Omer Barash

Omer Barash is a composer whose main compositional interests include the exploration of movement and gesture in music, as well as of dynamic transitions between different listening modes. His work is often inspired by Hebrew texts and traditions and the soundscapes that surround him.

Barash’s artistic engagements have included collaborations with, and commissions from the McGill Symphony Orchestra and the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble, Ensemble Paramirabo, (Canada) Ensemble Reconsil (Austria), Meitar Ensemble (Israel), Trio Arbós (Spain), and Ensemble Modern (Germany), as part of their 10th International Composers Seminar. Collaborations with conductors and soloists such as Pascal Gallois, Keren Motseri, Guy Braunstein, and Brittany Rae have taken place as well.

Omer Barash is the recipient of several prizes and awards, including the 3rd prize of the SunRiver International Composition Contest at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music (2021), the Svoboda Memorial Prize from McGill University (2020), the 1st prize of the Klon Award for emerging composers from the Israel Composers League (2019), and merit grants from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (2018-2022), among others.

Born in Israel in 1995, Barash attended the Israel Arts and Science Academy (IASA) high-school, where he received his first training in composition, and graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance with the highest honours. At the JAMD he was a member of the Tedarim Programme of contemporary music, mentored by Meitar Ensemble. He then continued his studies at McGill university, where he served as President of the McGill Association of Student Composers and achieved his master’s degree, and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) where he got his postgraduate diploma in electroacoustic composition. Starting October 2023 he will participate in the Cursus de composition et d’informatique musicale at IRCAM, Paris.

Among Barash’s composition teachers are Karlheinz Essl at mdw, Philippe Leroux at McGill University, and Yinam Leef and Ari Ben-Shabetai at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He has also perticipated in masterclasses and seminars with Chaya Czernowin, Matthew Shlomowitz, Georg Friedrich Haas, Franck Bedrossian, Pierluigi Billone, Carola Bauckholt, and Clara Iannotta.