Chagit Glaser
| Chagit Glaser | |
|---|---|
| Native name | חגית גלזר |
| Born | 1969 Israel |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Israeli |
| 💼 Occupation | Cellist, conductor, music educator |
| 📆 Years active | 1983–present |
Chagit Glaser (Hebrew: חגית גלזר; born 1969) is an Israeli cellist, conductor, and music educator. She has performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician and collaborated with leading orchestras and artists in both classical and popular music.
Biography
Chagit Glaser began playing the cello at the age of 8 and received her first scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation at age 10. She held this scholarship for sixteen consecutive years.
Glaser won first prize in the Claremont Competition in Tel Aviv for several consecutive years and received first prize in the Joachim Stutschewsky Cello Competition in 1993. In 1994, she received the Nori Grant from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. She was principal cellist at the Fontainebleau Music Festival in 2001, where she won the Best Performer Award. While there, she was discovered by conductor and pianist Philippe Entremont, with whom she performed as a soloist.
She began her career at age 14, performing Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with the Israel Sinfonietta Be'er Sheva. She was later invited by violinist Isaac Stern to perform at his 65th birthday gala at Carnegie Hall.
She has performed as a soloist with various orchestras, including the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Jupiter Symphony in New York, the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music Orchestra, the Frankfurt University of Music Orchestra (Germany), and the Fontainebleau Festival Orchestra (France).
Her collaborators include Pinchas Zukerman, Mark Neikrug, Shlomo Mintz, Lukas Foss, Miriam Fried, and Seymour Lipkin. Glaser has participated in festivals such as the Israel Baroque Festival, the Indian River Festival (Canada), the Summer Trios (Upstate New York), the Isaac Stern Young Musicians Project (Jerusalem), and the Rolandseck Festival (Germany).
She has performed in major venues including Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Alte Oper (Frankfurt), St Martin-in-the-Fields and Royal Festival Hall (London), as well as in cities across Switzerland, Germany, Scotland, France, and Canada.
Education
Glaser studied with Israeli cellists Tommy Haas and Shmuel Magen in Jerusalem, later continuing with Uzi Wiesel in Tel Aviv. At age 16, she traveled to Baltimore to study under Yehuda Hanani at the Peabody Institute. After returning to Israel, she served in the Israel Defense Forces as an “Outstanding Musician.”
She later studied with Bernard Greenhouse at the New England Conservatory in Boston and earned her bachelor's degree at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music. She completed a master’s degree and Professional Studies Diploma at the Juilliard School under Zara Nelsova and Harvey Shapiro. Her postgraduate work continued at Mannes College with Timothy Eddy, and she also studied with Irene Sharp, assistant to Yo-Yo Ma.
Performance career
Glaser has served as principal cellist with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the NYU Opera Chamber Orchestra, the Manhattan Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, and the New Jerusalem Chamber Orchestra.
She was principal cellist and soloist for five years with the Jupiter Symphony (New York), under conductor Jens Nygaard, and also performed with the Lyric Theater Orchestra in Hoboken, New Jersey.
She is regularly invited to perform and record in Israel and has toured throughout Europe. She founded the Incarnation Center Chamber Music Festival in Ivoryton, Connecticut, serving as its director and principal instructor.
Glaser released a CD featuring works by contemporary composer Stephen Perillo on Centaur Records.
Teaching and education
Glaser has served on the faculty of Mannes College of Music and was invited to teach cello and chamber music at Juilliard Pre-College. Her students have been accepted to prestigious institutions including Juilliard and Mannes.
In Israel, she teaches at the Ono Academic College and intermittently at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, where she also judges entrance exams. She has taught at chamber music programs and masterclasses internationally, including on Prince Edward Island in Canada.
Conducting
Glaser is currently a third-year conducting student at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music. In 2024, she was appointed music director and conductor of the Israeli Flute Choir.
She has conducted various youth and professional ensembles, including:
- The “Yanshuf” Courses Orchestra
- The Alumni Orchestra of the Israeli Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv
- The Young String Orchestra at the Mishkenot Sha'ananim Music Center
- The Haifa Orchestra
- The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music Orchestra
- The Campus Orchestra concert series
She is also regularly called upon to substitute for other conductors in rehearsals.
Popular music and theater
In addition to her classical work, Glaser has collaborated with Israeli artists such as Arkadi Duchin, Achinoam Nini, Ze'ev Nechama, Dani Bassan, and Dana Berger. She has performed in Broadway musicals in New York and at Israel’s national theater, Habima Theatre.
She also performed in New York with American pop singer Mariah Carey.
External links
References
This article "Chagit Glaser" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Chagit Glaser. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
