Omer Barash‘s music is driven by the interrogation of betweenness and urgency, and bridges inquiries into human identity with technological rigour. His work often interweaves older techniques borrowed from varied traditions with contemporary thought and practice: heterophonic chant, turn-of-the-century hyper-chromaticism and voice leading, field recording, acousmatic music, serial procedures, computer-assisted composition, spectral analysis, and real-time signal processing all often play key roles in Barash’s work.

In the upcoming season, his music will be performed by Klangforum Wien (Vienna), TAK Ensemble (New York), Ensemble Éclat (Montréal), and Meitar Ensemble (Tel Aviv). Past collaborations include projects with Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt, as part of the ICCS young_professionals program), Paramirabo (Montréal), Reconsil (Vienna), and the Israeli Contemporary Players (Tel-Aviv). His works have been conducted and performed by Vimbayi Kaziboni, Pierre-André Valade, Léo Warynski, Keren Motseri, Benjamin Alunni, and Brittany Rae, among others.

Barash has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the impuls Composition Competition (2025, commissioned for 2027), first prizes at the 28th Salvatore Martirano Award and the Ensemble Écoute Composition Competition (2024), the “Achievement of the Year” Award from ACUM (Israel’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers, 2024), and successive merit grants from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (2018–2025).

Born in Israel in 1995, Barash began his composition studies at the Israel Arts and Science Academy (IASA) and graduated with highest honours from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where he was a member of the Tedarim Program for contemporary music under the mentorship of Meitar Ensemble. He holds degrees from McGill University (M.Mus.), the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) (postgraduate diploma in electroacoustic composition), and IRCAM’s Cursus de composition et d’informatique musicale in Paris. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Composition at Columbia University in the City of New York.

His composition teachers include Zosha Di Castri, George Lewis, Georg Friedrich Haas, and Marcos Balter (Columbia); Pierre Jodlowski and Claudia Jane Scroccaro (IRCAM); Karlheinz Essl (mdw); Philippe Leroux (McGill); Yinam Leef and Ari Ben-Shabetai(Jerusalem Academy). His formal training was complemented by the meaningful mentorship of Franck Bedrossian, Chaya Czernowin, Clara Iannotta, and Rebecca Saunders.

Alongside his compositional work, Barash is an active computer music designer (RIM: réalisateur en informatique musicale), having supervised and operated live electronics for works by Philippe Leroux (Israeli premiere of VoiREX), Kaija Saariaho, Sarah Nemtsov, Brigitta Muntendorf, Anahita Abbasi, and Uri Kochavi, and others.

Last updated: February 2026

Photo by Laura Mykolaitytė, 2024