{{Short description|Israeli-American composer (born 1965)}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox person | native_name = תמר מוסקל | native_name_lang = he | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1965}} | birth_place = Jerusalem, Israel | occupation = Composer | awards = Guggenheim Fellowship (2009) | alma_mater = {{ublist| * Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance * Yale University * City University of New York }} | spouse = Danny Rozin | module2 = {{Infobox musical artist | embed = yes | genre = Contemporary classical music }} }} '''Tamar Muskal''' ({{Langx|he|תמר מוסקל}}; born 1965) is an Israeli-American composer. She received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her 2005 piece ''The Yellow Wind''. She was composer-in-residence for the Westchester Philharmonic and is a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow.
==Biography== Tamar Muskal was born in Jerusalem in 1965 and obtained her BA from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.<ref name="GF" /> She and her husband emigrated to the United States,<ref name="Smullen 2022"/> where she went on to do her master studies at Yale University and the City University of New York.<ref name="Hershenson 2005">{{Cite news |last=Hershenson |first=Roberta |date=2005-05-08 |title=A Musical Bridge For the Mideast |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/433070249 |id={{ProQuest|433070249}} |work=New York Times |page=WC8}}</ref> Her teachers include Mark Kopytman, Martin Bresnick, Jacob Druckman, Ezra Laderman, David Del Tredici, Tania Leon,<ref name="GF" /> and Paul Lustig Dunkel.<ref name="Hershenson 2005" />
In 2005, she premiered ''The Yellow Wind'', her hour-long Westchester Philharmonic commission themed after Israel–Palestine relations, at the State University of New York at Purchase Performing Arts Center; Anne Midgette of ''The New York Times'' called it "a huge opener for a large-scale program".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Midgette |first=Anne |date=2005-05-16 |title=Strike Up the Band for Peace |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/92941399 |work=New York Times |page=E5|id={{ProQuest|92941399 }}}}</ref> She also received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for ''The Yellow Wind''.<ref name="Smullen 2022"/> When her piece ''Mirrors'', commissioned by Eighth Blackbird, was performed in Pittsburgh in February 2008, a ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'' review said that "music from Alfred Hitchcock's film ''Spellbound'' must have been playing in Muskal's mind when she wrote one section of this piece".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kanny |first=Mark |date=2008-02-13 |title=Theatrical blackbird makes solid chamber society debut |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/382421045 |work=Pittsburgh Tribune-Review |id={{ProQuest|382421045 }}}}</ref>
She composed "Mar de Leche", the third track of Maya Beiser's 2010 album ''Provenance''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Provenance |url=https://innova.mu/album/provenance/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Innova® Recordings}}</ref> She and Barbara Harbach provided original scores for a 2016 Women in Film & Television screening of some of Alice Guy-Blaché's silent films.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barry |first=John W. |title=Upstate Films to showcase female pioneer of film |url=https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/entertainment/2016/12/09/upstate-films-showcase-female-pioneer-film/95206842/ |access-date=2025-05-07 |work=Poughkeepsie Journal}}</ref> She did the last tracks of the four-composer flute album ''Alive in the Studio''.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Moore |first=David W |date=2017 |title=Alive in the Studio |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1874041141 |magazine=American Record Guide|id={{ProQuest|1874041141}}|volume=80 |issue=1 |p=192}}</ref> She composed "Where Do We Belong? A Conversation with Bach" in the album ''New for Violin & Piano''; the ''American Record Guide'' said that "Muskal's intellectual conversation with Bach is palpable here".<ref>{{Cite magazine |year=2018 |title=New for Violin & Piano |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2097554972 |magazine=American Record Guide |pages=213–214 |id={{ProQuest|2097554972 }} |volume=81 |issue=4}}</ref>
In 2017, she did a piece commemorating Sojourner Truth, commissioned by Close Encounters With Music.<ref name="Smullen 2022"/> Another Close Encounters With Music commission, ''One Earth'', premiered in November 2022 after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref name="Smullen 2022">{{Cite news |last=Smullen |first=Sharon |date=2022-10-27 |title=The pandemic twice postponed the debut of Israeli composer Tamar Muskal's 'One Earth.' It's now set as Close Encounters With Music's season opener |url=https://www.berkshireeagle.com/arts_and_culture/berkshirelandscapes/close-encounters-with-music-tamar-muskal-one-world/article_638e6abe-553c-11ed-9097-f3011b9d5f95.html |access-date=2025-05-07 |work=The Berkshire Eagle}}</ref>
She spent years as composer-in-residence for the Westchester Philharmonic education program.<ref name="Hershenson 2005" /> In 2009, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.<ref name="GF">{{Cite web |title=Tamar Muskal |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/tamar-muskal/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Guggenheim Fellowship}}</ref>
As of 2001, Muskal was a resident of Manhattan.<ref name="Hershenson 2005" /> She holds dual American and Israeli citizenship.<ref name="Hershenson 2005" /> Her husband is artist Danny Rozin, with whom she collaborated for her Eighth Blackbird commission.<ref>{{Cite news |last=von Rhein |first=John |date=2007-10-19 |title=eighth blackbird hopes to build a local following |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/232186262/ |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=7–18 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muskal, Tamar}} Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century Israeli women composers Category:21st-century Israeli classical composers Category:Israeli women classical composers Category:21st-century American women composers Category:21st-century American classical composers Category:American women classical composers Category:Israeli emigrants to the United States Category:Composers from Jerusalem Category:Yale University alumni Category:City University of New York alumni Category:Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance alumni