Lazar Trachtenberg

Born in the former Soviet Union, Lazar Trachtenberg holds a PhD from the University of Chicago, the Artist Diploma and Bachelor of Music from the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. He studied composition with Mark Kopytman in Jerusalem, and Ralph Shapey and Shulamit Ran in Chicago. His honors and awards include ASCAP, the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts, and the Israeli Music Institute Prize of E. Peri Composers’ Competition. His works have been performed in the United States, Israel, Canada, Europe and Singapore by the Contemporary Chamber Players of the University of Chicago, the Pacifica Quartet, members of the Chicago and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestras, among others. The Pacifica Quartet had recorded his String Quartet “Rachel Weeping for Her Children” on the CRS label; his “Witches’ Soiree” for violin and viola was commissioned and recorded by Almita and Roland Vamos; and “Meditations” for clarinet was published on YouTube by Tal Gottdiner. Formerly, a lecturer at the Division of Arts and Sciences of the University of Chicago and a faculty member at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, he is currently on the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago and the Adler Music and Arts Center in Libertyville, Illinois.