Tamar Muskal, composer

Tamar Muskal (b. 1965) composes music that harmonizes the unique cultural aspects of both her native Israel with her chosen country of the United States. Her music is always in a counterpoint style, carefully structured, and with great attention for details. She earned her BA in viola, music theory and composition at the Rubin Academy for Music and Dance in Jerusalem and her Master’s degree from Yale University, where she studied with Jacob Druckman, Martin Bresnick and Ezra Laderman. At the City University of New York, she studied with David Del Tredici and Tania Leon.

Recent commissions and collaborations include a piece for the Eighth Blackbird ensemble along with three interactive videos by Daniel Rozin, a piece for cello (Maya Beiser), oud (Bassam Saba) and percussion (Jamey Haddad and Shane Shanahan), a Carnegie Hall commission, a commission from the New York Whitney Museum to write music for two silent films by Alice Guy Blanche, a song cycle for voice, percussion and string quartet for the 2009 Grammy winner Hila Plitmann and the Lark Quartet on poems by David Grossman, and an arrangement of that song cycle for Salt Bay Chamberfest.

Muskal served as the Westchester Philharmonic’s education composer-in-residence in 2001-2004, writing three orchestral pieces based on students’ artwork and poetry. Muskal has been the recipient of many awards and fellowships, from institutions such as ASCAP, Meet the Composer, the Jerome Foundation, American Music Center, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and most recently a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation (2009).