Menachem Wiesenberg
Menachem Wiesenberg, composer, arranger, pianist and educator, is one of Israel’s most varied and acclaimed musicians.
Mr. Wiesenberg was signed as a composer with EMI Classics (now Sony).
He is the winner of the 2012 Prime Minister Prize for Composition, the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award in Composition granted by the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers in Israel (ACUM Ltd.), the 2008 Landau Prize for the Performing Arts in the Classical Composition category and the 1998 Prime Minister Prize for Composition. He was awarded the 1992 prize for outstanding achievement in the concert music field by ACUM Ltd. He was granted fellowships as composer in residence by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Bogliasco Foundation and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts.
Mr. Wiesenberg’s commissions and composers’ awards have been received from the Oregon Bach Festival, the Arts Council of England, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, the Lille Festival in France, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the University of Wisconsin, the Relache Ensemble in Philadelphia, the Council for Culture and Arts in Israel, the Tel-Aviv Foundation for Culture and Arts and the Arthur Rubinstein Foundation among many others.
His oeuvre covers a wide range of styles from orchestral, chamber and vocal works in the classical field to light music and jazz. His music has been performed in Germany, England, Austria, France, Spain, Ireland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Russia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Cyprus, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Columbia, Brazil, Japan and Taiwan. Performances of his orchestral music have been given by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Bremen Kammerphilharmonie, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Potsdam Kammerakademie Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra and every major symphony and chamber orchestra in Israel including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Camerata-Jerusalem, the Israel Chamber Orchestra and many, many more. His music has also been performed by ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic Strings Octet, the Jerusalem Quartet, The Borromeo Quartet, the Huberman Quartet, the Aviv Quartet, The Ariel Quartet, the Lumina Quartet, the Relache Ensemble, the Musica Nova Ensemble, the 21st Music Ensemble The Meitar Ensemble, and by well known soloists such as the German Violist Tabea Zimmerman, the American cellist Ron Leonard, the former principal clarinet player of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Conductor Karl Heinz Steffens, Israeli clarinet player Chen Halevi, Israeli violinist Hagai Shaham, cellists Hillel Zori and Zvi Plesser, oud player Taiseer Elias and singer Mira Zakai.
Mr. Wiesenberg has garnered renown for his arrangements of Israeli and Yiddish folk songs, and his interest in the folk music of his native land serves as a fundamental influence throughout all of his compositional activity. He has received a prize, together with the well known singer Mira Zakai, for performing Israeli music and in particular for his playing and arrangments in the CD “Song of Land.”
His music appears internationally on several CDs, distributed most notably under the EMI, Koch International and Live Classics labels. Performances of his music have received many broadcasts by Radio Cologne, Radio Bavaria, Radio Geneva, French International Radio and by the Israel Broadcasting Service.
He has performed as a soloist as well as chamber music pianist in Israel, Europe and America. In addition, Mr Wiesenberg, used to be also a professional jazz pianist performing with his jazz trio all over Israel. He was musical director and arranger for the well-known Israeli popular singer Chava Alberstein, with whom he issued two CDs and also performed as a pianist in numerous concerts.
Mr. Wiesenberg has given composition master classes and lectures in many academies in the States and in England; among them should be mentioned USC, the Harvard Music Department, the University of Oregon, the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, the Colburn College of Music and Mannes College in the USA, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in London, the RNCM in Manchester and the Faculty of Music at the Oxford University.
Mr. Wiesenberg got his PhD in Composition at the music department of Bar Ilan University and graduated with a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School of Music. He is a Professor at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and was Dean of the Faculty of Composition Conducting and Music Education. Before that he served twice as Dean Faculty of Cross-Disciplinary Music (which he founded) at the Academy. In addition, Mr. Wiesenberg has been very active for almost 30 years at the Jerusalem Music Center. He was Director of the enrichment activities for the Young Strings Players Group and was Director of the Piano Program Course for the Young Musicians Group and the Piano Jazz course for Classical Pianists at the Center. He was nominated the first Visiting Israeli Composer by the J.M.I. in London.
His music is published by the Schott Edition and by I.M.I.
Website: www.mwm.co.il