Noam Ben-Zeev (; born 1954) is an Israeli music critic and journalist, educator and lecturer, active in the music scene in Israel since the beginning of the 1990s.

Music journalism

Ben-Zeev was the music critic and music journalist of ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' daily newspaper from January 1992 (member of the editorial staff since 1996), until November 2015. During that time he had published more than 5000 articles, reviews, columns, editorials, news items and interviews. In his journalistic writing, he concentrates on 20th Century and contemporary music, the sociological aspects of music, music education, and Israeli and

Jewish music Jewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish people. There exist both traditions of religious music, as sung at the synagogue and in domestic prayers, and of secular music, such as klezmer. While some elements of Jewish music may origina ...

. He has traveled and reported from

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and

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

. In November 2015, after resigning ''Haaretz'', Ben-Zeev was appointed Musical Director at Elma Arts Center, Zichron Yaakov, Israel.

Teaching, writings, films

Since 1990 he has been teaching music history and music education in various schools, among them Alon High School for the Arts and Sciences (1990–2006), the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

, and Levinsky College of Music. Since 2011 he is a music lecturer at Sapir Academic College. In addition to his ''Haaretz'' publications he has written three books: a concise textbook on the history of music called ''Five Glances at Music'' (1998, Sal Tarbut Artzi); ''An Israeli Tune'' (Hebrew "Mangina Yisraelit", 2009, Hakibbutz Hamehuchad publishing house), on music, politics and society in Israel and Palestine; and "The Concertmaster" (2015), the biography of violinist and teacher Chaim Taub. He cooperated with director Reuven Hecker as a musical advisor on two documentary films about music: ''Luciano Berio'' (2000; 59 min., video), a portrait of the late contemporary Italian composer

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental music, experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia (Berio), Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Seque ...

(1925–2003), shot throughout Italy and at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

; and ''Go in Peace, Rain'' (2007; Hebrew: ''Lekh Leshalom Geshem''; 90 min., video), a film which follows an ancient Jewish liturgical melody and thus reflects a diminishing musical culture of

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

Synagogue music Temple origins The earliest synagogal music was based on the same system as that used in the Temple in Jerusalem. According to the Talmud, Joshua ben Hananiah, who had served in the sanctuary Levitical choir, told how the choristers went to ...

. This film was shot throughout Spain, France, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, England, the Netherlands, and Italy. Noam Ben-Zeev has translated to Hebrew the novel ''Lord Jim'' by Joseph Conrad. It was published by Modan Publishing House in July 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Zeev, Noam 1954 births Living people Israeli journalists Israeli music critics Haaretz people Tel Aviv University alumni

Music journalism

Teaching, writings, films

External links

References