About

“Classical music doesn’t get better than this” declares the NY Times about Guggenheim Fellow Tamar Muskal’s music. Born and raised in Israel and currently living in the United States, Muskal composes music which harmonizes the unique cultural aspects of both places. Her music is shaped around contrapuntal interaction, carefully structured and with great attention for details.

Muskal’s music has been performed by the Jerusalem Symphony, Westchester Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Richard Stolzman, Borromeo String Quartet, Colorado String Quartet, Steve Schick, Music From Copland House, Eighth Blackbird, Ethos Percussion Group, and many others.

A strong interest for incorporating interactive art into her composition has led to multiple collaborations with artist Daniel Rozin; together they created Mirrors, a piece for Eighth Blackbird with interactive digital and live videos; Facing the Automaton, a concerto for Steve Schick and the La Jolla SummerFest players for solo percussion, interactive kinetic sculpture and ensemble; and they are currently working on a piece for solo soprano, interactive kinetic sculpture and orchestra for the American Composers Orchestra.

From 2002-2005 Muskal was Composer-in-Residence of the education division with the Westchester Philharmonic. In that capacity she wrote pieces for narrator and orchestra based on poems and drawings by kids from Westchester schools.

Muskal is also active as a film composer. She writes music for historic black and white silent films and documentaries. Her music is featured in DVD collections of historic films by women, including The Sewer, La Glu, and Falling Leaves, released by Kino Classics.

A recipient of various awards and grants, Muskal has been honored with the Charles Ives Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, and four awards from Yale School of Music, among others; and grants from numerous organizations including the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University, Opera America, Jerome Foundation, Meet the Composer, New Music USA, ASCAP and the American Composers Forum. Her work The Yellow Wind for Israeli and Palestinian vocalists, solo ney, narrator, and orchestra was nominated for a Pulitzer prize in 2015.

Recent and future commissions and collaborations include an opera with director-librettist Daniel Kramer (former artistic director of the English National Opera), a flute concerto for the Symphonova, incidental music for a play directed by Elena Araoz, an oratorio with the Israeli librettist Michael Gurevitch, and music for a graphic novel by Stavit Allweis.

Tamar attended the Yale School of Music, the city University of New York and the Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance.

A selection of Critical Praise of Muskal’s music:

[Muskal’s] Frederic Variations “…as I listened to the pianist Benjamin Hochman’s sensitive, exciting renditions of four contemporary works that explore the form of theme and variation (including one premiere), I kept thinking that classical music doesn’t get better than this.”

                      (Anthony Tommasini, New York Times)

“Tamar Muskal finds musical opportunity in artist Daniel Rozin’s interactive sculpture, resulting in dynamic display and performance at La Jolla Music Society concert.”

(Christian Hertzog, The Sun Diego Union-Tribune)

“Tamar Muskal’s composition, Shout, contrasted strident and biting clarinet tones with mellow ostinato marimba parts showing each player’s mastery of their instrument. The piece, while highlighting Stolzman’s technical prowess culminating with a dramatic cadenza, blossomed from Yoshida’s unflagging support as an accompanist and foil for her partner.”

                           (Andy McDonough, NJJazzList.com)

[Muskal’s] Fur Elisa “…the music bubbled in tranquil lines and spurted in brash gestures, slipping fitfully among harmonic centers like a bar of soap sliding through wet fingers.”

                                     (Steve Smith, New York Times)

[Muskal’s] Mirrors “…the ripples and shimmers that filled Muskal’s post-minimalist score were as evanescent as swirling, digitized visuals – dissolving into one another with kaleidoscopic beauty. Mirrors is high-tech music theater at its most inventive and fascinating.”

                             (John Von Rhein, Chicago Tribune)

[Muskal’s] Dmamah “…this is a sort of evocative program music… The piece is full of appealing elements: a rich harmonic sense, passages of driving intensity, and inventive texture like the combined flute and cello harmonics over heavy piano chords near the work’s end.”

 (Benjamin Frandzel, San Francisco Classical Voice)

[Muskal’s] Altitudes “…the piece is uncompromising but arresting.”

                             (James A. Jerritt, Richmond Times)