A formidable and incandescent presence on the podium, conductor Gisèle Ben-Dor has been described by the Los Angeles Times as “a ferocious talent.” She has most recently been honored as “A Great Immigrant and a Great American”  by the Carnegie Foundation. Her latest CD, “Cien Años”, celebrating Piazzolla’s centenary has just been released and has received five stars reviews. Amongst the list of orchestras she has lead are the New York Philharmonic, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Helsinki Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, New World Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Seoul and Rotterdam Philharmonics, and many orchestras in France, Italy and Latin America.

Maestra Ben-Dor is Conductor Laureate of the Santa Barbara Symphony and Conductor Emerita of the Boston Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra, a post to which she was elected exclusively by the musicians. In 2004, working with Ginastera’s daughter Georgina Ginastera, she created the exciting and extraordinarily popular Tango and Malambo Festival, a wide-ranging feast of concerts, dance, and film celebrating the urban and universally admired tango and its less familiar cousin, the more rustic Malambo. In 2000, she created the Revueltas Festival as homage to the great Mexican composer’s anniversary.

Renowned for her interpretations of the established classics, as a Uruguayan by birth and upbringing, she is a champion of Latin American music – notably the works of Ginastera, Revueltas, Piazzolla, Villa-Lobos and Luis Bacalov – and is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest and most dedicated exponents of this repertoire. Gisele Ben-Dor’s list of recordings of Latin-American music, almost always world premieres, continues to grow. See her discography here. She has also commissioned and recorded world premiere orchestral scores of Ginastera’s piano works.

The most recent projects include a recording of Ginastera’s vocal music (“The Vocal Album”) with Placido Domingo, released by Warner Classics, which has unanimously garnered high critical reviews.  Just released is a recording of Piazzolla and Juanjo Mosalini, with the Boston Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra, “Cien Años” (“A Hundred Years”), in honor of Piazzolla’s 100 Anniversary. Other upcoming recordings include another Bartók CD (including a world premiere of Mikrokosmos select pieces ) and Ginastera (the opera Beatrix Cenci).

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gisele Ben-Dor is an American Israeli orchestra conductor of Uruguayan origin.

Conductor

Gisele Ben-Dor is an American– Israeli conductor of Uruguayan birth. She graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music, Tel Aviv University and the Yale School of Music, also studying with Mendi Rodan in Jerusalem. She made her conducting debut with the Israel Philharmonic in Stravinsky‘s “The Rite of Spring,” televised and broadcast by the BBC/London throughout Europe and Israel. As an active guest conductor worldwide and American music director, Gisele Ben Dor has had a crucial role in the rejuvenation and promotion of the art music of Latin America, which she performs in concerts, festivals and recordings.[1]
Ms. Ben-Dor’s talent was recognized early by Leonard Bernstein, with whom she shared the stage at Tanglewood and at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festivals. Since then, she served as the Music Director of the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra and the Annapolis Symphony, as well as Resident Conductor of the Houston Symphony and the Louisville Orchestra. She has led the New York Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Helsinki Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, New World Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Israel Chamber Orchestra, New Israeli Opera, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, additional orchestras in the Netherlands, several orchestras in France (Ille de France, Lille, Cannes, Montpelier, Metz, Picardie), Italy, Spain, Australia and South America amongst many others worldwide. Maestro Ben-Dor is currently Conductor Laureate of the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra and Conductor Emerita of the Boston Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra, a post to which she was elected exclusively by the musicians and which she returns often as guest conductor. A winner of the Bártok Prize of Hungarian Television, Ms. Ben-Dor has also conducted several Eastern European orchestras in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.[2]

Work with Latin American music

Uruguayan by birth and upbringing, Gisele Ben-Dor is a champion of Latin American music – notably the works of Ginastera, Villa-Lobos, Revueltas, Piazzolla, and Luis Bacalov – and is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest and most dedicated exponents of this repertoire. Most recently her recording of world premieres by Piazzolla/Mosalini with Boston Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra in a centenary tribute to Piazzolla ( ‘Cien Años” One Hundred Years) has garnered numerous top reviews ; earlier, Warner Classics released “The Vocal Album”, featuring music of Ginastera with Placido Domingo, Ana Maria Martinez and Virginia Tola. Working with Georgina Ginastera, the composer’s daughter, she created the “Tango and Malambo Festival “a wide-ranging ten-day feast of concerts, dance, and film celebrating the urban and universally admired tango and the less familiar, rustic Malambo (Dance).

She also created the Revueltas Festival, showcasing every aspect of the Mexican composer’s music. Her major performances of Ginastera’s works include a new production and European premiere of his last opera, Beatrix Cenci ,at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, as well as Turbae ad Passionem Gregorianam in Madrid, also a European premiere. She has recorded several other CD’s of music of Latin American composers, all including world premiere recordings, and more are to be released, most notably a recording of Ginastera’s last opera, as well as another recording of Bartok’s music.[3]

Posts

Recordings

Personal life

Born and raised in Uruguay to a family of Polish parents, she studied at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv and at the Yale School of Music before residing in the United States. She became an American citizen in the year 2000.

References

  • The Cambridge Companion to Conducting, Jose Antonio Bowen
  • The Grove Dictionary of American Music, Second Edition, Charles Hiroshi Garrett
  • The NPR (National Public Radi) Listener’s Encyclopedia of Classical Music, Ted Libby
  • Maestros in America, Roderick I Sharpe and Jeanne Koekkoek Sherman
  • Classical Music, recording reviews,Alexander J. Morin
  • The World of Women in Classical Music, Dr. Anne K. Gray
  • Conducting her Destiny: The making of a maestra, Christina Williamson Elkins
  • Emma Lou Diemer, a Bio-Bibliography, Ellen Grolman Schlegel
  • Mastery: Interviews with 30 Remarkable People

External links

  1. ^ Malcolm Hayes, Classic CD Magazine, 1999
  2. ^ “Gisele Ben-Dor – Conductor”. giseleben-dor.com. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  3. ^ “IMG Artists”. imgartists.com. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b “Gisele Ben-Dor- Bio, Albums, Pictures – Naxos Classical Music”. naxos.com. Retrieved 18 May 2015.

At a Glance:

  • Conductor Laureate, Santa Barbara Symphony, 2006 –
  • Music Director, Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra, 1994 -2006
  • Conductor Emerita, Boston Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, 2000 –
  • Music Director, Boston Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, 1991 – 2000
  • Artistic Advisor, World Piano Competition, Cincinnati , 1996, 1997, 2006
  • Music Director, Annapolis Symphony, 1991 – 97
  • Resident Conductor, Houston Symphony Orchestra, 1988 – 91
  • Music Director , Shepherd School of Music Symphony, 1988-90
  • Music Director, Houston Youth Symphony, 1988 – 89
  • Assistant Conductor, Louisville Orchestra, 1987 – 88
  • Music Director, Norwalk Youth Symphony, Connecticut , 1983 – 87
  • Music Director, Institute “Ivria”, Uruguay , 1969 – 1973