Special Projects

Brain, Rhythm, MUSIC: A Concert+ Event

The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance are delighted to announce Concert+, a series of musical events that will explore the connections between music and the brain, accompanied by live performances and audience participation. The Concert+ series is organized by Prof. Eitan Globerson (The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance) and Prof. Israel (Eli) Nelken (The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences).

The first Concert+ event featured the theme “Brain, Rhythm, MUSIC” and took place at 12:30 P.M. on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, in the Goodman Building.

Program:

The Palm Beach Courtyard

“Entropy”

JAMD Dance Ensemble, Choreography by Noa Shadur

“Quantized Souls”

JAMD Dance Ensemble, Choreography by Zohar Karni

The Isaac and Luba Becker Auditorium

Brains and Rhythms

Presentation and demonstrations by Prof. Yifat Prut

Johannes Brahms, Hungarian Dances no. 17 and 6

Piano four hands, Eitan Globerson and Eli Nelken

Mozart: Recitative and Duet from “Don Giovanni” (“ma qual mai s’offre, oh dei”)

Shlomit Leah Kovalski, soprano, Daniel Portnoy, tenor, with Benjamin Goodman, Piano

“Omri Mor’s Got Rhythm”

Piano, Omri Mor

“Sama’i Kurd”

JAMD Oriental Music Department Ensemble, Singer Abdu Dagher

“Ya Msaharni” (Oum Kulthoum)

JAMD Oriental Music Department Ensemble, Singer Sayed Makawi

The Dance Ensemble of the Faculty of Dance at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, artistic director: Melanie Berson

The Dance Ensemble of the Faculty of Dance at the JAMD is a repertoire dance group. The ensemble performs works by contemporary Israeli and international choreographers, as well as original works commissioned by the ensemble. The ensemble participants are outstanding JAMD students, who, in addition to their undergraduate or graduate studies in dance, devote time and resources to specialize in performing a repertoire with a rich and varied range of dances.

Yifat Prut

Yifat Prut is a professor at The Hebrew University and The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences. She studies how the nervous system controls voluntary movements with a specific interest in the timing of movements. Her research focuses on interactions between different areas of the brain during preparation and execution of movements.

Israel (Eli) Nelken

Eli Nelken is a professor of brain sciences and the director of The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences. He studies how sounds become meaningful in animals as well as in humans, using electrophysiological, imaging, and behavioral approaches. In addition to his scientific interests, Nelken enjoys playing the piano.

Eitan Globerson

Eitan Globerson is a professor of conducting and piano, and chair of orchestral conducting at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Globerson conducted and played as a soloist with orchestras in Israel, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as orchestras in Europe, the United States, and the Far East. He has given masterclasses and lectures at many institutions worldwide, including Yale School of Music, McGill University, Chopin University in Warsaw, Beijing Central Conservatory, and Mannes School of Music, among others. Globerson was a visiting professor at the Yale University Graduate School of Music and at the McGill University Schulich School of Music. In addition to his musical activities, he is also active in scientific research, and holds a PhD in Brain Sciences

Shlomit Leah Kovalski

Shlomit Leah Kovalski is a Soprano, currently in her last year of her master’s in the Classical voice department at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, class of Mrs. Efrat Ben-Nun and Dr. Ido Arie. 2 weeks ago, she has returned from a semester at the Hochschule für music in Würzburg, Germany. Last year she was accepted to a special collaborative program between the TLV opera studio, Meitar, and the academy, where she had the honor to portray the role of the mother in their end-of-the-year production Hansel und Gretel. Other operatic roles include the countess (le nozze di figaro), Arminda (la finta giardinera) and Sara imenu (imahot).

Daniel Portnoy

Daniel Portnoy is a master’s student in the vocal department at the Jerusalem academy of music and dance in the classes of Jeffrey Francis and David Sebba. Graduated from the Buchmann Mehta school of music at the Tel aviv university in the classes of Efrat ben-nun and Raisa treyvich. Sang in the “meitar” children’s choir in Rehovot under the late Yehudit Chen, served in the IDF as an outstanding musician, and currently a regular singer in the “israeli vocal ensemble” conducted by Yuval Ben-Ozer.

Benjamin Goodman

Benjamin Goodman is studying for a doctorate at the Royal College of Music, London, and is also working as an accompanist for the Faculty of the Performing Arts at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem, and as a piano teacher at “Ibdaa” Conservatory in East Jerusalem. He studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance High School with Esther Narkis. He was an “Exceptional Musician” in the IDF, and completed his BMus and MMus at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, studying with Prof. Eitan Globerson. He went on to gain an Artist Diploma at Mannes College, NYC, studying with Prof. Pavlina Dokovska. He worked as a teaching assistant for the “Music and Mind” course at the New School, NYC. After completing the Diploma, Benjamin gave his solo piano recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. A year later his solo debut CD was released – “Piano Works by Sara Feigin”. He has won many international competitions and has played throughout the world, including a tour of the far east.

Omri Mor, piano

Omri Mor is a pianist, composer, arranger, and multidisciplinary musician of classical music, jazz, and Arabic-Andalusian, Latin, and African music. He teaches at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. Mor plays in various ensembles under his leadership, and also collaborates with artists, ensembles, and orchestras in Israel and around the world.

The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (JAMD) Oriental Music Department Ensemble

The Oriental Music Ensemble is a traditional Arabic music ensemble (Takht), comprised of Jewish and Arab students, which plays classical Arabic music. The ensemble represents the Department and JAMD at various events and takes part in educational activities outside of the academy. In the twenty years since its establishment, the Oriental Music Department has produced new generations of musicians, artists, composers, and educators. Most of the leading Arabic musicians in Israel today are graduates of the Department.

Violin: Nour Abeed

Nay flute: Noga Bar-Oz

Oud: Ragheed Tannous

Buzuq: Simon Ghantous

Percussion: Mohamad Salaymeh

Vocals: Jehan Danial

Direction: Ribal Srour

“Working memory”