2015-2016 Fellow, Talia Amar

Talia Amar was born in 1989 in Jerusalem, Israel

She began studying piano at the age of 6 with Mrs. Luisa Yoffe and composition at the age of 14 with renowned composer Prof. Mark Kopytman.

Talia earned her B.M. in composition with honors under the guidance of Dr. Ari Ben-Shabetai and Prof. Yinam Leef at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She completed her piano program with honors with Prof. Emanuel Krasovsky at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel-Aviv University.

She has taken part in analysis classes with Michael Lévinas at the CNSDMP (Conservatoire National Superieur De Musique Et De Danse de Paris.)

In 2011, she participated in the prestigious Royaumont composition course at the Royaumont Abbey in France.

In 2013 and 2014 she participated in two composition courses led by the distinguished composer Philippe Leroux.

Talia earned her M.M. at the Mannes College of Music in NYC with Prof. Mario Davidovsky in composition and Prof. Victor Rosenbaum in piano.

In March 2015 she participated at the conference Matrix on Tour in Montreal 2015 with the composers Detlef Heusinger and Dániel Péter Biró.

She is currently studying for her PhD at Brandeis University with Prof. Yu-Hui Chang.

She has attended master classes in composition with renowned composers such as:  Brian Ferneyhough, Hèctor Parra, Detlef Heusinger, Marc André, Philippe Leroux and Michael Lévinas. In piano, she has participated in master classes with Murray Perahia, Nikolai Petrov, Jerome Rose, and Richard Goode.

She has won several awards in international competitions such as: Malta International Music Competition (2014), CIRCE Composition Competition (USA-2013) London Ear Festival (England-2013), North-South Consonance Composition Competition (USA-2010), International Music Prize for Excellence in Composition (Greece-2009), 8th Italian Percussions Competition (Italy-2010), IBLA (USA-2011), T.I.M (Italy-2010), and has consecutively been awarded scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation both in piano and composition (with honors). Additionally, she has been made an Honorary Associate of the National Academy of Music in Greece.

Talia also won the prestigious Klon Award for young composers granted by the Israeli Composers League in 2012.

Most recently, Talia's string quartet “Obsession” has been selected by Maestro Lorin Maazel to be featured in the 2014 Castleton Festival.

Her compositions have been performed in France, Sydney (Australia), Berlin, USA, London, Greece and Israel by ensembles such as: Lydian String Quartet, North-South Consonance, Meitar Ensemble, Les Cris de Paris, Ensemble Recherche du Midi, and Uroboros Ensemble. Various works have also been performed by ensembles at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, including her Octet which was performed during the “Visible Sounds Congress” in Jerusalem.

As a pianist, Talia has performed as soloist in Israel, France and USA with the following orchestras: Lamoureux Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Raanana Symphonette Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, and Rishon Letsion Orchestra.