Israelis You Should Know: Avner Dorman

The Fellowship  |  April 21, 2017

Name: Avner Dorman

Age: 42

Known for: Avner Dorman is an Israeli composer and conductor.

About him: Born in 1975 in Tel Aviv, Dorman received his master’s degree in Israel before earning his Doctorate in Music Composition at the Juilliard School in the U.S.

At age 25, he became the youngest composer to win Israel’s Prime Minister’s Award. He has also received the ACUM Prize from the Israeli performing rights society for his Ellef Symphony, and was named “Composer of the Year” in 2002 by Israel’s second largest newspaper, Ma’ariv.

Dorman’s Variations Without a Theme was premiered in Israel by Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003, winning the 2004 Best Composition of the Year award. This led to Mehta commissioning the above classical concerto – Spices, Perfumes, Toxins! – as seen above, performed by PercaDu and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

His works having been performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dorman is currently professor of theory and composition at Gettysburg College. Since 2008, he has also been an Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation (IcExcellence) chosen artist, one of the Jewish state’s highest recognitions for excellence in the arts.

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