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Experimental musician Carmel Raz has been attracting international recognition for the unusual depth and breadth of her musical activity. As a COMPOSER, Carmel has received grants and commissions from Meet the Composer (three times), the Mellon Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, ASCAP, the Rabinovitch Foundation, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the Israel Chamber Music Institute and the Tel-Aviv Academy of Music, as well as top awards in the Musica Donum Dei Composition Competition and in the Karen Sokolof Javitch Composition Competition. Ensembles including the Arditti, Molinari, Carmel and Pacifica Quartets, Orkest de Ereprijs, Musica Nova Israel and the Modern Contemporary Players of Texas have performed her music in venues throughout Europe, Israel and North America. Her works have been programmed at festivals such as the Toronto Summer Festival, the Chicago Soundfield Festival, the Young Composers Meeting in Holland, the American Composers Alliance Festival, June in Buffalo, and the Tel-Aviv Jazz-o-Nova Festival. Her music has also been featured on Israeli, US, Polish and Latvian radio. Carmel was composer-in-residence of the Chicago-based chamber orchestra Millennium Chamber Players for the 2006—2007 season. Highlights of 2010 include a performance by members of the Kammerakadmie Potsdam and a world premiere of an orchestral piece by the Omaha Area Youth Philharmonic. As a VIOLINIST, Carmel has been featured as a chamber musician at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, and the Kennedy Center. She has performed and toured with the Israel Contemporary String Quartet, the Ensemble Modern Academy, the Tel-Aviv Soloists Ensemble, Ensemble Noamnesia and the Millennium Chamber Players at festivals including March Music Days (Bulgaria), Klangspuren (Austria), Transart (Italy), and Jusqu’aux Oreilles (Canada). Carmel was concertmaster of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (2001—2002) and of the Young Israel Philharmonic (1998—1999), and was a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra (2004—2005) and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (2003—2004), appearing across Europe and Asia under the batons of Boulez, Barenboim and Abbado. In addition to her activities as a classical performer, Carmel is active as an IMPROVISER, performing on violin, viola and mandolin in a variety of genres ranging from Jazz to World Music and Electronica. Described as "Impressive" by Cadence Magazine and "Very Strong" by Improviser Magazine, she has collaborated with artists including Jason Lindner, Omer Avital, David Krakauer, Yoyo Ma's Silk Road Project, Greg Ward and Misha Piatigorsky and performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Blue Note, the Green Mill, Iridium, the Velvet Lounge and the Jazz Gallery. She can be heard on recordings on Apprise, Imaginary Chicago and Interval labels. Born in 1982, Carmel grew up in the United States and Israel. She holds degrees in violin from the Hochschule fuer Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin, Germany, and in composition from the University of Chicago. She is currently a PhD student in MUSIC THEORY at Yale University. Download Biography Download C.V.