meitar Museum of Art Tel Aviv

• 15 May 2018 Oded Geizhals - Percussion Haifa University

• 29 May 2018 Israel Conservatory of Music Tel Aviv

• 7 Jan 2018 The Israel Contemporary Players, Yael Barolsky - violin solo, Ilan Volkov - conductor Jerusalem Music Center
• 6 Jan 2018 The Israel Contemporary Players, Yael Barolsky - violin solo, Ilan Volkov - conductor Tel Aviv Museum of Arts

"When a man starts to learn, he is never clear about his objectives. His purpose is faulty; his intent is vague. He hopes for rewards that will never materialize, for he knows nothing of the hardships of learning.
"He slowly begins to learn - bit by bit at first, then in big chunks. And his thoughts soon clash. What he learns is never what he pictured, or imagined, and so he begins to be afraid. Learning is never what one expects. Every step of learning is a new task, and the fear the man is experiencing begins to mount mercilessly, unyieldingly. His purpose becomes a battlefield.
"And thus he has tumbled upon the first of his natural enemies: Fear! A terrible enemy - treacherous, and difficult to overcome. It remains concealed at every turn of the way, prowling, waiting. And if the man, terrified in its presence, runs away, his enemy will have put an end to his quest."
"What will happen to the man if he runs away in fear?"
"Nothing happens to him except that he will never learn. He will never become a man of knowledge. He will perhaps be a bully or a harmless, scared man; at any rate, he will be a defeated man. His first enemy will have put an end to his cravings."
"And what can he do to overcome fear?"
"The answer is very simple. He must not run away. He must defy his fear, and in spite of it he must take the next step in learning, and the next, and the next. He must be fully afraid, and yet he must not stop. That is the rule! And a moment will come when his first enemy retreats. The man begins to feel sure of himself. His intent becomes stronger. Learning is no longer a terrifying task.
"When this joyful moment comes, the man can say without hesitation that he has defeated his first natural enemy."
"Does it happen at once, don Juan, or little by little?"
"It happens little by little, and yet the fear is vanquished suddenly and fast."
"But won't the man be afraid again if something new happens to him?"
"No. Once a man has vanquished fear, he is free from it for the rest of his life because, instead of fear, he has acquired clarity - a clarity of mind which erases fear. By then a man knows his desires; he knows how to satisfy those desires. He can anticipate the new steps of learning, and a sharp clarity surrounds everything. The man feels that nothing is concealed.
"And thus he has encountered his second enemy: Clarity! That clarity of mind, which is so hard to obtain, dispels fear, but also blinds.
"It forces the man never to doubt himself. It gives him the assurance he can do anything he pleases, for he sees clearly into everything. And he is courageous because he is clear, and he stops at nothing because he is clear. But all that is a mistake; it is like something incomplete. If the man yields to this make-believe power, he has succumbed to his second enemy and will fumble with learning. He will rush when he should be patient, or he will be patient when he should rush. And he will fumble with learning until he winds up incapable of learning anything more."
"What becomes of a man who is defeated in that way, don Juan? Does he die as a result?"
"No, he doesn't die. His second enemy has just stopped him cold from trying to become a man of knowledge; instead, the man may turn into a buoyant warrior, or a clown. Yet the clarity for which he has paid so dearly will never change to darkness and fear again. He will be clear as long as he lives, but he will no longer learn, or yearn for anything."
"But what does he have to do to avoid being defeated?"
"He must do what he did with fear: he must defy his clarity and use it only to see, and wait patiently and measure carefully before taking new steps; he must think, above all, that his clarity is almost a mistake. And a moment will come when he will understand that his clarity was only a point before his eyes. And thus he will have overcome his second enemy, and will arrive at a position where nothing can harm him any more. This will not be a mistake. It will not be only a point before his eyes. It will be true power.
"He will know at this point that the power he has been pursuing for so long is finally his. He can do with it whatever he pleases. His ally is at his command. His wish is the rule. He sees all that is around him. But he has also come across his third enemy: Power!
"Power is the strongest of all enemies. And naturally the easiest thing to do is to give in; after all, the man is truly invincible. He commands; he begins by taking calculated risks, and ends in making rules, because he is a master.
"A man at this stage hardly notices his third enemy closing in on him. And suddenly, without knowing, he will certainly have lost the battle. His enemy will have turned him into a cruel, capricious man." "Will he lose his power?"
"No, he will never lose his clarity or his power."
"What then will distinguish him from a man of knowledge?"
"A man who is defeated by power dies without really knowing how to handle it. Power is only a burden upon his fate. Such a man has no command over himself, and cannot tell when or how to use his power."
"Is the defeat by any of these enemies a final defeat?"
"Of course it is final. Once one of these enemies overpowers a man there is nothing he can do."
"Is it possible, for instance, that the man who is defeated by power may see his error and mend his ways?" "No. Once a man gives in he is through."
"But what if he is temporarily blinded by power, and then refuses it?"
"That means his battle is still on. That means he is still trying to become a man of knowledge. A man is defeated only when he no longer tries, and abandons himself."
"But then, don Juan, it is possible that a man may abandon himself to fear for years, but finally conquer it."
"No, that is not true. If he gives in to fear he will never conquer it, because he will shy away from learning and never try again. But if he tries to learn for years in the midst of his fear, he will eventually conquer it because he will never have really abandoned himself to it."
"How can he defeat his third enemy, don Juan?"
"He has to defy it, deliberately. He has to come to realize the power he has seemingly conquered is in reality never his. He must keep himself in line at all times, handling carefully and faithfully all that he has learned. If he can see that clarity and power, without his control over himself, are worse than mistakes, he will reach a point where everything is held in check. He will know then when and how to use his power. And thus he will have defeated his third enemy.
"The man will be, by then, at the end of his journey of learning, and almost without warning he will come upon the last of his enemies: Old age! This enemy is the cruelest of all, the one he won't be able to defeat completely, but only fight away.
"This is the time when a man has no more fears, no more impatient clarity of mind - a time when all his power is in check, but also the time when he has an unyielding desire to rest. If he gives in totally to his desire to lie down and forget, if he soothes himself in tiredness, he will have lost his last round, and his enemy will cut him down into a feeble old creature. His desire to retreat will overrule all his clarity, his power, and his knowledge.
"But if the man sloughs off his tiredness, and lives his fate through, he can then be called a man of knowledge, if only for the brief moment when he succeeds in fighting off his last, invincible enemy. That moment of clarity, power, and knowledge is enough."

• 20 Feb 2020 Itay Dayan - clarinet Israel Conservatory Tel Aviv

"Piano Fractals" is a journey through musical structures inspired by the concept of fractals, where similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales. This composition for solo piano, created in 2017 and extended in 2019, unfolds in four independent miniatures, each piece embodying my approach to composing music that mimics the self-similar nature of fractals. My inspiration inspiration comes from two main ideas: the structural hierarchy of a book, from letters to chapters, and the fractal principle of recurring patterns. He translates these concepts into music by starting with a basic unit of duration (akin to the "letter" in a book) and grouping these units to form larger musical phrases and sections, akin to words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters in literature.

The compositional process involves a meticulous organization of pitch and rhythm, guided by a series of numbers representing durations and groupings, and a tone matrix for organizing pitch material. This matrix allows for the creation of musically connected ideas, ensuring coherence and connectivity throughout the pieces. I employ this structure to explore the rich possibilities of rhythmic variation within the constraints of the fractal form.

1. Peano Curve (2017, for Pierre Laurent Aimard)
2. The Bewildered Planet (2017, for Amit Dolberg)
3. Interweaving (2017, for Christel Weiler)
4. Labyrinth (2019, for Hagai Yodan)
5. Cadenza (2016, from piano concerto, for Amit Dolberg)

• 18 May 2017 Amit Dolberg (No.2 - 'The bewildered planet') Mizna gallery - Tel Aviv museum of art Tel Aviv Israel
• 11 Mar 2017 Amit Dolberg (No.2 - 'The bewildered planet') Ran Baron Auditorium - Israel Conservatory Tel Aviv Israel

• 20 Jun 2024 MISE-EN Ensemble T.B.A New York City
• 24 Apr 2023 Meitar Ensemble Merkin hall at Kaufman Music Center New York City United States
• 5 Oct 2022 Meitar Ensemble, Edo Frenkel - cond. Minoritensaal Graz Austria
• 3 Oct 2022 Meitar Ensemble, Edo Frenkel - cond. Palais Ehrbar Vienna Austria
• 2 Oct 2022 Meitar Ensemble, Edo Frenkel - cond. Toihaus Salzburg Austria
• 29 Sep 2022 Meitar Israel Conservatory Tel Aviv
• 28 Oct 2019 Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (MCME) Moscow Cultural Center ZIL Moscow Russia
• 26 Oct 2019 Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (MCME) Conservatory Chamber Hall Kazan Russia
• 30 Sep 2019 Meitar Ensemble, Pierre-André Valade - conductor TEATRO GOLDONI Venice Italy
• 1 Feb 2019 Pierre-André Valade / Conductor, Meitar Ensemble Opperman Music Hall, Florida state university United States
• 18 Oct 2018 Meitar Ensemble - Pierre André Valade, conductor Guanajuato Mexico
• 8 Sep 2018 Meitar Ensemble - Pierre André Valade, conductor Salle des Charpentes
• 19 Mar 2018 Meitar Ensemble. Konstantia Gourzi (cond.) Ran Baron auditorium Tel Aviv
• 16 Jan 2018 ensemble oktopus Reaktorhalle Munich Germany
• 29 Oct 2016 Meitar ensemble Ran Baron Auditorium - Israel Conservatory Tel Aviv Israel

...with purity and light... is a piano concerto composed in 2015. It was commissioned by the Israel Symphony Orchestra and premiered by them with Amit Dolberg on piano and Sascha Goetzel conducting.

Like the architect who sketches the outline of a new house before going into details, so do I with a new piece of music. I outline the structure by dividing a certain time frame into sections and subsections. This formal outline is built using the mathematical principle of fractals which use concepts of self similarity and recursion. (I have used the same method for most of my compositions since 2003. The algorithm is similar but the numbers are different every time.) Only then I begin to enter sounds into the form. The sounds bring the form to life and give it meaning. In most of my instrumental music there are no extra-musical motivation - a sound is there because of the sound that came before (or after) it.

I found the title for this piece "...with purity and light..." in a poem by Rumi after searching some texts which are close to my heart and that had a phrase which answer to the following criteria: the phrase has to be made up of four words while the first word is 4 letters long, the second is 6, the third is 3 and the last is 5. These numbers reveal the ratios of the time-fractal that was used in this composition - 4,6,3,5.

• 25 Jul 2016 Rishon LeZion Symphony Orchestra, Amit Dolberg (piano), Sascha Goetzel (conductor) בית העם Rehovot Israel
• 24 Jul 2016 Rishon LeZion Symphony Orchestra, Amit Dolberg (piano), Sascha Goetzel (conductor) משכן האופרה Tel Aviv Israel
• 23 Jul 2016 Rishon LeZion Symphony Orchestra, Amit Dolberg (piano), Sascha Goetzel (conductor) היכל התרבות Rishon LeZion Israel
• 21 Jul 2016 Rishon LeZion Symphony Orchestra, Amit Dolberg (piano), Sascha Goetzel (conductor) היכל התרבות Rishon LeZion Israel

• I used to live in a room full of mirrors
• All I could see was me
  
• Well I took my spirit
  
• And I crashed my mirrors
• Now the whole world is here for me to see

• 22 May 2018 Michiko Lena Feuerlein - Violin BKA-Theater Berlin
• 20 May 2018 Zhong Keyi (violin) CCOM Concert Hall Beijing China
• 10 Dec 2017 Yael Barolsky and Amos Elkana לבונטין 7 תל אביב
• 1 Nov 2017 Yael Barolsky, Ophir Ilzitsky Brunel University London
• 24 Oct 2017 Yael Barolsky - violin, Ophir Ilzetzki - computer Zimmer Tel Aviv Israel
• 7 Jun 2017 Yael Barolsky Jerusalem Theater Jerusalem Israel
• 1 Feb 2017 Yael Barolsky CCA Tel Aviv Israel
• 31 Jan 2017 Yael Barolsky CCA Tel Aviv Israel
• 21 Jul 2016 Yael Barolsky HaTeiva Jaffa Israel
• 14 Jun 2016 Yael Barolsky Hall 207 Haifa Israel
• 19 Dec 2015 Yael Barolsky סטודיו המטריה Jaffa - יפו Israel
• 21 Nov 2014 Yael Barolsky Hateiva Jaffa Israel
• 1 May 2014 Yael Barolsky Hateiva Tel Aviv Israel

• I used to live in a room full of mirrors
• All I could see was me
  
• Well I took my spirit
  
• And I crashed my mirrors
• Now the whole world is here for me to see

• 28 Jan 2020 Nadav Lev, Oded Geizhals, Dan Weinstein Hateiva Jaffa

• 17 May 2014 Members from the Meitar ensemble + young students saxophone quartet Israel Conservatory of Music Tel Aviv

• 22 Nov 2013 Amos Elkana (Live Electronics), Sommer Ulrickson (Choreography and dance) Hateiva Jaffa Israel

• 6 Oct 2013 Ensemble opus21musicPlus, Konstantia Gourzi Carl Orff Saal, Gasteig Munich Germany
• 5 Oct 2013 Ensemble opus21musicPlus, Konstantia Gourzi Carl Orff Saal, Gasteig Munich Germany
• 4 Oct 2013 Ensemble opus21musicPlus, Konstantia Gourzi Carl Orff Saal, Gasteig Munich Germany

• 8 Aug 2013 Isny Theater Festival Isny Germany
• 11 Jan 2013 Freilichtspiele Schwaebisch Hall (Wuerth Museum) Schwaebisch Hall Germany
• 8 Dec 2012 Pathos Theater Munich Germany
• 7 Dec 2012 Pathos Theater Munich Germany
• 13 Apr 2012 Gerhard Hauptmann Theater Goerlitz Germany
• 29 Jan 2012 Sophiensaele Berlin Germany
• 28 Jan 2012 Sophiensaele Berlin Germany
• 27 Jan 2012 Sophiensaele Berlin Germany
• 25 Jan 2012 Sophiensaele Berlin Germany

• 29 Jul 2012 Ensemble opus21musikplus Gasteig Munich Germany

מַ‏כְבֵּ‏ד (panicle) - אשכול מורכב, תפרחת שבה הפרחים מסתעפים מענפים צדדיים, המסתעפים בעצמם מציר התפרחת. במלים אחרות, מכבד הוא מקבץ של אשכולות המסתעפים מציר משותף.

• 29 Nov 2014 Orquesta de Cámara del Auditorio de Zaragoza ("Grupo Enigma") Espacio Santa Clara de Sevilla Sevilla Spain
• 2 Nov 2014 Orquesta de Cámara del Auditorio de Zaragoza ("Grupo Enigma") Teatros del Canal de Madrid Madrid Spain
• 28 Oct 2014 Orquesta de Cámara del Auditorio de Zaragoza ("Grupo Enigma") Petit Palau de Barcelona Barcelona Spain
• 27 Oct 2014 Orquesta de Cámara del Auditorio de Zaragoza ("Grupo Enigma") Sala Luis Galve del Auditorio de Zaragoza Zaragoza Spain
• 19 Oct 2014 Orquesta de Cámara del Auditorio de Zaragoza ("Grupo Enigma"). Dir: Juan José Olives Auditorium Madrid Spain

From the liner Notes to the CD
By Prof. Ruth HaCohen
“Casino Umbro" means "Umbrian Noise" or mess; the work was created during the composer’s residency at Civitella Ranieri in Umbria. Noise it is, if one considers the juxtaposition and fusion of two diametrically opposed musical style and sonic concepts – a baroque and contemporary one – a blasphemous concoction. (The work was invited by two Israeli ensembles: the contemporary music ensemble "Meitar" and the period instruments ensemble "Israeli Bach Soloists".) But the spirit of lush Umbria penetrates the texture. The work is indeed a good one to enter into Amos Elkana’s sonic world: transparent despite complications, communicative though sophisticated, soft and exuberant, emotional and thoughtful. It embarks with a French baroque gesture, embellished, warm; modal D. A perpetuum mobile jazz-like piano figuration emerges from this solemnity, gradually sweeping the other participants into its “mechanical” gesticulations, until all are dancing a “fractal” dance on a kaleidoscopally ever changing, adding and subtracting pitch and rhythm patterns. These two sections determine a structure of the kind found in Beethoven’s late works (and then in Mahler, Bartok and others): an alternating structure, in which each contrasting section affects the next, which structurally refers back to the one before (in the spirit of an ABABA… form). The dreamy like section that follows the “fractal dance”, is thus a sonic and tonal admixture of both universes: impressionistic, fraught with novel sonorities, but allowing sporadically for “conventional” chords to flicker, soft and slightly embellished melodies to emerge. Fourth section is likewise reactive, becoming a more reflective, moderate dance, divulging how modern-jazz piano can find itself dialoguing with a baroque harpsichord, without each losing its idiomatic identity, encouraging the other actors to similarly behave. One can hear in another section a Schoenbergian Klangfarben Melodie as a natural development of forgoing events, followed by a Stravinsky-like recollection. And so it goes, until all is silenced back into a baroquian gesture – a whole tone higher, a universe apart.

• 20 Mar 2012 פסטיבל באך, אנסמבל מיתר מתארח אצל נגני באך הישראלים
  Bach Festival, the Israeli Bach Players are hosting the Meitar Ensmble בית מזרח מערב יפו - Jaffa Israel
• 4 Nov 2010 Ensemble Meitar + the Israeli Bach Soloists Hateiva Tel Aviv Israel

• 1 Jan 2011 Shlomi Ben Atar (Oud), Shaul Bustan (Mandolin), Hed Yaron-Meirson (Violin), Lia Raikhlin (Violin), Maya Felixbrodt (Viola), Ayelet Lerman (Viola), Neta Cohen- Shani (Cello) Levontin 7 Tel Aviv

• 16 Dec 2010 Young players Hateiva Tel Aviv
• 14 Sep 2010 Museum of Art Tel Aviv

• 10 Mar 2011 Iulia (Piano) and Eugene (Violin+Viola) Cibisescu-Duran, Amos Elkana (Guitar) Cluj-Napoca Music Academy Cluj-Napoca Romania

• 10 Nov 2009 Iulia Cibisescu-Duran (Piano), Eugene Cibisescu-Duran (Violin), Amos Elkana (Guitar and Electronics) Felicia Blumental Music Center Tel Aviv

• 21 Apr 2009 Amos Elkana (music), Somer Ulrickson (Director and Choreography), Alexander Polzin (Stage design), Students from UCSC Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin Germany
• 1 Mar 2009 Amos Elkana (music), Somer Ulrickson (Director and Choreography), Alexander Polzin (Stage design), Students from UCSC UCSC Santa Cruz United States
• 28 Feb 2009 Amos Elkana (music), Somer Ulrickson (Director and Choreography), Alexander Polzin (Stage design), Students from UCSC UCSC Santa Cruz United States
• 27 Feb 2009 Amos Elkana (music), Somer Ulrickson (Director and Choreography), Alexander Polzin (Stage design), Students from UCSC UCSC Santa Cruz United States
• 26 Feb 2009 Amos Elkana (music), Somer Ulrickson (Director and Choreography), Alexander Polzin (Stage design), Students from UCSC UCSC Santa Cruz United States
• 22 Feb 2009 Amos Elkana (music), Somer Ulrickson (Director and Choreography), Alexander Polzin (Stage design), Students from UCSC UCSC Santa Cruz United States
• 21 Feb 2009 Amos Elkana (music), Somer Ulrickson (Director and Choreography), Alexander Polzin (Stage design), Students from UCSC UCSC Santa Cruz United States
• 20 Feb 2009 Amos Elkana (music), Somer Ulrickson (Director and Choreography), Alexander Polzin (Stage design), Students from UCSC UCSC Santa Cruz United States

• 7 Jun 2009 Central European University Budapest Hungary

Poem in Hungarian (original)
Poem in English (translation)
Poem in German (translation)

• 25 Jun 2018 Oded Geizhals, percussion; Dan Weinstein, cello; Amos Elkana, electronics HaTeiva Jaffa
• 24 Apr 2014 Amos Elkana (composition, computer, electric guitar), Hindol Deb (sitar) and Dan Weinstein (cello), Roy Amotz (flute) Werkstatt der Kulturen Berlin Germany
• 3 Aug 2012 Amos Elkana and Dan Weinstein Gelegenheiten Berlin Germany
• 2 Aug 2012 Amos Elkana and Dan Weinstein LoopHole Berlin Berlin Germany
• 30 Jul 2012 Amos Elkana and Dan Weinstein with Ursel Schlicht Sonic Exchange - ExTempore 4 festival Kassel Germany
• 28 Apr 2012 Dan Weinstein - Cello | דן ויינשטיין - צ'לו Barbur Gallery | גלריה ברבור Jerusalem | ירושלים
• 29 Mar 2012 Amos Elkana אולם ליאו מודל Jerusalem Israel
• 21 Feb 2012 Dan Weinstein (Cello) and Amos Elkana (Electronics)
  דן ויינשטיין (צ'לו) ועמוס אלקנה (אלקטרוניקה) התיבה - Hateiva Jaffa Israel
• 16 Sep 2010 Cafe Global, Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin Germany

My friend, the sculptor Alexander Polzin asked me to compose a new piece for the unveiling ceremony of his sculpture of Giordano Bruno in Berlin which took place in March 2008. In preparation for this work I read a lot about Bruno and tried to find my own connection to the subject. As it happens Bruno was an admirer of the Maharal and he always wanted to meet him. It is not written anywhere that the two actually met but it is known that Bruno was in fact in Prague in 1588 at the same time when the Maharal was there. This piece is inspired by the meeting that did (or did not) take place between the two men. In his fiction book 'Endless Things' John Crowley describes such a meeting. Oddly enough, I have found out that I am a direct descendant of the Maharal. He is right there in my family tree which dates back to 1392!

This composition was completely revised in 2015.

Premiered on Mar. 2, 2008 in Berlin by Freyja Gunnlaugsdóttir

• 20 May 2012 Freyja Gunnlaugsdóttir - Clarinet forum akazie Berlin Germany
• 17 Apr 2008 Freyja Gunnlaugsdóttir jW-Ladengalerie Berlin Germany
• 2 Mar 2008 Freyja Gunnlaugsdóttir Potsdammer Platz Berlin Germany

• 21 Feb 2013 Amit Dolberg - Piano אולם רן ברון, המרכז למוסיקה עכשווית ואלקטרונית, הקונסרבטוריון הישראלי למוסיקה, Tel Aviv | תל אביב Israel
• 5 Oct 2011 Amit Dolberg (Celesta) Rebecca Crown Auditorium Jerusalem Israel

Version (2012): This is arranged for a symphony orchestra upon the request of the Israeli Music Festival 2012. I also added a section at the end that does not exist in the original composition.

• 21 Nov 2008 Berlin Konzerthausorchester, Ferenc Gabor (Cond.) Konzerthaus Berlin Germany

• 21 Sep 2012 התזמורת הקאמרית הקיבוצית-נתניה | The Netanya - Kibbutz Orchestra Recanati Auditorium, Tel Aviv Museum of Art | אולם רקנאטי במוזיאון תל אביב Tel Aviv | תל אביב

• 4 Oct 2007 Lilenblum 41 Tel Aviv

Eight Flowers are set of eight very short pieces for piano. Each piece was inspired by and named after a certain flower and together they form a bouquet. The order and number of times in which each of these pieces are played are left to the performer's discretion. In this way it is as if he/she is arranging the bouquet of flowers to suit his/her own taste.
Premiered by Gabor Csalog on June 11, 2006 in Neuhardenberg, Germany, in a festival honoring György Kurtág on his 80th birthday.

• 9 Dec 2023 Amit Dolberg - piano Studio Anette Tel Aviv Israel
• 11 Sep 2020 Jihye Chang Sung
• 19 Oct 2019 Jihye Chang CNMAT at U. C. Berkeley
• 18 Oct 2019 Jihye Chang Stan's Music Parlor in L. A.
• 17 Oct 2019 Jihye Chang Daniel Recital Hall at the California State University Long Beach Bob Cole Conservatory of Music
• 12 Dec 2018 Amit Dolberg Zentrum für Musikwissenschaft Leipzig Germany
• 24 Mar 2018 Amit Dolberg (piano) Tsavta Tivon
• 19 Jan 2018 Amit Dolberg Carl Orff Auditorium Munich Germany
• 13 Dec 2016 Construction Site New Music Ensemble from Belgrade, Serbia בית הספר למוזיקה ע"ש בוכמן- מהטה Tel Aviv Israel
• 27 May 2014 Hayk MELIKYAN, piano National Gallery of Armenia Yerevan Armenia
• 23 Oct 2012 Ofra Yitzhaki (Piano) Einav Center | מרכז עינב Tel Aviv | תל אביב
• 20 Dec 2009 Gabor Csalog (Piano), Istvan Varga (Cello), Amos Elkana (Guitar+Electronics) Chausseestr. Berlin Germany
• 28 Sep 2009 Anna Christensson ISCM festival Vaxjo Sweden
• 15 Jun 2009 Gabor Csalog (Pano), Istvan Varga (Cello), Amos Elkana (Electronics) Budapest science academy Budapest Hungary
• 21 Nov 2008 17th International Review of Composers Belgrade Serbia and Montenegro
• 20 Feb 2008 Sylvia Dankesreiter Schauplatz fuer moderne Kunst Munich Germany
• 22 Nov 2006 Iulia Cibisescu-Duran Music Academy Cluj-Napoca Romania
• 11 Jun 2006 Gabor Cslaog Schinkel Church Neuhardenberg Germany

• 6 Sep 2011 Amos Elkana and Yael Toren (video-art) HaZira Performance Art Arena Jerusalem
• 16 Sep 2010 BELÉM ARTS CENTRE PASSEIO PEDONAL Portugal
• 14 Jun 2006 Amos Elkana (Electronics) Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson United States
• 11 May 2006 Amos Elkana Meir House Jerusalem

• 4 Mar 2008 Amos Elkana jW-Ladengalerie Berlin Germany
• 24 Nov 2007 Amos Elkana Bimat Meitsag Tel Aviv
• 24 Oct 2007 Kinneret String Quartet, Wind Quintet (players from Haifa Symphony Orchestra), Amos Elkana, Adi Menczel, Yael Toren (Video Art) Felicia Blumental Music Center Tel Aviv
• 18 Oct 2007 Negev artists house Beer Sheva
• 21 Feb 2007 Amos Elkana International Artists House Herzliya
• 22 Jan 2007 Amos Elkana (Guitar and Electronics) Van Leer Institute Jerusalem
• 10 Dec 2006 Amos Elkana (Guitar and Electronics) Felicia Blumental Music Center Tel Aviv

The Poem: In Auden's lengthy poem, The Age of Anxiety, he follows the actions and thoughts of four characters that happen to meet in a bar during the Second World War. Their interactions with one another lead them on an imaginary quest in their minds in which they attempt, without success, to discover themselves. The themes and ideas that The Age of Anxiety conveys reflect his belief that man's quest for self-actualization is in vain. The Age of Anxiety is, in general, a quest poem. Unlike the ideal quest, however, this quest accomplishes nothing. The characters search for the meaning of self and, in essence, the meaning of life, but because their search is triggered by intoxication, the quest is doomed from the start. Throughout the quest, the characters believe themselves to be in a kind of purgatory, gradually descending toward hell. They fail to realize this due to "the modern human condition which denies possibility but refuses to call it impossible" (Nelson 117).

The Paintings: Alexander Polzin's series of 99 paintings based on Auden's poem grew out of the artist's fascination with "...the unusual mixture of poetic quality, clear meaningful sentences and rich images." The series was made in 1999, which is one of the reasons the artist decided to paint 99 paintings. The other reason being his strong desire to accomplish the nearly impossible task of composing 99 paintings simultaneously. Polzin divided the text into 99 segments after reading the poem over and over again developing his own "melody" of the text. He also wanted to highlight some of the sentences in the poem by disconnecting them from their surroundings. The anxiety in the poem, for Polzin, is hidden under several layers of meaning and so in his paintings he decided to use a technique of layering. At the bottom layer of each painting he pasted a segment of the text and painted the number of that segment corresponding to his own subdivision of the text. He then created layers of paint and images on top of that sculpting out the parts he wanted to emphasize. Through this process most of the text and numbers became invisible.

The Music: The sound source for this installation is largely based on a recording of five actors (four characters and one narrator) reciting the poem in a bar. During this process the actors were encouraged to drink as much as they wanted so as to recreate the mood of the original poem. The bartender was generous enough to turn off the background music during the recording and so the only background sounds are bar noises made by people drinking, conversing, laughing, playing pool, etc. Different layers of sound are created by transforming the bar recording electronically. These layers become alternately 'visible' and 'invisible' by fading them in and out. One of the electronic sound layers is created by analyzing 12 peaks from the recorded voice and connecting these peaks to 12 oscillators. The result is a sort of a modified reproduction of the actual voice recording. Another layer that is present is the sound of a quartet of wind instruments - tuba, trombone, trumpet and clarinet. Each instrument corresponds to a different character in the poem. These instruments are actually very high-quality samples of real instruments. Each note was recorded several times in different dynamic levels and different modes of attack. Extended playing techniques were also recorded and used. The actual notes that these instruments play are generated by a quasi-random process that uses a phrase, instead of a single note, as it's basic point of departure. The first thing that is determined on this level is the phrase duration. Since we are dealing with wind instruments, it has been taken into consideration that in normal situations the player of a wind instrument should have time to breathe after about 20 seconds of continuous playing. For each phrase the program decides: 1) What permutation and transposition of the row to play from a twelve tone matrix. 2) The durations of the notes in the phrase. 3) The dynamic range of the notes (for example, mp is not a constant level but a range). 4) The style of playing - staccato, legato, flutter-tongue, trills, etc. 5) The instrumental register - high, medium or low. What creates a relationship between the voices of the different instruments is that the phrases they all play are derived from the same source - the 12-tone matrix. Another layer is made out of percussion sounds that are triggered by the recording of the actors. The program picks out the 'attacks' of the recorded voice and these attacks trigger the percussion samples. Other transformations of the bar recording include pitch-shifting, delaying and spatializing. All of the sounds that are used in this piece are spatialized around the room by using four speakers that are placed in the four corners of the room.

• 2 Mar 2008 jW-Ladengalerie Berlin Germany
• 21 Feb 2007 International Artists House Herzliya Israel
• 22 Jan 2007 Van Leer Institute Jerusalem
• 16 Jul 2006 Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson United States
• 7 Apr 2006 Goethe Institute New York City United States

This duo is composed for the double-reed family of instruments. It features the Oboe, the English Horn and the Contrabassoon. The piece is divided into 4 sections that correspond to the AABA form. The degree of virtuosity required from the players is very high; the pitch ranges for the instruments are extreme but playing together and in time is probably as much of a challenge as reaching the notes at the extreme range of the instrument. This work is dedicated to my grandmother Miriam Keren and was premiered on the occasion of her 99th birthday.

Premiered by B. Schmutzler and D. Karamintzas on May 11, 2005 in Jerusalem, Israel

• 30 Mar 2007 Demetrios Karamintzas (Oboe + English Horn), Barbara Schmutzler (Contrabassoon) Ein Kerem Music Center Jerusalem
• 12 May 2005 Demetrios Karamintzas (Oboe + English Horn), Barbara Schmutzler (Contrabassoon) YWCA Jerusalem
• 11 May 2005 Demetrios Karamintzas (Oboe + English Horn), Barbara Schmutzler (Contrabassoon) Jerusalem

From the liner Notes to the CD
By Prof. Ruth HaCohen
String quartets have been always an arena for compositional experiments as they were a venue of intimate if not arcane discourse. String Quartet no. 2 strongly belongs to this tradition, as to its rich vocabulary of articulation, thematics, and textural modes. Elkana, searching for “rigorous predefined form that will grant him liberty of ‘pouring’ music into them”, elaborated a “method of composition with ‘fractal’ configurations”, which he intensively and extensively uses in this work. The mathematical idea of fractals is that similar patterns recur at progressively smaller (or larger) scale. Fractals are everywhere around us, we perceive them in snowflakes and leaf veins, and they make up blood vessels and coast lines, enabling us to experience the whole in the detail. Inspired by this basic idea, in some of his works Elkana embarks by shaping predetermined tone matrix, which could contain any number of tones, in any order some even repeated within the original set from which he then draw certain numerical orders that will recur in various structural levels in the work he conceives. Thus differentiating his system from the 12-tone Schoenbergain method, Elkana still adheres, in the procedure he developed, to the latter’s basic permutational modes, to which he applies rules of selection to avoid arbitrary choice. Rhythm is likewise manipulated. The cohesive effect, though not easy to detect, is intuitively experienced due to the thick recursive connections between micro- and macro-levels including that of the entire work. This, of course, does not exempt the composer from an imaginative, creative process and from giving each movement its own unique character and modes of unfolding. Thus in the first movement the highly profiled, soft and almost solemn opening theme, fugued through the four parts, will not be able to hold an immediate outburst of an abrupt homophonic gesture, and the alternation and conflation of these two basic utterances will furnish the basic dramatic infrastructure of the entire movement. Despite calculation (or maybe due to its constrains) the movement can be experienced as an essay on the rise and fall of tonal energy, in its basic, visceral undulations. The second movement is born from sustained sounds, which are ever there to collect all that transpires, into their serene duration, even the most capricious, frantic figuration which abound here as well. Tonal sustainability is embodied here in variety of being and becoming modes, and its presence is so strong throughout that even when it does not outwardly there we feel its presence. The brief scherzo-like third movement, a sort of peak in terms of the structure of the entire work, accentuates its edgy, almost ghost -like character through the sul ponticello (on the bridge) and other strings and bow effects, but no less by shaping temporal irregularities as a natural, inevitable flow. Ideas and sonorities from previous movements are recollected in the fourth, elegiac one, which searches, in different ways, for expression of unbeknownst yearn. Beethoven’s Convalescent's Holy Song of Thanksgiving to the Divinity, in the Lydian Mode” (String Quartet op. 132, 3rd movement) comes to mind. The fifth, a grand finale movement combines rondo-like construction with a playful recapitulation of moments and modes of being experienced throughout the work.

• 18 Sep 2007 Kinneret String Quartet Israeli Music Festival Beer Sheva
• 17 May 2005 Israel Contemporary String Quartet Felicia Blumental Music Center Tel Aviv
• 16 Jun 2004 Carmel String Quartet Ido Tadmor's Dance Studio Tel Aviv
• 17 May 2004 Carmel String Quartet Henry Crown Auditorium Jerusalem

• 18 Aug 2003 Musicians from the Music OMI artist residency Goethe Institute New York City United States

• 18 Apr 2002 Amos Elkana (Music), Sommer Ulrickson (Choreography), Alexander Polzin (Stage design), Dancers/Actors Sophiensaele Berlin Germany

• 15 Oct 2001 Akademia String Quartet Central European University Budapest Hungary

• 26 Oct 2000 Sommer Ulrickson (Choreography and dance), Anna Widmer (Dance) Podewil Berlin Germany

I grew up in Jerusalem in the 1970’s and 80’s. It was a city were Jews and Muslims lived side by side and interacted on a daily basis. Hebrew was my mother tongue but Arabic was everywhere too. Not only spoken by Palestinians but also by the parents and grandparents of my closest friends who immigrated a decade or two before from Arab speaking countries such as Iraq, Kurdistan, Morocco and Syria. Arabic was everywhere.
On the other hand my grandmother, who was born in Berlin and immigrated to Israel (escaping the Nazis) when she was already a married woman in her late twenties, spoke to us children in Hebrew, often mixing in German words. She sang German lullabies to us and spoke German to her friends and to my parents when she didn’t want us to understand.
For me Hebrew, Arabic and German were the three languages that I grew up on. Even though I speak Arabic and German poorly, their sounds and the cultures they embody are embedded in my DNA.

From the liner Notes to the CD
By Prof. Ruth HaCohen
If the European affiliation of the composer is well perceived in the first work, traversing in a musical time-machine distant eras, here it is his middle-eastern roots and concerns that he connects to the Germanic background of his ancestors. Languages and voices enter the scene; the poetry of the poet Michael Roes is the vehicle: “Arabic lessons” the poet calls it, and wishes to penetrate through learning the language the agonized worlds of conflict, occupation and memory. The lessons are further “studied” by the Israeli composer through their reflections in both Hebrew and German. The trilingual text thus combined is a difficult one, politically, emotionally: Jews’ ambivalence towards German, Arabs’ and Israelis’ suspicion towards each other’s language. Yet it is a triad that harbors hope: one of reciprocal listening, of understanding through difference, of people learning grammar, vocabulary and syntax of a basically unknown world that reveals itself through its loaded, inescapable political meanings. Feminine voices --three sopranos, are ideal carrier of this burden, this challenge. Each represents a single linguistic domain, which will be mingled or superimposed on the other. The rich, mellow and vibrant instrumental ensemble of flute, trumpet, saxophone, cello, bass guitar and percussion heightens atmosphere, accentuates meaning. In its chamber-like, accompanying character and relations to voices it calls to mind the famous ensemble of a Pierrot Lunaire. The 13 poems and two instrumental sections of the entire cycle thus consist of a variety of combinations of texture and structure, which never repeat themselves. First lesson starts with voice alone, in the language of the “third party“: German. It searches its way unsupported through practicing a “there is” structure (1. Es Gibt). The melody of the clear three-strophic construction intensifies itself from strophe to strophe while “breaking down”, in the third, a cracked “inventory” of what “is there”. Four (instrumental) Loops (2.) follow. A 9-tone theme (or row) bases the variegating motion they yield through contraction, expansion and metrical playfulness; now homophonic, now fugal, or even heterophonic – in a way that bring certain Mediterranean sonic textures to mind. The “lessons” further flow. Shaped like a medieval “conductus”, the Delegation lesson (3.) focuses on WH questions fraught with political existential sense. The tri-lingual point-counter-point proceeds from one fermata to the next – further punctuated by bass and drum – holding its rhetorical questions in the air. Where to stop? What adds to what? This becomes the major concern of the following lesson (4. Composed Words) performed by the Hebrew singer. Words can be composed into horrific, un/intended meanings and the thematic material now breathes “Israeliness”– tensed, full of angst. The composer “exchanges letters” -- and notes – with his fellow composers and predecessors, accentuates desperation, the peril of gross misunderstanding . In Roots (5.) the three languages/ vocalities further exhaust the potential of three-equal and rather wide-range voices, through imitative techniques that verge again on heterophony, with the middle voice – the German, acting sometimes as mediating between the two. Indeed, root structure characterizes Semitic languages and is foreign to German. Yet all languages, we learn, partake in “ruins of yesterday” and in homilies that are “destructive”. The musical allegory leads the trio, in the final section, to a 14th century hocketus: disrupted, choked alternating utterances, supported by the mellifluous sax. Short and highly intense solo Arabic “Present” - Alhader (5.) compresses voice and ensemble in a breathless, less than a minute utterance, as if there is no future, or no time. Basic vocabulary (6.) takes us into a busy market of words and idioms. Commodities are exchanged, also motifs – nervous, serpent-like; flute interlaces its waves, now exclaiming upon a new lingual merchandise, now uttering a help cry, now negotiating: can they understand each other, these separate agencies? Lists (7.), delivered in solemn German mode and Common Expressions (8.) follow; they manifest how lists may turn eerie and alternating proverbial utterances—when frenziedly exchanged or combined by the performing protagonists – shaking. In the last lessons/songs drums and trumpet becomes more prominent, sound more connected to real life. Thus in Future (10.) trumpet renders a declarative framework to which speaking voices – on pitch (German), without pitch (Hebrew) and melodically declarative (Arabic) – perform “a time before time”, transporting us to basics – of speech, voice, rhythm. Indeed, as lessons evolve, and we become more involved, the languages, qua performative languages, become more perceptible, each with its unique intonation, pronunciation, difference. Cairo (13.) and Jerusalem (15.) are entirely of this kind; separated by a rhythmical sermon (Canon 14.), basically unpitched, evoking a wasteland that extends between the two cities. Jerusalem, Elkana’s native city, where three Abrahamic religions encounter daily, is even more cacophonous, boisterous, violent than Cairo. So are the voices; the languages unadorned, the sonorous envelope of instrumental ensemble harsh and unavoidable. Who will win. Who will get closer to God. Who is the desired sacrifice on the holy mount. In the meantime, there is a wound that does not bleed but kills, word that does not fall, but chokes, blackening street sign and a pile of soap and fish flour.

• 9 Mar 1998 Konstantia Gourzi (Conductor), Ulrike Sonntag (Soprano), Lilach Refaelovitch (Soprano), Maureen Nehedar (Soprano), Yossi Arnheim (Flute), Itai Morag (Trumpet), Tal Varon (Saxophone), Hillel Zori (Cello), hagar Ben-Ari (Bass Guitar), Oron Schwartz (Percussion) Hochschule Der Künste Berlin Germany
• 6 Mar 1998 Konstantia Gourzi (Conductor), Ulrike Sonntag (Soprano), Lilach Refaelovitch (Soprano), Maureen Nehedar (Soprano), Yossi Arnheim (Flute), Itai Morag (Trumpet), Tal Varon (Saxophone), Hillel Zori (Cello), hagar Ben-Ari (Bass Guitar), Oron Schwartz (Percussion) Einav Center | מרכז עינב Tel Aviv

• 29 Sep 2012 Meitar Ensemble הקונסרבטוריון הישראלי למוסיקה Tel Aviv | תל אביב
• 6 Mar 1998 Stockholm Saxophone Quartet Museum of Art Tel Aviv

• 11 Feb 1998 Amos Elkana (Electronics), Ron Retich (Violin), Yael Kramsky (Choreography), Dancers Z.O.A Tel Aviv
• 5 Feb 1998 Amos Elkana (Electronics), Ron Retich (Violin), Yael Kramsky (Choreography), Dancers Z.O.A Tel Aviv
• 4 Feb 1998 Amos Elkana (Electronics), Ron Retich (Violin), Yael Kramsky (Choreography), Dancers Z.O.A Tel Aviv

• 31 Mar 1995 Musica Nova Consort Emeq Izrael Music Center Kibbutz Mizra
• 24 Feb 1995 Musica Nova Consort Museum of Art Tel Aviv

• 6 May 1995 Ensemble Migvan Tsavta Kiryat Tivon
• 20 Mar 1995 New Israeli Woodwind Quintet Henry Crown Auditorium Jerusalem

From the liner Notes to the CD
By Prof. Ruth HaCohen
Tru’a – in Hebrew both fanfare and ululation, especially when referring to the Shofar blasts in the synagogue during the Days of Awe – this highly imaginative work of the young composer wavers between the two modes, here embodied by the brilliance of a concerto style and real moments of fanfaric calls (e.g. arpeggios in 3’51’’ and in the virtuoso solo cadence) and the entreating mode of the existential calling of the shofar (as in 1’50’ and 6’03’). Even the synagogal congregation is here, through its traditional “heterophonic chant mumbling” embodied by the orchestral “virtual agents” (which, paradoxically enough, the composer achieves by using the sonic technique associated with the Polish composer W. Lutoslawsky) so typical to the (Ashkenazi) synagogue (and the reason for accusing it as “noisy”). The solo clarinetist, celebrating the abundance of gestures, expressions, implorations and explorations, redolent of so much of the literature written for and played by this instrument throughout the 20th century and before, must perform it all as a grand ex-temporation (though every note, dynamic change, trill or articulation effect is written down) as a ravishing play with temporalities, inspiring and sweeping the rich orchestral body in thousands of ways.

• 15 Oct 2012 Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Frederic Chaslin - Conductor, Gilad Harel - Solo Clarinet התזמורת הסימפונית ירושלים, פרדריק שזלן - מנצח, גלעד הראל - קלרינט סולו Henry Crown Auditorium Jerusalem | ירושלים
• 3 Dec 2011 TNUA orchestra Taipei National University of Arts Music Hall Taipei Taiwan

• 1 Jan 1993 Liat Elkana (Flute), Julia Rovinsky (Harp), Ferenc Gabor (Viola) Jerusalem Music Center Jerusalem

• 28 Apr 1993 Berlin Saxophone Quartet Weill Recital Hall - Carnegie Hall New York City United States

• 25 Oct 2019 Idit Shemer - flute הסלון החם והיפה של משפחת גרא קדימה
• 6 Oct 2019 Idit Shemer - flute Recanati - Tel Aviv Museum Tel Aviv Israel
• 4 Oct 2019 Idit Shemer Van Leer Foundation Jerusalem
• 13 Feb 2010 Roy Amotz Hateiva Tel Aviv
• 18 Dec 2007 Lucasz Dlugosz Siemens AG, Auditorium Munich Germany
• 23 Jan 1997 Yossi Arnheim Jerusalem Music Center Jerusalem