Na’ama Perel-Tzadok

Naama Perel-Tzadok is a multi-stylistic composer, conductor, and guitar player. Born and raised in Israel as the granddaughter of Yemenite and Tunisian immigrants, Naama grew up on Yemenite, Arabic, and Jewish music. These days, Naama lives in Pittsburgh, PA, as she is currently a PhD student in composition and theory at the University of Pittsburgh’s music department, studying with composers Eric Moe, Amy Williams, and Charles Peck. Naama is a current ISEF doctoral Fellow and received the Jerusalem Institute of Contemporary Music scholarship (Siday Fellowship for Musical Creativity).

She graduated with a master’s degree in composition from the University of Haifa, studying with Eithan Steinberg and Oded Zehavi. The latter supervised her MA thesis, “The Integration of the Yemenite Jews’ Folk Music in Israeli Art Music.” This was followed by the release of a full-length album named Memory Traces, which deals with the music of Yemenite women from a contemporary perspective.ֿ

In her work, she draws inspiration from a range of sources, including the human-nature relationship, current events, plastic art, and the diverse musical worlds in which she grew up. In recent years, she has tended to examine and expand the boundaries of ancient musical styles and traditions alongside new ones, improvisation, and music-language influences.
 Her music has been performed by the Israel Camerata Jerusalem, the Tel-Aviv Soloist Ensemble, the Meitar Ensemble, the Kamraton Ensemble, the NAT28 Ensemble, and various players in Israel, Europe, and across the United States of America.

Naama has won numerous awards and prizes; a grant from the Israel Cultural Fund for a full-length premier concert (2024); Pittsburgh Composers Project by Nat28 Ensemble (2024) ; Eric Stokes fund, for writing a new composition (2024) EarShot Reading by the American Composers Orchestra (2024) ; DEAD ELF- music award in recognition of an outstanding musical composition (2023) Artist in Residence program- department of Physics Art Residency, University of Pittsburgh, (2023); International Alliance for Women in Music- Libby Larsen Prize- Honorable Mention (2023).