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Shapira recounted to me once that at The Rubin Academy in Tel-Aviv of the 60s, teachers encouraged students to follow the compositional routes of Schoenberg (Serialism), Bartok (national folklore) or Stravinsky (neo-classicism).

Shapira recalls that none of these avenues resonated in him and even though he had not yet developed his unique compositional style, he knew that following the pre-determined path of others was not the path he need follow.

Finishing his degree he ventured upon the composition of a few short pieces and was concerned at discovering that he is constantly composing his education rather than inventing. Disconcerted, Shapira took almost 10 years off composing at which he dedicated himself to teaching and studying the musical language of Bach, which he teaches to this day.
His first pieces immerged in the late 70s ushering in a new style of music deriving its force from the music Shapira finally realized he related to:

“… Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartok? This music meant absolutely nothing to me. They represented an era past to which my teachers could perhaps relate. I chose if anything to argue with these composers, but realized that even that is not relevant. The composers I should have been arguing with were Stockhausen, Boulez, Berio, Reich. These were the voices of my time whose music I didn’t accept as well, but who were at least relevant…”

“… I believe that my only reference if any could have come from post- war composers. They could understand the tragedy but decided to continue the tradition of beautification. Hence my ongoing musical argument with them…”

The Haifa University decided to honor Shapira with a concert on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The New Israeli String Quartet performed some pieces of his including a String Trio written for his graduation from the Rubin Academy in 68. Shapira mentions that students at that time were allowed to venture upon an original composition only at the end of their studies, and after proving they were proficient in past techniques and pastiche. The trio was performed in an official concert on which some of his teacher’s music was programmed as well. Shapira still recalls with noticeable joy the confused and perturbed faces of his teachers and colleagues.

Having heard the same piece almost 40 years later was quite a revelation: A short, two and a half minute gesture, revealing much of what will become the style of one of Israel’s most delightfully extreme composers.

Ophir Ilzetzki

* An Hour is an Anechoic Transmission

An Hour

An Hour is a monthly slot dedicated to the promotion and distribution of the extremes of contemporary classical music. The presenter and producer Ophir Ilzetzki, a composer himself, tours the virtual world in search of other like-minded composers and performers who are not afraid to be different and above all, themselves:

" How much more bombardment can we take from musical establishments trying to convince us of their tepid, easy-listening, derivative, commercial tastes? Might the 21st century be ushering in an era in which academic composers are taught not how to innovate or experiment, but how to become business people? An era in which each unordinary piece must be presented with analysis or apology? An era which categorizes each piece as part of a grander, well established ism?..."

"...are composers willing to take responsibility for music representing this era as the absolute and final culmination of musical history? Is this indeed the age at which nothing new can be said but our inane and personal observations on the past?..."

Composers and performers interested in taking part are encouraged to contact Ophir Ilzetzki: info@halas.am

An Hour is an Anechoic Transmission