Yardena Alotin

Yardena Alotin (Hebrew: ירדנה אלוטין; April 19, 1930 in Tel Aviv – October 4, 1994 in New York City) was an Israeli composer and pianist. As a pianist and teacher, Alotin also wrote educational music and music for young musicians, such as "Six Piano Pieces for Children." Alotin won the Nissimov Prize for her 1956 work, "Yefei Nof."
Biography.
Yardena Alotin began studying piano at the age of five with Rivka Sharett-Hoz, the sister of Moshe Sharett, and the wife of Dov Hoz. Yardena Alotin studied from 1948 to 1950 at the Music Teachers' College in Tel Aviv and then from 1950 to 1952 at the Israel Music Academy. Among her teachers were Alexander Uriah Boskovich (theory), Mordecai Seter (harmony, counterpoint), Paul Ben-Haim (orchestrator), Ilona Vincze-Kraus (piano) and Ödön Pártos (composition).
Her first work was "Yefei Nof" for mixed choir, which won the Nissimov Prize and was premiered by the Rinat Choir, of which she was a member, in Tel Aviv and at the Paris International Festival in 1956. "Cantata" for a cappella choir (1958) was performed at the Perugia Religious Music Festival in 1960. She produced both didactic and commissioned work, and rewrote "Yefei Nof" for solo flute (1978) for James Galway, sho often performed it on tour. It is now an established piece in the international flute repertoire. In 1984 she received a commission from the Tel Aviv Foundation for Culture and Art to mark Tel Aviv's seventy-fifth anniversary. In 1975 and 1976, Alotin was the composer-in-residence at Bar-Ilan University, and she taught piano at the Israel Conservatory of Music in Tel-Aviv. In 1998 Alotin's husband, Yohanan Riverant, donated a fund in her name for the support of Israeli music performance.
Music.
Alotin wrote chamber, vocal, piano, and orchestral works. Much of her oeuvre has sacred and biblical references, and makes great use of optimistic, lyrical melodies and colorful dissonance, often influenced by renaissance and medieval counterpoint. She often writes based on baroque and classical forms, with an eclectic language of Eastern, Western, and Jewish influences. Her music uses a multitude of polyphonic textures, as well as more heterophonic textures in her vocal and instrumental works. She often employs a contrapuntal use of lines that employ hemiola, cross-rhythm and phrasing, irregular phrasing and metric accents, rhythmic ostinatos, and mixed meters.
Works.
Selected works composed by Yardena Alotin include:
Orchestral
Vocal
Chamber
Piano