March 17 , 2008

Menachem Zur, composer

Menachem Zur was born in Israel in 1942. Composer of over 100 works, including chamber, vocal, symphonic, and electronic music, and a full-scale opera, he was awarded the ACUM prize for life-achievements (Israeli ASCAP) and the Prime Minister's prize for composition in 2001. He also won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1981, and many other commissions and awards. His works have been published in the USA and in Israel, and his orchestral works received numerous performances by the Israel Philharmonic and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestras.

Menachem Zur is a professor of theory and composition at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He also taught at Queens College, CUNY, and New York University. In 1992–94 and 2000–3 he served as Chairperson of the Israel League of Composers. He is a graduate of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and studied in the United States at the Mannes College of Music, Sarah Lawrence College, and Columbia University, where he was awarded a DMA in Composition in 1976.