Astrith Baltsan

Astrith Baltsan at the piano at home in Tel Aviv

Astrith Baltsan (Hebrew: אסתרית בלצן‎) is an Israeli concert pianist.[1]

Biography [2]

Family

Baltsan was born in Tel Aviv in 1956. Her mother, Dr. Rozelia Ruth Garti (1925–1999) was a pediatrician who came to Israel from Sofia. Bulgaria, in 1949.[3]. Her father was the journalist and author Hayim Baltsan, founder of the ITIM news agency. She has a sister, Revital Baltsan-Sheskin, and a twin brother called Avikam.

Education

Baltsan began studying music at the age of 8. She won the America Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship and graduated with honors from Tel Aviv University with both BA and MA in piano and musicology (with Mindru Katz and Arie Vardi). She won a scholarship for graduate studies at the Juilliard School of music in New York, and in 1983 she graduated as Doctor of Musical Arts (summa cum laude) in piano from the Manhattan School of Music in New York (with Artur Balsam).

Career and awards [4]

A first prize winner of the Banff Concerto Competition,Canada)1984, and the Concert Artists Guild's competition NYC 1984, she performed at the Norfolk festival of the Yale University, The Tanglewood Festival, the La Gesse Festival in France, the Tutzing Festival in Munich and the Ernen Chamber Festival in Switzerland.

Astrith Baltsan returned to Israel in 1985 to join the faculty of the Rubin Academy of Music at the Tel Aviv University. She was a founder of Musica Nova Ensemble (Excellent Performance For Israeli Music award, 1993),designed the curricula in music for the school of arts in Tel Aviv (Ministry of Education award, 1990). She performed extensively as pianist, editor and music director of concerts series with the Israel Chamber Orchestra (1988–1996)the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (2000–2012),The Israel Festival in Jerusalem (including performances of Beethoven Sonatas in 1987) and the New Israeli Opera. In 1992 She recorded for the Israel Composers' League an album of original Israeli compositions (See PSANTERIN ).

From 1990 onwards, Baltsan began to develop a new educational concept of classical concert, combining performance with explanation and commentary, with the aim of making classical music comprehensible to a wider audience. Her concert series "Classics in Personal View" (which has been running for more than 26 years) combines performances of classical masterpieces with story-telling, together with multimedia devices. The concerts involve fusion of various musical styles (classical, pop, and jazz) in collaboration with guest artists (opera, jazz and folk singers, musicians and dancers). This concept had considerable impact on the classical music scene in Israel, with the concert series becoming the largest in the country. According to the Herald Tribune: “Astrith Baltsan's Classical Piano Show is a fascinating mixture of culture and entertainment touching every aspect of human existence thus making classical music for once both accessible and relevant”.

1996 – Baltsan and her husband, Israeli composer Moshe Zorman, founded Music Cathedra, a professional develpment music college in the Enav cultural center in Tel Aviv. Music Cathedra is a recognized institute by the Israeli Ministry of Education and admits hundreds of students each year.

2005 – Baltsan's programs with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra were broadcast regularly on Israel TV Channel 1 and on the Radio Classical Channel Kol Hamusica.

2006 – Baltsan was awarded the "Audience Choice" Prize in a competition held by Israel largest newspaper: Yedioth Aharonoth.

2007 – Baltsan was awarded "The Landau best Classical performer prize" by Mifal Hapais

2008 – Baltsan received a special excellence in music award from the Israeli Government and Ministry of Education

2009 – Baltsan's book and  CD on the musical origins of Hatikva – Israel's national anthem - was published by the Israeli Ministry of Education.[5] It became part of the obligatory syllabus for matriculation exams in Israeli, was translated to English and French and was critically acclaimed as a "Unique Achievement in Israel's Cultural Life and in the entire Jewish World" by Shimon Peres, the then President of Israel).

2010–2013 – Baltsan released 4 new albums: "Moonlight Sonata" with performances of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy. Baltsan began a major project of live recordings of the great piano concertos: the Grieg Piano Concerto, Mozart's piano concertos no. 1,9, 20, 24, 27; Brahms' 1st piano concerto, Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto, all accompanied by Baltsan's own commentaries and analyses.

2014 - Lectures about Hatikva in the Vth Congress of the Jewish National Fund (KKL) in Mexico.[6][7]

2014-2019 - Work in progress: A guide to the piano repertoire: CD and DVD of lectures and performances of the greatest piano concertos for piano .

Baltsan tours extensively, both as a soloist with orchestras and as a "One Woman Show" in Europe, the US, Canada, Central America, Australia and South Africa. She is married to Israeli composer Moshe Zorman and has three children; Itamar, Alma and Reut. Her son, violinist Itamar Zorman was the winner of the Tchaikovsky competition in 2011.

References

  1. ↑ "Pianist explores Hatikvah's origins". Vicky Tobianah, CJN.
  2. ↑ "Astrith Baltsan". Ronit Seter, Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive.
  3. ↑ "Hayim Baltsan". www.librarything.com. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  4. ↑ "PROFILE OF ASTRITH BALTSAN, A doctoral dissertation in musicology". Dr. Aviva Stanisltavsky, Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
  5. ↑ "Video of the government ceremony".
  6. ↑ "En el V congreso del KKL México , Astrith Baltsan explica el origen de Hatikva".
  7. ↑ "Hatikva y su historia; ¿qué nos deja Astridh y KKL México para los jóvenes de la comunidad?".
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