The biblical compositions of Max Stern

Max Stern in conversation with Alex Klein

Max Stern – composer, performer, conductor, musicologist, music critic, and educator – is a pioneer figure in Israel’s musical life and has created a rich genre of biblical compositions blending East and West with contemporary idioms and genres, recognized for eloquence and warmth, expressive, authentic and original, touching the past, breaking into the future. His works have been performed at leading festivals in Europe, Asia, USA and Israel, released on nineteen CDs.

He won the Israel Composers’ League Lieberson Prize (1990), received an award at Japanese Society for Contemporary Music: Music for Children Contest (1991), special mention for personal language in balance between tradition and innovation from International Epicmusic Composition Prize (Italy, 2004), and a citation for contribution to musical life in the Negev by the Histadrut Federation of Labor (2003).

Dr. Stern is founding professor emeritus of music at Ariel University. He has lectured widely at international seminars and conferences. Besides newspaper criticism and journal articles he is author of an introduction to the theory of music, entitled The Speech of the Angels; and two monumental volumes on the influence of the Bible on Western Music, entitled Bible & Music and Psalms & Music.

Examples of Max’s work to be discussed: