Nizan Leibovich – (Music Theory, History, & Composition)

Born in Tel Aviv, composer and conductor Nizan Leibovich has held positions with orchestras, ensembles, and festivals in the US, Europe and Israel. He served as Artistic Director of the Israeli Music Festival, Music Director of the Pittsburgh Philharmonia, Associate Conductor of the Israel Contemporary Players, Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Music Director of the Zohar Chamber Singers, Music Adviser to LIGHT—a collaborative multi-arts project including the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera Theatre and Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, Music Director of the Vertical Player Repertory Opera in New York, and Assistant Conductor in Teatro Carlo Felice (Genova) and Teatro dell'Opera (Rome.) He conducted many of the major orchestras in Israel and led a US tour with the Israel Chamber Orchestra.

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Leibovich has written a wide variety of works for orchestra, ballet and theatre, as well as various chamber combinations and solo pieces. Commissions include pieces for Flexible Music (New York,) Ion Sound Project (Pittsburgh,) Musica Nova (Israel,) Uni-Orchester Bern (Switzerland,) a full length ballet for the Playhouse Dance Company (Pittsburgh) and a new opera for Vertical Player Repertory in New York, excerpts of which were performed as part of Opera America’s annual National Opera week. Honors include Composer in Residence at the 2nd annual Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival, the Klon prize from the Israeli composer’s league, the American-Israel Cultural Foundation Grants in composition, conducting and guitar, and the 2015 Andrew Mellon Fellowship award. He also held Composer’s Fellowships at The Composers Conference (Wellesly, MA) and the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (Boston, MA.)

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Nizan Leibovich has participated in numerous music festivals, among them the Biennale for Contemporary Music, the Asian Music Festival in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Concerto per L’Europa in Rome and the Xenakis Festival at Carnegie Hall in New York. He has held teaching positions at Duquesne University, Point Park University and the University of Pittsburgh.

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Leibovich holds a Master’s Degree in Conducting from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in both Composition and Conducting from Tel Aviv University. He is currently a PhD candidate in Composition and Music Theory at the University of Pittsburgh.