About

Stephen Horenstein  

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA;  immigrated to Israel in 1980. Stephen Horenstein’s works for ensemble, small orchestra, soloist and electronics have been performed and recorded in venues worldwide. Many of those works have used Jewish sound sources, themes and historical content. Horenstein is known for his experimentation with new orchestral sounds, mixed media and interactive computer-electronics.

Horenstein has collaborated with many well-known artists, including Isamu Noguchi, Steve Paxton, Israeli Hadany, Rena Schenfeld, Kibbutz Dance Company, Vertigo Company, Esti Kenan-Ofri, Yuval Avital, Jean Claude Jones and others.   Festivals have included:  Festival D’Ile de France (Paris); New York International Arts Festival; Festival Chaillol (France), Delhi International Festival (India), Other Worlds (Milan); Media Mix (University of York);  International Computer Music Festival (Hong Kong; Thessoloniki, Greece);  Israel Festival, Jerusalem;  Helsinki Festival;  Festival D’Automne (Paris), Red Sea Festival, and International Harp Festival (Vienna, Austria).   Recordings include: Collages (Black Saint Soul Note, Italy), Between the Silences , The Natives Are Restless, Chimera and Private Collection(JICM Recordings), Raw and the Cooked (Kadima) and Speaking Through the Walls (Creative Sources, Portugal.  Extensive performances with innovator Bill Dixon, Horenstein’s major creative inspiration.  (Festival D’Autumne, Verona Festival; Vision Festival, CD-IREC Italy).  Latest collaborations included the Cine-Concert Project, Butterfly Effect Ensemble, breathing new life into silent films (with Lior Navok and Jeffery Kowalsky).

Education and Teaching: Trinity College/ Hartt School of Music (BA); University of Wisconsin (MM composition); PhD, Hebrew University.  Composition studies: Bill Dixon.  Private Studies: Virgil Thomson, Marcel Moyse. Faculty member: Bennington College (1973-‘80), Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (1981-86; 2006-2018), Tel Aviv University (1982-1986), Brandeis University  (1999-2001).  Artist-in-residence:  University of York (England); Stanford University; SUNY, Purchase; College of William and Mary, California Institute of the Arts.

Research:  Horenstein’s doctoral dissertation (Hebrew University), researched music’s effect on the perception of time.  The research was then applied to evolve a holistic approach to composition and analysis of musical works.   As a Jerusalem Fellow (Mandel Foundation), Horenstein researched music as a tool to develop ethnic and cultural identity.  Through a Covenant Foundation grant (USA) he developed an model music curriculum for American schools.  His last research project, commissioned by the Israel Ministry of Education (with Hebrew University), articulated how effective music programs significantly impact on child wellness and school milieu. This research was in parallel to new methodologies for teaching music to youth at risk which Horenstein developed through the Jerusalem Institute of Contemporary Music. Current research: the effect of music on Alzheimer’s patients.

Prizes and Grants: Israel Prime Minister’s Prize in Composition, National Endowment for the Arts (USA), Mandel Foundation, America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Covenant Foundation, Weizmann Institute of Science, Siday Fund for Musical Creativity.

Educational Projects: Founder-Director Jerusalem Institute of Contemporary Music (1987-present). Founder/Director, Music Departments, at Jerusalem High School of the Arts and AMIT-Dror School.  Founder/Director of the PEJE Arts Network-Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education-(1999-2003), a cooperative knowledge-sharing consortium amongst artists and art educators.  Coordinator, Arts-Music Education Web Project (TALI-Schechter Institute). Founder, Director Metarim-Lod Arts Centre (2004-2008).

Current: In 1988, Horenstein founded the Jerusalem Institute of Contemporary Music, supported by the Jerusalem Foundation and the Jerusalem Municipality.  For the past thirty-four years, the Institute’s goal has been to bring music of our time to wider audience, through performance and education, as well as to develop programs for gifted youth, including those “at risk”. Horenstein has recently retired from the faculty of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (2006-present) where he taught Creative Process, Performance and Education.

Productions: Horenstein’s productions include numerous festivals, both in Israel and abroad, including “New Directions”, Israel Museum; “Projects 88-92”, Jerusalem and Khan Theatres;  “Agadot”, New York International Festival of the Arts;  “Global 95”, MCI and the Electronic Café,  “Legacy Heritage Concert Series”, Carnegie Hall, New York, and “Music On The Edge Festival”.

Contact: Email: horen52@yahoo.com