Tamar Muskal (; born 1965) is an Israeli-American composer. She received a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

nomination for her 2005 piece ''The Yellow Wind''. She was composer-in-residence for the

Westchester Philharmonic The Westchester Philharmonic is a professional symphony orchestra based in Westchester County, New York, United States. The orchestra performs in the concert hall of the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College. The orchestra was founded in 19 ...

and is a 2009

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

Biography

Tamar Muskal was born in Jerusalem in 1965 and obtained her BA from the

Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (), is a school for the music and the performing arts in Jerusalem. It is located on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. History The Jerusalem Conservatory of Music was founded in ...

. She and her husband emigrated to the United States, where she went on to do her master studies at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

. Her teachers include

Mark Kopytman Mark Kopytman (; December 6, 1929 – December 16, 2011) was a composer, musicologist and pedagogue. He was a professor and a rector of the Rubin Academy (Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance), and a Laureate of the Serge Koussevitzky Prize for his ...

Martin Bresnick Martin Bresnick (born 1946) is a composer of contemporary classical music, film scores and experimental music. Education and early career Bresnick grew up in the Bronx, and is a graduate of New York City's specialized High School of Music and A ...

Jacob Druckman Jacob Raphael Druckman (June 26, 1928 – May 24, 1996) was an American composer born in Philadelphia. Life A graduate of the Juilliard School in 1956, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 an ...

Ezra Laderman Ezra Laderman (29 June 1924 – 28 February 2015) was an American composer of classical music. He was born in Brooklyn. Biography Laderman was of Jewish heritage. His parents, Isidor and Leah, both emigrated to the United States from Poland. Thou ...

, David Del Tredici,

Tania Leon Tania Leon, born Ruth Naomi Leon, (Wellington, May 4, 1945 – Nigtevecht, August 15, 1996) was a South African born teacher and women's activist. She was a member of the anti-apartheid movement in the Netherlands and of the Dutch unit of the ANC ...

, and Paul Lustig Dunkel. In 2005, she premiered ''The Yellow Wind'', her hour-long

commission themed after

Israel–Palestine relations Israel–Palestine relations refers to the political, security, economical and other relations between the State of Israel and the State of Palestine (as well as with the preceding Palestinian National Authority and earlier Palestine Liberation ...

, at the

State University of New York at Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, SUNY Purchase is one of 13 compr ...

Performing Arts Center;

Anne Midgette Anne Midgette (born June 22, 1965) is an American music critic who was the first woman to write classical music criticism regularly for ''The New York Times''. She was the chief classical music critic of ''The Washington Post'' from 2008 to 20 ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called it "a huge opener for a large-scale program". She also received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for ''The Yellow Wind''. When her piece ''Mirrors'', commissioned by Eighth Blackbird, was performed in Pittsburgh in February 2008, a ''

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'', also known as "the Trib", is the second-largest daily newspaper serving the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area of Western Pennsylvania. It transitioned to an all-digital format on December 1, 2016, but rema ...

'' review said that "music from Alfred Hitchcock's film '' Spellbound'' must have been playing in Muskal's mind when she wrote one section of this piece". She composed "Mar de Leche", the third track of

Maya Beiser Maya Beiser (born 31 December 1963) is an American musician, cellist, performing artist and Record producer, producer who lives in New York City. Beiser was raised on a kibbutz in Israel by her France, French mother and Argentina, Argentine father ...

's 2010 album ''Provenance''. She and Barbara Harbach provided original scores for a 2016 Women in Film & Television screening of some of

Alice Guy-Blaché Alice Ida Antoinette Guy-Blaché ( Guy; ; 1 July 1873 – 24 March 1968) was a French pioneer film director. She was one of the first filmmakers to make a Narrative film, narrative fiction film, as well as the first woman to direct a film. From ...

's silent films. She did the last tracks of the four-composer flute album ''Alive in the Studio''. She composed "Where Do We Belong? A Conversation with Bach" in the album ''New for Violin & Piano''; the ''American Record Guide'' said that "Muskal's intellectual conversation with Bach is palpable here". In 2017, she did a piece commemorating

Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth (; born Isabella Bomefree; November 26, 1883) was an American Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women's rights, and Temperance movement, alcohol temperance. Truth was ...

, commissioned by Close Encounters With Music. Another Close Encounters With Music commission, ''One Earth'', premiered in November 2022 after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She spent years as composer-in-residence for the

education program. In 2009, she was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

. As of 2001, Muskal was a resident of Manhattan. She holds dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her husband is artist Danny Rozin, with whom she collaborated for her Eighth Blackbird commission.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muskal, Tamar 1965 births Living people 21st-century Israeli women composers 21st-century Israeli classical composers Israeli women classical composers 21st-century American women composers 21st-century American classical composers American women classical composers Israeli emigrants to the United States Composers from Jerusalem Yale University alumni City University of New York alumni