![Chaya Czernowin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Chaya_Czernowin.jpg)
Chaya Czernowin (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: חיה צ'רנובין, ; born December 7, 1957) is an Israeli American composer, and Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
She is the lead composer at the Schloß Solitude Sommerakademie, a biannual international academy of composers and resident musicians at the landmark Schloß Solitude, in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
She is a 2011
Guggenheim Fellow
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
.
Education and early career
Czernowin was born in
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
, and raised in Israel. She studied in Israel, Germany, and in the United States. She also received fellowships to compose in Japan and in Germany. Czernowin studied at the Rubin Academy of music at
Tel-Aviv University
Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Loc ...
,
Bard College
Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...
, and received her
PhD from the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
in 1993. At
UCSD
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
, she studied with
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and ...
and
Roger Reynolds
Roger Lee Reynolds (born July 18, 1934) is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer. He is known for his capacity to integrate diverse ideas and resources, and for the seamless blending of traditional musical sounds with those newly enabled by t ...
.
Czernowin spent several years after her formal studies on residencies and fellowships in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. She was awarded the
Ernst von Siemens Music Composers' Prize in 2003.
From 1997–2006, she was professor of composition at
UCSD
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
, and between 2006–2009 she was professor of composition at the
University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna
The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817.
With a student body of over three thousa ...
.
Musical works
Early works
*''Dam Sheom Hachol''
Operas
*"opera without words," ''PNIMA...ins innere.'' (2000), premiered at the
Munich Biennale
The Munich Biennale (german: Münchener Biennale) is a contemporary opera and music theatre festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is ''Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater'', literally: International Festival for New Musi ...
*A companion to
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's
fragment, ''Adama/Zäide'' (2006)
*"Infinite Now" (2017), opera in six acts, premiered at the
Vlaamse Opera The Vlaamse Opera (Flemish Opera) is an opera company in Belgium directed by Jan Vandenhouwe which operates in two different opera houses in two Flemish cities, the Vlaamse Opera Antwerp at Van Ertbornstraat 8 and the Vlaamse Opera Ghent at Schouwbu ...
in
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...
*
Heart Chamber
The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...
, 2019, premiered at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet.
Since 2004, the De ...
.
Source:
Orchestra
* Birds for string orchestra (1984), 11'
* The hour glass bleeds still for string orchestra (1992, rev. 2002)
* Amber for large orchestra (1993), 18'
* Afatsim for mixed ensemble (1996), 10'
* Shu Hai in an orchestral setting for orchestra, female voice, and live electronics (2001), 30'
* Dam Sheon Hachol (the hourglass bleeds still) version for string orchestra (2002), 19'
* Maim (strange water, stolen water), triptych for large orchestra, tubax recorded and a quintet of soloists (oboe, tubax, electric guitar, piano, viola) (2001/2002), 18';
** I: maim zarim maim gnuvim (strange water stolen water) (2002);
** II: The memory of water (2006);
** III: mei mechaa (water of disent) (2005-2006)
Ensemble
* Afatsim for mixed ensemble (1996). Appears twice (see orchestra)
* Winter Songs I: Pending Light for live electronics and seven instruments (2002/2003), 12'
* Winter Songs II: Stones for seven instruments and three percussionists (2003), 12'
* Winter Songs III: Roots for live electronics, seven instruments and three percussionists (2003), 14'
* Excavated Dialogues Fragments for a mixed ensemble of Eastern and Western instruments (2003), 8‘
* Excavated Dialogues Fragments – Second version for a mixed ensemble of modern and Renaissance/Baroque instruments (2003, rev. 2005)
* Anea Crystal for Two String Quartets and an Octet (2008)
* Sheva for seven players, for tpt b trb 2 percussionists pno contra guitar and vcl (2008)
Concerto
* While Liquid Amber for three amplified piccolos (solo) and large orchestra (2000), 18'
Chamber music
* Ina for bass flute and pre-recorded flutes (1989), 12' – ED 9680
* LeArye for violin and 15 pre-recorded violins and violas (1990), 14'
* Dam Sheon Hachol (the hourglass bleeds still) for string sextet (1992), 18' – ED 9663
* A map of a recurrent dream for sho, u, live and pre-recorded Tape (1994), 17'
* Tris for percussion and pre recorded percussion (1993), 13'
* Die Kreuzung for accordion, alt saxsophone and bass (1994), 10' – ED 9684
* String Quartet (1995), 14'
* Drift (Sahaf) for saxophone (baritone and sopranino) or clarinet (Eb clarinet and bass clarinet), E-guitar, piano and percussion (timpano, marimba, 2 plastic triangle liners, bamboo wind chime, ocean drum, ratchet, snare drum) (2008)
Vocal music
* Manoalchadiya for bass flute and two female voices (1988), 13'
* Shu Hai Mitamen Behatalat Kidon (Shu Hai Practices Javalin) for solo female voice and recorded nine voices with live electronics (1996/1997), 30' – ED 9672
* Six Miniatures and a Simultaneous Song for mixed ensemble and a singer (1998), 13'
* Pilgerfahrten for narrator, boy's choir, and instrumental ensemble (2005/2006, rev. 2007)
Recent works
*''Winter Songs, Maim Zarim, Main Gnuvim''
Discography
Portrait CDs
References
Bibliography
* Gur, Golan. ''Czernowin, Chaya.'' In
''Bayerisches Musiker-Lexikon Online.''
* Seter, Ronit: ''Czernowin, Chaya.'' In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.'' vol. 6, 2nd. ed. Stanley Sadie, London 2001, pp. 823f.
External links
Art of the States: Chaya Czernowintwo works by the composer
"Separate Universes Coexisting: Chaya Czernowin’s Musical Artistry,"article in
The Forward
''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...
newspaper published October 20, 2010.
* (Crossroads)
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Czernowin, Chaya
Israeli composers
Israeli opera composers
Women classical composers
1957 births
Living people
People from Haifa
Tel Aviv University alumni
University of California, San Diego alumni
Bard College alumni
Harvard University faculty
Women opera composers
Ernst von Siemens Composers' Prize winners