Giora Bernstein (; born 1933) is a conductor, classical violinist, and

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

of Music at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

.International Leo Kestenberg Society He was the founder of the Colorado Music Festival and its Artistic Director for 24 years.

Biography

Giora Bernstein was born in Vienna in 1933 and emigrated to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

(now Israel) in 1938, arriving there in 1939. He began his music education in Israel, where he studied violin from 1953 to 1955 at the Tel Aviv Music Academy, as well as music history with

Leo Kestenberg Leo Kestenberg (27 November 1882 – 13 January 1962) was a German-Israeli classical pianist, music educator, and cultural politician. Working for the government in Prussia from 1918, he began a large-scale reform of music education (''Kesten ...

. In 1955, he went to the United States, where he studied violin with Edouard Dethier at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

, and later received a Master of Fine Arts in composition from

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

. He went on to study for his Doctorate in Music at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, graduating in 1967. His

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

thesis was on the influence of oriental music idioms on Israeli contemporary music. Bernstein was a violinist with the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...

from 1963 until 1967 and then moved to California to become a professor at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

. During his time at Pomona College, he founded the Claremont Music Festival and served as its Music Director from 1968 to 1975. In 1975, Bernstein was appointed Professor of Music and head of the

conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or Choir, choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary d ...

program at the

. The following year, he founded the Colorado Music Festival and became its first Artistic Director, a post he held until 2000. Under his directorship the festival was the venue for several world and North American premieres, and won five

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

Adventurous Programming Awards. A champion of contemporary music, Bernstein has played in or conducted several world premieres. New works were a feature of his programming at both the Claremont Music Festival which originally commissioned Paul Chihara's ''Grass'', and the Colorado Music Festival, where both

Tōru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental phil ...

's ''Dreamtime'' and

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include '' Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', '' ...

's ''Concerto for viola and orchestra'' received their North American premieres. Since his retirement, Giora Bernstein has been based in Vienna, where he plays violin in chamber concerts, although he has periodically returned to the Colorado Music Festival as a guest conductor.

Premieres

Giora Bernstein has played in or conducted the world premieres of the following works: *Peter Pindar Stearns' ''String Quartet No. 3 in A minor'' (Giora Bernstein and Sheila Manuel, violins; Jesse Levine, viola; Joanne Manuel, cello),

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, 21 February 1958.Sigma Alpha Iota (1958) p. 72 *John Bavicchi's ''Sonata for violin and piano No. 2'' (Giora Bernstein, violin; George Zilzer, piano)

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, 26 July 1959 *Malloy M. Miller's ''Poem'' (Giora Bernstein, violin; George Zilzer, piano)

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...

, 16 November 1960 * William Thomas McKinley's ''Concerto for clarinet and orchestra'' (

Richard Stoltzman Richard Leslie Stoltzman (born July 12, 1942) is an American clarinetist. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he spent his early years in San Francisco, California, and Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating from Woodward High School in 1960. Today, Stoltzman is pa ...

, clarinet; Colorado Music Festival Orchestra; Giora Bernstein, conductor)

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

, 5 July 1980

References

Sources

* Boston Symphony Orchestra, ''Concert Bulletins'', Issues 1-12, 1963 *Blotner, Linda Solow
''The Boston Composers Project: A bibliography of contemporary music''
MIT Press, 1983. * Bernstein, Giora G.
''The influence of oriental music idioms on the contemporary music of Israel''
Boston University, 1966. * Chihara, Paul
Liner notes: ''Chihara Guitar Concerto''
Albany Records, 2005 (accessed 13 December 2009) * International Leo Kestenberg Society
Biography: Giora Bernstein
(accessed 13 December 2009) * Siddons, James
''Toru Takemitsu: a bio-bibliography''
Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. *

Sigma Alpha Iota Sigma Alpha Iota () is an international music fraternity. It was established in 1903 at the University School of Music in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sigma Alpha Iota is a member of the National Interfraternity Music Council and the Professional Frater ...

, ''Pan Pipes'', Volume 50, Issue 2, 1958 * Shulgold, Marc
20 Years of High Notes, Giora Bernstein Ignores Naysayers to Build the Award-winning Colorado Music Festival
''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. the Monday–Friday ...

'', 12 June 1996 (accessed 13 December 2009 via subscription) * Shulgold, Marc
"Building a better fest"
''Rocky Mountain News'', 22 June 2006 (accessed 13 December 2009) * University of Colorado at Boulder

(accessed 13 December 2009) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstein, Giora Jewish classical musicians Israeli classical violinists Austrian classical violinists Male classical violinists Israeli conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to Mandatory Palestine Musicians from Vienna 1933 births Living people 21st-century Austrian conductors (music) 21st-century classical violinists 21st-century male musicians Pomona College faculty