About

Nizar Elkhater (Arabic: نزار الخاطر) is a pianist, composer, lecturer, and conductor. The CEO of the Harmonica Association. Since 2017, he has been presenting the podcast Alhan. He has conducted dozens of orchestras throughout Israel and the world.

Biography

Born in Lod in 1985 to a carpenter father and an Arabic teacher mother at the kibbutz seminary. Firstborn in a family of six.

Studied at the Terra Santa School in Ramle.

Elkhater began studying piano at the age of six with Lotfi Elhisain. At the age of seven he began studying at the Tel Aviv Israel Conservatory of Music with the teacher Malka Mbaruch. At the age of 12, he wrote several short waltzes for the piano, and two years later, he wrote an Elegy and Rhapsody. At the age of 16, he wrote his first concerto for piano and orchestra and performed it together with the youth orchestra of the conservatory in various places in Israel. In the years 2004-2009, he studied for a bachelor's and master's degree at the Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem. In 2021, he began studying at Bar-Ilan University for a doctorate degree.

In 2012, Nizar Elkhater founded a musical ensemble with nine musicians called "Abaad". The ensemble combines Arabic music and classical music in its works. Today, the ensemble operates under the Harmonica Association. In 2014, Elkhater founded the Harmonica Association to make music studies accessible to underprivileged populations. In 2020, the association won a municipal tender in Lod, and since then it operates more than eight projects in the city for different populations. Among the projects are choirs, ensembles, and orchestras. From 2017, Elkhater is the artistic director of the TLV orchestra of musical youth.

Between 2018 and 2020 he managed the "Abdaa'" branch of the conservatory near the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem. Between the years 2019 and 2021 he served as coordinator of the national music field in the "Culture for the Periphery" project of the Ministry of Culture. 

 

Elkhater has been teaching at the Ono Academic College since 2016, and since 2017 at the Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem. He also teaches at the center for traditional music "Alsheikh" in Tel Aviv.

 

In 2021, he wrote the music for the documentary film "The Orchestra with the Broken Instruments".

Awards:

In 2002, he won a scholarship from the Stricker Conservatory for excellence in performance. Following the win, he wrote his first piano concerto.

 

In 2005 and 2006, he won first prize in a row in the "Roma per Jerusalem" competition.

 

In 2007, he won the "Musician Excellence" award of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and a special musical award for his performance of Gaspar of the Night written by Maurice Ravel in the international piano master classes at the Tel Hai Academic College.

 

In 2009, he participated in a master class in Vienna, and won the prize for "the best performance of Schubert" for playing Schubert's 42nd Sonata.

 

In 2013, he won the Munir Alkalouti award for the "Abaad" ensemble project.

 

In 2021 he won the Prime Minister's Prize for Composers. 

 

Pieces for piano:

Short Waltzes (1997)

Elegy (1998)

Rhapsody (1999)

A Night with Cleopatra (2010)

Waltz Andalus (2014)

Intermezzo (2021)

Chamber works:

Mowashah Andalusian (2016)

Samai Hijaz (2018)

Woodwind Trio (2018)

Journey to Chaos song cycle (2019)

Soft Rain song cycle (2020)

Works for orchestra:

"Concerto for piano and orchestra" in F minor (2001)

"Taxim and Variations" for the East West Orchestra (2019)

"Overture" for chamber orchestra (2020)

"Spring in the East" for string orchestra and four pianos (2020)

"Concertino" (The Duke and Others) for piano and orchestra (2021)

"Psalm - Zabour" for chamber choir and baroque Ensemble (2021)

"Mediterranean Suite" for symphony orchestra (2022)

 

Mediterranean Suite -

The five-chapter suite presents five dances that characterize regions and cultures found in the Middle East.

In general, the style in the suite revolves around the characteristics of each of the different dances, along with a contemporary musical language that also presents the music for the films in the harmonic language and structure. 

The Overture and the first dance –Wehde - in the opening of the piece there are hidden motifs from all five dances that are about to come. The first dance called " Wehde " presents a combination of music for Hollywood films depicting the Middle East, along with Arabic music.

The second dance - Malfouf - a fast circular dance that often characterizes Egyptian and Syrian music.

The third dance - Dabkeh - a folklore dance characterized by six quarters.

The fourth dance - Samai - developed during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

The fifth dance - Baladi - a common local dance.