David Dolan (born 25 November 1955) is a concert pianist, researcher and educator. He devotes an important part of his career to the revival of the art of classical improvisation. Professor of classical improvisation and its application on creativity in performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, he is Head of the Centre for Creative Performance and Classical Improvisation. [1] He also teaches at the Yehudi Menuhin School following Lord Menuhin's invitation in 1989.
Dolan was born in Israel where he studied piano with Prof. Sonia Valin and composition and improvisation with Haim Alexander [2] at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, obtaining his B. Mus. and Artist Diploma - Summa Cum Laude. He then studied with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore and with Claude Frank in New York. In 1977 he took part in Arthur Rubinstein's master class in Jerusalem. [3] His PhD work (University of Paris and Hebrew University of Jerusalem) examined parallels between emotional expression in speech and musical improvisation. Later research has focused on classical improvisation and its impact on creativity, as well as communication and expression between performers and their audiences during performances.
Dolan has performed in many of the world's leading concert venues and festivals, such as the Wigmore Hall and the Royal Festival Hall in London, Auditorium Châtelet and Salle Pleyel in Paris, Concertgebouw and Dr. Anton Philipszaal in the Hague in the Netherlands, the Jerusalem Theater and Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel. He has made live recordings and broadcasts for several European radio and TV stations.
Dolan has been giving master classes and workshops at a number of international festivals and music institutions, such as the Juilliard School, [4] the Royal College of Music in London, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, the New England Conservatory in Boston, the Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv Music Academies, Verbier Festival, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, University of Auckland and University of Waikato in New Zealand, [5] Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and the Paris and Geneva Conservatories. Dolan is an associate fellow in music at Clare Hall, Cambridge. Since 2011, he has run a programme of classical improvisation applied to performance at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) in Melbourne based on annual intensive residencies.
Alan Bern is an American Jewish composer, pianist, accordionist, educator and cultural activist, based in Berlin since 1987. He is the founding artistic director of Yiddish Summer Weimar and the Other Music Academy (OMA). He is internationally recognized for his contributions to the research, dissemination and creative renewal of Jewish music with Brave Old World, The Other Europeans and the Semer Ensemble, among others. He is the creator of Present-Time Composition, a musical and educational approach informed by cognitive science that integrates the methods of improvisation and composition. In 2016 he received the Weimar Prize in recognition of major cultural contributions to the city of Weimar. In 2017 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Free State of Thuringia, and in 2022 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Yitzhak Yedid is an Israeli-Australian contemporary classical music composer and improvising pianist, the recipient of numerous awards.
Gilad Hochman is an Israeli classical music composer.
Walter Levin was the founder, first violinist, and guiding spirit of the LaSalle Quartet, which was known for its championing of contemporary composers, for its recordings of the Second Viennese School, as well as for its intellectually penetrating interpretations of the classical and romantic quartet repertory, in particular the late quartets of Beethoven. Levin was also an important pedagogue, having taught many of the world's leading string quartets, among them the Alban Berg Quartet and the Arditti Quartet; other prominent students include the conductor James Levine, the violinist Christian Tetzlaff and the pianist Stefan Litwin.
Donald Lucas is a trombone artist and educator. He is an associate professor and Brass, Woodwind & Percussion department chair at the Boston University School of Music and served as president of the International Trombone Association.
Maya Dunietz, is an international musician and artist, combining a solo career with collaborations with renowned musicians: Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, Roscoe Mitchell, John Tilbury, Habiluim, and many others. Her works are exhibited in venues such as Centre Pompidou Paris, Athens Onassis Center, Frac Paca, and CCA Tel Aviv.
Orit Wolf is an Israeli pianist, composer and lecturer. Currently holds lecturer positions at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at Reichman University, Israel. From 2022-2023 academic year, Wolf will be artist in residence at the Technion.
Mahan Esfahani is an Iranian-American harpsichordist.
Dov (Dubi) Seltzer is a Romanian-born Israeli composer and conductor.
Shai Cohen is an Israeli music educator and composer of contemporary classical music.
Sagi Hartov is a cellist born in Israel. He is the founder of the Ernest Bloch classical competition.
Ayal Adler, is an Israeli composer. Active internationally, his works are continuously performed worldwide. Serves as Associate Professor in composition and theory at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Recipient of numerous awards, including: the Prime-Minister Award for Composition; Two Acum Prizes, and the first prize at the RMN International Competition in London. Serves as a Board member of the Israeli Composers' League.
Michael Tsalka is a Dutch/Israeli pianist and early keyboard performer. He performs solo and chamber music from the Baroque to the Contemporary periods on the modern piano, harpsichord, fortepiano, clavichord, square piano and positive organ. Michael Tsalka, who is the oldest son of Israeli writer Dan Tsalka, performs throughout Europe, the U.S.A., Canada, Asia, and Latin America. Recent engagements include the Boston Early Music Festival, the Gasteig in Münich, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Bellas Artes Theater in Mexico City, the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, the Hermitage Festival in St. Petersburg, and full programs and interviews for radio stations in Hong Kong, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, Chicago, Berlin, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Jerusalem.
Peter Renshaw is a British creative learning consultant and researcher with a special interest in institutional change and lifelong learning.
Victor Rosenbaum is an American pianist, teacher, educator and administrator.
The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (BMSM) is an institute of higher education in Tel Aviv, Israel. The school is a part of the Faculty of the Arts of Tel Aviv University and is operated in collaboration with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO). The school is named after German Jewish philanthropist Josef Buchmann and conductor Zubin Mehta, then music director of the IPO. Mehta is the honorary president of the school and has conducted the school's orchestra regularly in Israel and on tours abroad. The BMSM mission is to train elite young musicians in performance, composition and research in music and prepare them for professional careers in these fields. The BMSM's orchestral training program is an integral part of the school and aims to educate orchestral musicians to supply the artistic future of the IPO and other orchestras.
Isaak Tavior is a pianist, composer and conductor. He was born in Haifa, Israel on 18 September 1943 to Rosa and Avraham Vichodetz. Tavior was the recipient of the Prize for Creativity in the field of Zionism in 2012, granted him by the Israeli Minister of Culture, Limor Livnat, for his 2004 composition "Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones" named for the prophecy of the same name.
Yaniv d'Or is an Israeli British countertenor. His main field is opera.
Mira Zakai was an Israeli contralto.
Hassia Levy-Agron was an Israeli dancer, choreographer, and educator.
