Nurit Hirsh
Nurit Hirsh (Hebrew: נורית הירש, b. Tel Aviv, 1942) is an Israeli composer, arranger and conductor who has written over a thousand Hebrew songs.[1] Two of her most famous and widely songs are Ba-Shanah ha-Ba’ah (Next Year, lyrics by Ehud Manor), and Oseh Shalom bi-Meromav (text from the Kaddish prayer).[2]
Biography
Nurit Hirsh (Rosenfeld) studied at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, majoring in piano. She also studied composition with Mordecai Seter, orchestration with Noam Sheriff and conducting with Laslo Rott. She studied clarinet with Yaacov Barnea of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.[1] Hirsh did her IDF military service with the entertainment troupe of the armored corps. She began composing upon completion of her service, debuting with Perach Halilach, composed in 1965 to lyrics by Uri Asaf and which was made famous by singer Chava Alberstein.
Music career
Hirsh has won prizes in Greece, Brazil, Chile, Japan, Portugal, Malta, Ireland and Yugoslavia. In 1973, her song Ey Sham, performed by Ilanit, placed fourth in the Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg. She orchestrated the song and conducted the orchestra.
In the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, again she conducted the orchestra for the Israeli entry A-Ba-Ni-Bi, which won first prize. Hirsh wrote the film scores for fourteen Israeli movies, among them Lupo!, Katz and Karasso, Behind Walls and the Ephraim Kishon's movie, The Policeman, which was nominated for best foreign picture at the 1972 Academy Awards. She conducted the musical Sallah Shabati during its three-year run at Israel's national theater Habima.[1]
In February 2000, she was the guest of honor at a special tribute concert at the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, where she played piano with the Israel Philharmonic. She has performed together with her daughter, Ruth Rosenfeld, an opera singer, at venues around the world.[1]
She regularly collaborated with Ehud Manor and set many of his songs to music, among them Habatim Shenigmeru Leyad Hayam, Bashanah Haba'ah, Lalechet Shevi Acharayich and tens of other hits, the majority of which were performed by Ilanit, Ofra Fuchs and Rivka Zohar. Hirsh is also known for Oseh Shalom Bimromav, which was composed for the first Hasidic Song Festival, held in 1969, and which took third prize. Her melody has since become part of the liturgy in synagogues and Jewish communities worldwide.[2]
Awards and recognition
Hirsh won the 2001 ACUM (Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers of Music in Israel) life achievement award for songwriting; the 2006 lifetime achievement award from Bar-Ilan University; and the 2006 Woman of the Year award from Lions Club Israel.[3]In March 2016, it was announced that Hirsch would receive the Israel Prize.
