Chaya Czernowin
Chaya Czernowin (ˌχaja t͡ʃɛʁˈnobin; born December 7, 1957) is an Israeli American contemporary classical composer internationally known for her extensive oeuvre which includes opera, orchestral, chamber and solo compositions. In 2009, she was appointed Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music at Harvard University. The Jury of the German Music Authors' Prize 2022 considered Chaya Czernowin “(..) one of the most important living composers.
Chaya Czernowin

Branthemanman · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- December 7, 1957
- Awards
- * Guggenheim Fellow
- Birthplace
- Haifa, Israel
- Education
- * Tel-Aviv University
- Nationality
- Israel.
- Occupation
- composer, music educator, university teacher and librettist.
- Fields
- performing arts.
- Teachers
- Brian Ferneyhough and Roger Reynolds.
- Honours
- Guggenheim Fellowship and Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.
- Languages
- Hebrew.
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Documentary summary
Chaya Czernowin (ˌχaja t͡ʃɛʁˈnobin; born December 7, 1957) is an Israeli American contemporary classical composer internationally known for her extensive oeuvre which includes opera, orchestral, chamber and solo compositions. In 2009, she was appointed Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music at Harvard University. The Jury of the German Music Authors' Prize 2022 considered Chaya Czernowin “(..) one of the most important living composers.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q450870 · wikipedia · Chaya Czernowin
In this article
Biography
Biography
Czernowin worked across composer, music educator, university teacher and librettist. The registers place that work in opera. This article rests on 34 catalogued compositions, 4 published texts, 8 issued recordings, 1 digitised documents and 26 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.
Chaya Czernowin studied at Bard College, Tel Aviv University and University of California, San Diego. Training under Brian Ferneyhough and Roger Reynolds is recorded. Ann Cleare and Elena Rykova are recorded as having studied under Chaya Czernowin. The recorded working language is Hebrew. The field of work recorded is performing arts. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are opera. Places of work recorded in the authority are San Diego. Employment is recorded with Harvard University, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and University of California, San Diego. Distinctions recorded are Guggenheim Fellowship and Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.
Key facts
Key facts
• Native Name — חיה צ'רנובין • Born — December 7, 1957 • Titles — Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music at Harvard University • Awards — * Guggenheim Fellow • Ernst von Siemens Music Prize • Birthplace — Haifa, Israel • Education — * Tel-Aviv University • Bard College • University of California, San Diego (Ph.D. 1993) • Academic Advisors — * Roger Reynolds • Brian Ferneyhough • Workplaces — * Professor of composition at University of California, San Diego (1997–2006) • Professor of composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (2006–2009) • Professor of music at Harvard University (2009–Present) • Website — https: www.chayaczernowin.com/
Education and early career
Education and early career
Czernowin was born on 7 December 1957 in Haifa and raised in Israel. She studied in Israel, Germany, and in the United States. She also received fellowships to compose in Japan and in Germany. Czernowin studied at Tel-Aviv University's Rubin Academy of Music and then Bard College before receiving her PhD from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1993, where she studied with Roger Reynolds and Brian Ferneyhough. Czernowin spent several years after her formal studies on residencies and fellowships in Japan, Europe, and the United States. She was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize in 2003. From 1997 to 2006, she was professor of composition at UCSD, and between 2006 and 2009 she was professor of composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. Together with Jean-Baptiste Jolly (director of Akademie Schloss Solitude) and with composer Steven Kazuo Takasugi, she founded the Sommerakademie at Schloss Solitude, a biannual course for composers that took place from 2003 until 2017 in Stuttgart, Germany. In 2009, she was appointed Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music at Harvard University; she was also the first woman to be appointed professor of composition at both the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and Harvard University.
Musical works
Musical works
Source:
Operas
Operas
• "opera without words," PNIMA...ins innere. (2000), premiered at the Munich Biennale • A companion to Mozart's fragment, Adama/Zäide (2004/05), premiered at the Salzburger Festspiele • "Infinite Now" (2017), opera in six acts, premiered at the Vlaamse Opera in Ghent • Heart Chamber, 2019, premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Orchestra
Orchestra
• Moths of hunger and awe for violin solo and a string orchestra (2023/24) • RARE EARTH alchimia communicationis for solo live and pre-recorded double bass and large ensemble (2022) • Fast Darkness II: I freeze and melt for solo clarinet and chamber orchestra (2020) • Fast Darkness I: I can see your turned eyes from inside your body for solo bass/contra-bass clarinet and chamber orchestra (2020) • Guardian for cello and a large orchestra (2017) • Once I blinked nothing was the same – A large scale miniature for orchestra (2015) • White Wind Waiting amplified acoustic guitar and orchestra (2013) • At the fringe of our gaze for orchestra plus a chamber group of 5 players (2013) • Zohar Iver (blind radiance) (The Crescendo Trilogy Part II) for ensemble and orchestra divided into three groups (2011) • The Quiet (The Crescendo Trilogy Part I) for large orchestra divided into three groups (2010) • Maim (water), triptych for large orchestra, tubax recorded and a quintet of soloists (oboe, tubax, electric guitar, piano, viola) (2001/2002) I: maim zarim maim gnuvim (strange water stolen water) (2002); II: The memory of water (2006); III: mei mechaa (water of disent) (2005–2006) • Dam Sheon Hachol (the hourglass bleeds still) version for string orchestra (2002) • Shu Hai in an orchestral setting for orchestra, female voice, and live electronics (2001) • Liquid Amber for three piccolos solo and large orchestra (2000) • Amber for large orchestra (1993) • Birds for string orchestra (1984)
Ensemble
Ensemble
• Song for a Lost Child for ensemble (2025) • The divine thawing of the core for solo contra-bass flute and ensemble (2024/25) • The Fabrication of Light for large ensemble (2020) • On the Face of the Deep for large ensemble (2017) • Slow Summer Stay III (Upstream) for 16 players (2016) • Ayre: Towed through plumes, thicket, asphalt, sawdust and hazardous air I shall not forget the sound of for amplified chamber ensemble (2015) • Knights of the strange version for ensemble (2014) • Winter Songs Version IV: Wounds/Mistletoe for two septets and three percussionists (2014) • Slow Summer Stay II (Lakes) for 8 players (2012) • Slow Summer Stay I (Streams) for 8 players (2012) • Lovesong for mixed ensemble (2010) • Sheva for seven players (2008) • Anea Crystal for Two String Quartets and an Octet (2008) • Excavated Dialogues Fragments – Second version for a mixed ensemble of modern and Renaissance/Baroque instruments (2003, rev. 2005) • Excavated Dialogues Fragments for a mixed ensemble of Eastern and Western instruments (2003) • Winter Songs III: Roots for live electronics, seven instruments and three percussionists (2003) • Winter Songs II: Stones for seven instruments and three percussionists (2003) • Winter Songs I: Pending Light for live electronics and seven instruments (2002/2003) • Afatsim for mixed ensemble (1996)
Chamber music
Chamber music
• The Redheaded Man "... and then I realized that I am the world. But the world – is not me." Musiktheater for 6 musicians (2025/26) • Undersongs for Saxophone Quartet (2025) • EZOV (Moss) String Quartet No. 4 (2024) • Poetica (Vena I) for percussion solo, percussion ensemble, prerecorded strings and IRCAM electronics (2023) • Fast Darkness III: Moonwords Sextet for amplified flute, clarinet, piano and string trio (2022) • Knights of the strange Duo version for electric guitar and accordion (2015) • HIDDEN for string quartet and electronics (2013/14) • Gradual edge for violoncello and organ (2011) • Duo Leat (Slow Duo) for 2 Bass-Clarinets (2009/10) • Sheva (Seven) for seven instrumentalists (2008) • Drift (Sahaf) for saxophone (baritone and sopranino) or clarinet (Eb clarinet and bass clarinet), E-guitar, piano and percussion (timpano, marimba, 2 plastic triangle liners, bamboo wind chime, ocean drum, ratchet, snare drum) (2008) • While Liquid Amber for 3 flutes (2000) • String Quartet (1995) • Die Kreuzung for accordion, alt saxsophone and bass (1994) • A map of a recurrent dream for sho, u, live and pre-recorded Tape (1994) • Dam Sheon Hachol (the hourglass bleeds still) for string sextet (1992)
Vocal music
Vocal music
• NO! A Lament for the Innocent Version I: For one amplified high soprano and twenty-four musicians with tape / Version II: For two amplified high sopranos and two antiphonal orchestras of twenty-four musicians (2023/24) • Unforeseen dusk: bones into wings for six amplified voices (SMezATBarB) and orchestra (with sampler) (2023) • Unhistoric Acts – (Vena, part II) for mixed 24 voices choir and string quartet (2021) • Immaterial (Vena III) for 6 voices (2021) • Atara – A lament for orchestra and two amplified voices (2020/21) • Irrational for Baritone, Bass Clarinet, Trumpet and Trombone (2018/19) • Habekhi (The Crying) for low female voice, ensemble and electronics (2018) • Five action sketches – Five miniatures for 2 voices and ensemble (2014) • Esh (Fire) For Orchestra and Countertenor (2012) • Winter Songs Version V: Forgotten Light for two septets and octet with two singers (2012) • Rega echad, sheket bevakasha (Just a moment, silence please) for choir and orchestra (2012) • Algae – A Monodrama for Bass and Piano (2009) • Pilgerfahrten for narrator, boy's choir, and instrumental ensemble (2005/2006, rev. 2007) • Six Miniatures and a Simultaneous Song for mixed ensemble and a singer (1998) • Shu Hai Mitamen Behatalat Kidon (Shu Hai Practices Javalin) for solo female voice and recorded nine voices with live electronics (1996/1997) • Manoalchadia for bass flute and two female voices (1988)
Solo works
Solo works
• Black Flowers for Solo Electric Guitar (2018) • Adiantum Capillus-Veneris I (Maidenhair fern I/II/III) for Voice and Breath (2015/16) also arranged for Solo violoncelo (only I) by Séverine Ballon (2015/16) • fardanceCLOSE for Solo Piano (2012/20) • The last leaf for solo Oboe (2010) / version for sopranino saxophone (2010/12) • Tris for Solo Percussionist (with pre-recorded parts) or for 3 Percussionists (1993) • LeArye for violin and 15 pre-recorded violins and violas (1990) • Ina for bass flute and pre-recorded flutes (1989) • For Violin Solo (1981) also in versions for Viola and Cello (1981/2015)
Life and work
Life and work
Chaya Czernowin was born on 7 December 1957 in Haifa. Czernowin held the nationality of Israel. Czernowin was educated at Bard College, Tel Aviv University and University of California, San Diego. Czernowin studied under Brian Ferneyhough and Roger Reynolds. Czernowin worked as composer, music educator, university teacher and librettist. Czernowin worked in San Diego. Czernowin was employed by Harvard University, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and University of California, San Diego. The fields Czernowin worked in include opera. Czernowin worked in Hebrew.
Compositions, 2017–2019
Catalogued output
Compositions, 2017–2019
The entries below are works composed by the subject, as the institutional registers catalogue them; later performances and commercial recordings of the same music are listed separately. They belong to a run of 22 titles in all, from 2017 to 2019.
2 compositions carry dates between 2017 and 2019
The run opens with Infinite Now and closes with Heart Chamber
Infinite Now
2017
Heart Chamber
2019
Compositions without a settled date
Catalogued output
Compositions without a settled date
20 further compositions are catalogued under Czernowin's name without a date the collections agree on, which is why they are set apart from the dated run rather than placed in it. Five Action Sketches — 5 catalogued parts. Shu Hai mitamen behatalat kidon: I. Adiantum Capillus‐Veneris — 3 catalogued parts. Shu Hai in an Orchestral Setting — 4 catalogued parts.
Six Miniatures and a Simultaneous Song
Wounds / Mistletoe
Dam Sheon Hachol
Shu Hai mitamen behatalat kidon
Shu Hai mitamen behatalat kidon: II. Ayre: Towed Through Plumes, Thicket, Asphalt, Sawdust and Hazardous Air I Shall Not Forget the Sound of
Catalogued output
Writings on music
These are catalogued publications carrying the name — editions and printings, distinct from the works they contain and from writing about the subject. The 2010s are the densest part of the run, with 3 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself.
4 editions carry dates between 2005 and 2018
The run opens with The Hour Glass Bleeds Still and closes with The quiet
The entries follow Open Library
The Hour Glass Bleeds Still
2005
Toward a music of exegetic becoming and actualized work
2015
A computational model of music composition
2015
The quiet
2018
Teaching
Czernowin taught, and is recorded as music educator and university teacher. The work is documented at Harvard University, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and University of California, San Diego.
Primary material
Recordings and discography
The discography assembled here shows how Czernowin's work has been published in sound, not what Czernowin made. 6 sound issues are catalogued, carrying dates from 1999 to 2023. An issue is a published recording, distinct from the composition it carries, from a printed score of that composition and from any single performance of it; none of the entries below is counted in the catalogue of compositions above, and several of them carry the same work in different readings. The 2010s are the densest decade of publication, with 3 issues. The performers and issuing labels are as the discographic register states them; where it names no performer the article names none.
Hidden
2017
Wintersongs
2017
Afatsim
1999
Shu Hai Practices Javelin
2002
Speak, Be Silent
2019
What of words and what of song
2023
Primary material
Documents and archives
institutional register
- MusicBrainz artist record for Chaya Czernowin
Unverified · MusicBrainz
reference work
- “Chaya Czernowin”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q450870: Chaya Czernowin
Unverified · Wikidata
Awards and Distinctions
Awards and Distinctions
• (2026) Composer in Residence at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik • (2025/26) Composer in focus at the Musikverein Wien • (2022) German Music Author's Award of the GEMA – category "Composition Music Theatre" • (2021) Member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts • (2021) Composer in Residence at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival • (2019) Member of the Board of the European Music Theater Academy • (2017) Member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin • (2017) "World premiere of the Year" by Opernwelt's annual critic survey for “Infinite Now” • (2016) Heidelberger Künstlerinnenpreis • (2013) Composer in Residence at the Lucerne Festival • (2011) Guggenheim Fellowship Award • (2008) Fromm Foundation Award • (2005/06) Composer in Residence at the Salzburg Festival • (2004) Rockefeller Foundation Prize • (2003) Composer Prize by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation • (2000) Bavarian Theatre Prize and "World premiere of the Year" by Opernwelt's annual critic survey for the Opera "Pnima...ins Innere" • (1996) Akademie Schloss Solitude Fellowship • (1993) Asahi Shimbun Fellowship Prize • (1993) Kranichsteiner Musikpreis
Honours and awards
Where the work is held
Honours and awards
They run from 2003 to 2011.
2 honours stand against the name
Ernst von Siemens Music Prize
2003
Guggenheim Fellowship
2011
Literature
Further cited scholarship
6 scholarly and reference publications are cited here, each one identified by title and by the publication, publisher or institution that carried it, with its year where the register states one. The cited literature runs from 2015 to 2022, which is a measure of how long Czernowin has been a subject of scholarship rather than of how much has been written. The publications represented include Israel Studies, Tempo, Documenta and Contemporary Music Review. A further 1 record was returned by the same bibliographic registers without enough detail to be cited as a reference — no usable title, or neither a publication nor a date — and it is held in the evidence layer rather than presented here as scholarship. The Encyclopedia cites this literature and does not summarise the arguments of works it has not read in full. Composition in the Aftermath of Hebrew Culture; The Musics of Betty Olivero and Chaya Czernowin, Israel Studies, 2022.
Chaya Czernowin, Heart Chamber, Deutsche Oper Berlin, 15 November 2019, Tempo, 2020
To touch life with art
A conversation with composer Chaya Czernowin on the opera Infinite Now, Documenta, 2020
De zoektocht naar het existentiële
Een analyse van het 'oneindige nu' in Infinite Now van Chaya Czernowin en Luk Perceval, Documenta, 2020
Infinite Now by Chaya Czernowin, Vlaamse Opera, Ghent, Belgium, Tempo, 2017
Conversations and Interludes, Contemporary Music Review, 2015
Authority records
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
institutional register
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolvedauthority record
Unverified
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Chaya Czernowin studied at Bard College, Tel Aviv University and University of California, San Diego. She trained under Brian Ferneyhough and Roger Reynolds. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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