• 18 Jan 2025 Israel Contemporary Players, Nadav Lev - solo guitar Zucker Hall Tel Aviv

"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.

• 18 Sep 2024 Ensemble Reconsil, Conductor: Antanina Kalechyts REAKTOR Vienna

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

Echoes of Eíkosi (with Eíkosi meaning “twenty” in Greek) was written in 2023 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Meitar Ensemble, one of Israel’s leading groups for contemporary music. Though compact in length—just three minutes—the work is conceived as a miniature celebration, encapsulating the ensemble’s sound world and spirit in a series of tightly focused movements.

The piece unfolds in six short sections, each offering a different perspective on the ensemble’s identity. The acoustic instruments—winds, strings, and piano—present fragments of musical ideas: rhythmic gestures, lyrical lines, and sudden bursts of color. These are not isolated statements but are woven seamlessly together with an electronic layer that acts as both mirror and extension.

The electronic soundscape is constructed from recorded snippets of the ensemble members themselves, blended with additional electronic textures. In this way, the electronics become an echo of the players’ own voices—transformed, layered, and recombined into something both familiar and new. The result is a constantly shifting tapestry in which live performance and recorded memory blur into one another.

Although brief, Echoes of Eíkosi functions like a musical toast: six sparkling variations that acknowledge the ensemble’s past while pointing toward its future. It is a work that reflects on the passage of twenty years—not with nostalgia, but with energy, concision, and joy.

• 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.

• 7 Oct 2024 Goran Marinković, bassoon Cultural center “Parobrod” Belgrade Serbia and Montenegro
• 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

In Zen Buddhism, shoshin—“beginner’s mind”—describes an attitude of openness, curiosity, and freedom from preconceptions. It is a reminder to meet each experience as if for the first time, unclouded by habit or expectation.

This philosophy guided both the conception and the listening of Shoshin. The instrumentation itself—saxophone, electric guitar, and cello—is an unconventional trio that bridges distinct musical worlds: the breath and immediacy of the saxophone, the amplified resonance and versatility of the electric guitar, and the rich, organic depth of the cello. Each instrument brings its own character and tradition, yet here they meet on equal footing, weaving textures and dialogues that defy stylistic boundaries.

The work unfolds in six movements, each a self-contained sound world with its own mood and energy. Together, they invite a continual rediscovery—moment by moment, note by note—mirroring the essence of shoshin.

• 29 Jul 2025 Ensemble SEV Studio Annette 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

Ma Lecha Nirdam? (What Makes You Sleep?) sets five lines from the piyyut “Ben Adam Ma Lecha Nirdam” by Yehuda Ibn Balaam (Seville, 11th century). Drawn from the Book of Jonah’s account of a sailor sleeping through a storm, the text asks why one remains passive in the face of danger—a question that resonates today, from environmental crisis to civic responsibility.

The work opens in a hushed instrumental space: bass recorder, muted strings, and gentle percussion create a cool, restrained soundworld, coloured by non-vibrato and soft articulations. When the voice enters, it is multiplied into several overlapping lines—each recorded by Etty Ben-Zaken—so that a single timbre becomes an intimate choir. This layered voice alternates between urgency and quiet reflection, shaping the piyyut’s questions into waves of sound.

The instruments respond and comment: the recorder’s tone sometimes shadows the melody and sometimes weaves a counter-line; the guitar moves between harmonics, plucked notes, and soft strumming; cello and bass provide a resonant foundation; percussion appears sparingly as punctuation rather than pulse. Later, a small recorder ensemble joins, adding a bright, breathy colour before the music retreats into stillness.

The result is a compact, seven-minute work that draws its power from restraint, clarity, and the interplay between a solo voice—at once singular and multiplied—and finely balanced instrumental textures.

“Beyond the Dust of the World” takes its inspiration from a Zen saying that encourages looking deeply into things, undistracted by the noise and chaos of the world. The work began during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when I personally struggled to focus amidst the overwhelming distractions of that period.

Scored for a classical “Mozart-style” orchestra—featuring two oboes, two horns, two bassoons, and strings—the piece creates a textured soundscape through the interplay of small musical fragments. These fragments are echoed and repeated across various instruments, not in perfect unison but slightly offset, forming a shimmering “cloud” of sound. This sonic haze blurs the individual details, allowing the textures to merge into a cohesive whole.

Within this evolving sound world, melodies and harmonies emerge and intertwine. The focus shifts between instruments, particularly within the winds, creating dynamic points of attention. All of this is built upon a single tone series, presented in diverse forms and transformations throughout the piece.

At its core, this composition seeks to craft a sense of abstract drama. My aim as the composer is to guide the listener through a narrative journey—one that is simultaneously structured and open to interpretation—leading them safely from the first note to the last.

• 24 Dec 2024 Tel Aviv soloists האולם המרכזי שדה בוקר
• 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

Asara is a ten-minute chamber work written for ten players — flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello, and contrabass. The Hebrew title, meaning “ten,” points both to the ensemble’s size and to the balance of distinct voices within a compact frame.

The piece begins almost in suspension, with quiet, sustained tones and delicate gestures passed between winds, strings, and piano. The sense is one of listening inward, as if each instrument is cautiously carving out its own space. Gradually, more defined rhythmic patterns emerge, articulated by percussion and piano, and the ensemble starts to move in waves — sometimes converging in sharp tutti bursts, sometimes breaking into smaller groups where textures remain transparent and airy.

Much of the drama lies in contrast: spare, luminous passages where individual lines hover in isolation give way to denser episodes full of rhythmic drive and layered counterpoint. The shifts feel organic, as though each sound triggers the next, creating a continuous chain of transformations.

Rather than building toward a single, climactic point, Asara unfolds as a series of alternating energies — lyrical fragments, sudden interruptions, tightly woven rhythmic cells, and moments of near-stillness. At times the ensemble feels like ten independent voices in conversation; at others, it fuses into a strikingly unified sonority. The overall impression is of a work that is concise yet expansive, exploring how ten musicians can create both intimacy and power within a short span of time.

The world premiere took place at the Budapest Music Center in October 2020, performed by the UMZE Chamber Ensemble with Gergely Vajda conducting. Since then, Asara has been presented by the Israel Contemporary Players under Ilan Volkov in Tel Aviv (2021) and by UMZE at the ISCM World New Music Days in Johannesburg (2023).

• 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

Opus Focus unfolds in three interconnected movements, performed without pause. Each movement places the spotlight on a different instrument: the first centers on the shimmering resonance of the vibraphone, the second on the rhythmic drive of the drums, and the third on the interplay between xylophone and bowed vibraphone.

A live computer part acts as both partner and provocateur—capturing the performer’s sounds and replaying them at chosen moments, while also processing the audio in real time. These transformations are projected through four speakers placed around the hall, creating an immersive, shifting sonic space. The result is a performance in which every nuance of the player’s execution shapes the evolving soundscape.

Composed for and dedicated to Oded Geizhals, Opus Focus explores the meeting point between precision performance and responsive technology.

• 15 May 2025 Oded Geizhals - perc. Amos Elkana - electronics Building 1005, The Marcus & Ann Rosenberd music building
• 15 May 2018 Oded Geizhals - Percussion Haifa University

• 29 May 2018 Israel Conservatory of Music Tel Aviv

“The next witness was the Duchess’s cook. She carried the pepper-box in her hand, and Alice guessed who it was, even before she got into the court, by the way the people near the door began sneezing all at once.”
— Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

…before she got into the court… (2017) is a 17-minute concerto for solo violin and chamber orchestra. Its title and epigraph, taken from Alice in Wonderland, fix the music in a moment of expectancy—“before” the commotion, when the air is tense and everyone seems to be holding their breath. The score opens in the softest dynamic, with sustained, carefully balanced lines, while the solo violin speaks in a hushed, tenuto, non-vibrato voice. Across the piece, color is shaped by glissandi that swell briefly before settling back to quiet, by con sordino strings and winds, sul IV writing for the soloist, and muted brass (including bucket mute) that shade the harmony from within.

Percussion enters as a kind of punctuation rather than driving pulse: marimba and vibraphone blend with the strings; chimes (played with hard mallets and released after each strike) mark turning points; and a late, unmistakable opera gong with slow glissando sounds like a threshold being crossed. After long spans of restraint, the music gathers into forceful tutti outbursts—brief, concentrated peaks—before it recedes again into a more rarefied register.

An unusual, theatrical turn occurs in the third major section: one of the orchestra’s violinists stands and joins the soloist at the front of the stage. The two launch into a virtuosic, rapid-fire dialogue, their lines weaving in and out of each other in close proximity. This playful confrontation briefly dissolves the traditional boundary between soloist and ensemble, turning the spotlight into a shared, charged exchange before the focus returns to the full group.

The concerto remains virtuosic in its demands but resists display for its own sake: the solo line is woven through the ensemble, often as a color among colors, so that presence and distance continually trade places—like a figure glimpsed just before entering the court.

• 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

Cembalo Fractals is an arrangement of my earlier work Piano Fractals, re-imagined for harpsichord and recorded by Hagai Yodan for my album Gefunden. The piece unfolds in four independent miniatures, each exploring the principle of fractals—patterns that recur at progressively smaller scales—through the unique sound world of the harpsichord.

My approach was inspired by two interconnected ideas: the structural hierarchy of a book, from letters to chapters, and the fractal principle of recurring patterns. In this work, a basic unit of duration functions like a “letter,” gradually combining into larger phrases and sections, much like words, sentences, and chapters.

The composition relies on a meticulous organization of pitch and rhythm: numbers determine durations and groupings, while a tone matrix provides the framework for pitch material. These systems generate coherence and connectivity across the miniatures, while the harpsichord’s distinctive resonance and articulation bring new clarity and character to the fractal structures.

Inspired by Ann Lauterbach’s poem “Midsummer Night,” this piece stages a dialogue between language and sound across three interwoven sources: the cellist performing onstage; the same cello captured and transformed in real time; and a recorded reading of the poem by the poet herself, diffused through a ring of loudspeakers around the audience. The result is an immersive, spatial tapestry in which speech, resonance, and memory circulate and refract.

Lauterbach—an American poet and essayist whose work is noted for its lyrical clarity and associative thought—has been recognized with major honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship and a National Book Award nomination. Her presence here is both literal (the voice) and structural: the poem’s shifting vantage points become cues for the music’s own shifts in register, color, and proximity.

The cellist’s interpretation is not only heard but also shapes the electronic response, as gesture, bow pressure, and timbre trigger evolving transformations that move through the four speakers to re-situate the instrument in space. Listeners are invited to let meanings remain fluid: to hear text as tone, tone as echo, and the room itself as a chamber where language becomes sound—and sound, briefly, becomes a kind of thought.

I composed Tripp in 2016, commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University for the Meitar Ensemble. It was premiered by Meitar in Tel Aviv on October 29, 2016.

As in many of my works, the piece is built on a fractal number series that determines its form and proportions. Fractals fascinate me because they embody self-similarity: the same relationships exist whether one looks at the whole or zooms into the smallest detail. In Tripp, this principle creates a structure where micro and macro levels resonate with one another.

The title came about almost by chance. While searching for a name, I typed the number series into Google and discovered it was the ZIP code of a small town in South Dakota called Tripp. I liked the coincidence and adopted it as the piece’s title—a playful link between abstract mathematics and a real place.

Since its premiere, Tripp has traveled widely. Meitar Ensemble has performed it in Israel, Europe, and North America, with highlights including concerts at the Venice Biennale, Florida State University, Guanajuato, Salzburg, Vienna, Graz, Tel Aviv, and New York City. It has also been performed by Ensemble Oktopus with Konstantia Gourzi in Munich, and by the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble in Moscow and Kazan.

The piece was recorded on my album Tripp by the Meitar Ensemble under the direction of Konstantia Gourzi. In her reflections on working with the score, she compared the music to the diary of a traveler whose journey is filled with vivid and exciting experiences. For her, studying the piece was itself a journey through shifting rhythms, themes, and phrases along a clearly determined path. Though complex, she felt this path was always guided by an authentic musical language — one that she described as fine, sensitive, fragile, and pictorial. Her words capture what I also hope to convey in the work: a sense of exploration, curiosity, and discovery within a precisely shaped musical landscape.

• 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 I composed in 2015, commissioned by the Israel Symphony Orchestra. It was premiered by them on July 21, 2016, with Amit Dolberg at the piano and Sascha Goetzel conducting.

My approach to composing begins like that of an architect sketching the outline of a new house before filling in the details. I start by defining a structure, dividing a specific time frame into sections and subsections. This structural outline is built upon the mathematical principle of fractals, which incorporates the concepts of self-similarity and recursion. I have used this method since 2003, applying the same algorithm, though the specific numbers vary with each composition. Once the outline is set, I begin adding sound to give the form life and meaning. In my instrumental music, there are no extra-musical motivations—each sound is there because of the sound that came before it or after it.

The title for this piece, "...with purity and light...", comes from a poem by Rumi. I found it after searching through texts close to my heart, looking for a phrase that met a very specific set of criteria: four words, with the first being four letters long, the second six letters, the third three, and the fourth five. These numbers reflect the time-fractal ratios I used in the composition—4, 6, 3, and 5.

The drum of the realization of the promise is beating,
We are sweeping the road to the sky.
Your joy is here today, what remains for tomorrow?
The armies of the day have chased the army of the night,
Heaven and earth are filled with purity and light.
Oh! joy for he who has escaped from this world of perfumes and color!
For beyond these colors and these perfumes, there are other colors in the heart and the soul.
Oh! joy for this soul and this heart who have escaped the earth of water and clay,
Although this water and this clay contain the hearth of the philosophical stone.

In this piece, I sought to embody the purity and light Rumi speaks of, infusing both the structure and the sound with this sense of transcendence and clarity.

As Professor Oded Zehavi of Opus Magazine noted in his review, the concerto's world premiere "moved me and awakened in me many thoughts. It is a wise piece, complicated and very communicative." Zehavi goes on to commend the work’s originality and the orchestration’s depth, calling it "one of the best that I have heard" and likening it to the works of Ravel and Messiaen, while acknowledging its distinctiveness. He praised the rich, gripping tones produced by the orchestra, as well as the surprising melodic lines that serve the aesthetic and expressive goals of the piece.

Elkana’s orchestration, according to Zehavi, is "original, deep and thought provoking," creating "spectacular sound combinations" that fully realize the piece's expressive aims. The choice of sounds was critical in capturing the work’s emotional resonance, which, for Zehavi, “vaguely communicates” with other great works of contemporary music but stands as an original and fascinating creation in its own right.

This feedback reflects my intention behind the piece: to craft a work that engages both intellectually and emotionally, inviting listeners to experience a profound, layered exploration of sound, structure, and meaning.

• 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

— Jimi Hendrix, “Room Full of Mirrors”

Reflections is a work for violin and computer. The computer behaves like a mirror: it continuously records the violin and then plays those recordings back at later moments in the piece. These playbacks are precisely placed, not random, so lines the violinist has just played reappear in other places—sometimes creating a multiplicity of voices where it’s hard to tell live sound from playback (the sound is only rarely processed). At points the texture feels like an ensemble of violins. The effect relies on the performer’s accuracy and focus, as timing and clarity determine how the reflections align.

The idea resonates with the epigraph from Jimi Hendrix’s Room Full of Mirrors, where breaking the mirrors opens the world beyond the self. Here, the “mirror” listens and answers, turning one instrument into many and expanding the soloist’s line into a shifting, communal space.

An extraordinary video by Yoel Culiner accompanies the work, focusing with extreme close-ups on the violin and the hands of Yael Barolsky. The camera’s intimate movement mirrors the piece’s sonic reflections, drawing the viewer deep into the physical and visual detail of performance.

Reflections was released on Yael Barolsky’s CD Meanderings

• 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

This work takes inspiration from Harold Pinter’s unsettling and still-relevant play New World Order. The text, translated into Hebrew and recorded by two male voices, emanates from speakers on stage, setting the scene with an atmosphere of menace and control.

A silent performer responds to the recorded dialogue solely through physical gestures and movement. Every sound produced on stage — footsteps, breath, motion — is captured by an overhead microphone, processed in real time by computer, and diffused through the loudspeakers. The result is an interplay of theater, sound, and technology, where human fragility confronts systems of power.

• 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

I originally composed Laconic Pentatonic for young saxophone players, with the aim of creating a short work that would be engaging to play without being overly difficult. The result is a compact, energetic piece—fun, groovy, and concise—that still makes a complete musical statement despite its brevity.

In March 2018 I had the privilege of recording the work with the outstanding Tel Aviv Saxophone Quartet, thanks to the Israel Composers’ League. After the formal session, we found ourselves with half an hour of studio time left. I suggested that the quartet improvise freely on the first theme—which I described as lying “somewhere between Coltrane and Lachenmann”—and asked Yaron Aldema to keep the microphones running. The improvisation was so inspired that I decided to incorporate it into the piece as an ad libitum section, making spontaneity and freedom an integral part of the work’s identity.

• 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

After Hamlet is a collaborative reimagining of Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy, created with Sommer Ulrickson and Alexander Polzin. Rather than serving as a sequel, the work distills the essence of Hamlet and reframes its central theme: revenge.

We were particularly drawn to how vengeance—whether in Shakespeare’s time or our own—creates an unstoppable chain of retaliation. In the play, one ghost’s demand for justice sets Hamlet on a path that leads to nine more wrongful deaths. By the same logic, those victims too would become ghosts, each demanding their own revenge, and so the cycle continues without end.

After Hamlet blends fragments of Shakespeare’s text with newly written material, creating a dialogue between the original and our contemporary reflections. The staging includes multiple Hamlets, Ophelias, and Horatios, each embodying different facets of the story’s emotional and psychological landscape. Themes of death, fear, sexual tension, and haunting presences are interwoven with music, movement, and visual design to offer audiences a layered, politically resonant experience.

As director Sommer Ulrickson put it, “It’s almost a collaboration with Shakespeare… developing responses to the original work and exploring the consequences of taking revenge.”

• 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

In 2008, my friend, the sculptor Alexander Polzin, invited me to compose a new work for the unveiling of his sculpture of Giordano Bruno in Berlin. In preparing for the piece, I immersed myself in Bruno’s writings and life, searching for a personal connection.

Bruno greatly admired the Maharal of Prague and longed to meet him. Though no historical record confirms such an encounter, both men were in Prague in 1588, making it possible. John Crowley’s novel Endless Things imagines this very meeting. My own family tree added a surprising dimension: I discovered that I am a direct descendant of the Maharal, whose lineage in my family reaches back to 1392.

This composition is inspired by that imagined — or perhaps real — meeting between Bruno and the Maharal.

• 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

The High Command (2007) is a site-specific electroacoustic composition created for the former communications room of a historic building on Lilenblum Street in Tel Aviv. For decades, this building concealed the secret headquarters of the Haganah high command — the underground military organization that laid the foundations for Israel’s defense forces.

In 2007, before planned renovations, the building was temporarily entrusted to artist and curator Hadas Kedar, who invited several artists to create works responding to its charged spaces. I was given the communications room, a small, austere chamber once used to transmit orders and relay information.

For this piece, I worked with recordings of historic Haganah leaflets and other archival sounds, processing and layering them with electronics to evoke the atmosphere of covert operations, urgency, and encoded messages. The composition was diffused through hidden speakers, immersing visitors in a sound world where fragments of the past whispered through the abandoned room.

The High Command was first installed October 4–31, 2007 as part of the High Command exhibition in Tel Aviv.

• 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

I wrote my second string quartet in 2004 as a gift for my father’s 70th birthday. The piece is in five movements played without pause. Each of the first four has its own distinct character, atmosphere, and structure, yet they are connected through recurring motives that appear in varied forms across the movements. The fifth serves as a summation, weaving together themes and gestures from the earlier parts, sometimes simultaneously, so that the quartet becomes a layered dialogue with itself.

The work was composed using a method I devised, inspired by the mathematics of fractals. In nature, fractals appear in coastlines, snowflakes, leaf veins, and blood vessels—forms in which the same pattern recurs at different levels of scale. I sought to translate this principle into music by working with number sequences that shape durations on multiple levels: from single notes to entire movements. For this quartet the guiding sequence is 4–5–3–5–4, and it governs both the large-scale structure and the smallest musical cells. This approach gives the piece a strong internal coherence, though the rhythmic division is intricate and demands extreme concentration and accuracy from the players.

As Prof. Ruth HaCohen has noted, string quartets have long been a forum for experimentation, and this work continues that tradition. In String Quartet No. 2, “rigorous predefined forms grant liberty for the music to flow into them.” The fractal-based method creates thick networks of connections between the micro and macro levels of the composition. Yet calculation is only one side of the process: each movement also has its own expressive identity. The opening presents a solemn fugal theme interrupted by sudden homophonic outbursts, establishing a dramatic tension that drives the music forward. The second movement sustains long, serene sonorities while accommodating bursts of restless figuration. The brief third movement is scherzo-like and spectral, full of sul ponticello and bow effects. The fourth recalls earlier material in an elegiac mood, evoking a yearning tone reminiscent of Beethoven’s Heiliger Dankgesang. The finale gathers all these strands together in a rondo-like form, offering a playful yet comprehensive recapitulation of the quartet’s journey.

Despite its rigor, the piece is not about systems for their own sake. Rather, the fractal method provides a framework that allows intuitive expression to flourish. Within this structure, the quartet becomes an exploration of transformation, memory, and renewal—a musical gift, and a personal homage to my father.

• 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 1970s and 80s, a city where Jews and Muslims lived side by side. Hebrew was my mother tongue, but Arabic was everywhere—spoken by Palestinians as well as by the parents and grandparents of many of my closest friends who had immigrated from Iraq, Kurdistan, Morocco, and Syria. At the same time, my grandmother, who had fled Berlin in the 1930s, often spoke to us in Hebrew laced with German words, and sang us German lullabies. These three languages—Hebrew, Arabic, and German—shaped my childhood. Even though I speak Arabic and German only imperfectly, their sounds and the cultures they embody are deeply ingrained in me.

Arabic Lessons is a song cycle of 13 poems written by Michael Roes. Roes composed the poems in Arabic and later retranslated them into German. The late Professor Sasson Somekh of Tel Aviv University translated them into Hebrew. In my musical setting, these three languages coexist and often overlap: some songs are sung simultaneously in Arabic, Hebrew, and German. This multilingual layering is at the heart of the work, reflecting both tension and dialogue, estrangement and the possibility of listening.

The cycle is scored for three sopranos—each embodying one linguistic domain—together with a six-member ensemble of winds, strings, and percussion. Two purely instrumental movements frame and interrupt the sequence: the opening 4 Loops, and Canon for solo drum set. The entire work may be performed seamlessly in one arc of about 35 minutes, or as individual songs standing on their own.

From the outset, the piece juxtaposes differences while searching for connections. At times, the three voices move in counterpoint, at others in heterophony, echoing the common structures of Semitic languages or highlighting their incompatibility. Rhythmic patterns from the instruments—particularly saxophone, trumpet, and percussion—provide a charged, almost theatrical underpinning.

As Prof. Ruth HaCohen has written, the work stands at the intersection of my Middle Eastern roots and my German-Jewish heritage. The trilingual text is politically and emotionally fraught—Jews’ ambivalence toward German, Arabs’ and Israelis’ suspicions of each other’s languages—yet it also harbors hope: a space of reciprocal listening, of understanding through difference. The three sopranos carry this burden, sometimes separate, sometimes entwined, while the ensemble enriches and challenges their voices.

The result is a cycle that functions as a set of “lessons”—lessons not only in grammar and vocabulary, but in the act of listening across borders. In its cacophonous moments, it mirrors the tensions of Jerusalem, the city of my birth. In its fragile harmonies, it suggests the possibility of dialogue, of hearing the other not despite the difference, but through it.

• 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

Revadim—Hebrew for “strata”—was written for the Musica Nova Consort and premiered at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on February 6, 1995.

The instrumentation was chosen for two main reasons: it unites three distinct families of instruments—winds, strings, and keyboard/percussion—into a single ensemble, and it offers a particularly wide range of registers. This is further extended by the use of English horn and bass clarinet as doublings for the winds.

The work is cast in three movements played without pause. Although all three are drawn from the same musical material, each presents it from a radically different perspective, as though the listener is examining the same object under shifting lights. At its core, the piece explores processes of gradual transformation. Duration, register, dynamics, texture, and articulation all undergo continuous change, and as these strata shift, the relationships between musical elements are transformed, taking on new shapes and meanings.

The piece begins and ends on a single pitch—E—which acts as an axis around which the entire work evolves. The sound world is influenced by the micropolyphonic writing of György Ligeti, where dense textures and subtle movement create the sensation of layers unfolding and dissolving over time.

• 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