BIOGRAPHY
Nissim Khalifa is an Israeli composer. Born and raised in the old city of Yafo (part of Tel Aviv), Israel, Nissim started his musical education at the age of eight when he took his first piano lessons, and graduated from the Philip and Janice Levin Tel Aviv-Yafo Conservatory in Saxophone playing. He started studying composition in High-School under the guidance of composer and pianist Isaac Steiner, and received a master’s degree in composition under the guidance of Prof. Michael Wolpe and Dr. Ayal Adler at the Jerusalem Academy for Music & Dancing. For a while, he also studied orchestration with composer and arranger Shimon Cohen, counterpoint with composer and violist Michael Damian, and composition with renowned Israeli composer Andre Hajdu.
His musical inspirations stem from his Israeli roots, combining sources such as traditional Middle-Eastern Music, Greek music, Irish music, Israeli and Jewish music, Jazz and music for flims.
Nissim’s music has been commissioned and performed by various ensembles, orchestras, and soloists, such as Ensemble Kaprizma, and Ensemble Meitar. The Jerusalem Academy of Music & Dance Chamber Choir, Symphonette Raa'nana Orchestra, Ashdod Symphony Orchestra, The Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva, and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, among others.
His awards and accolades include the 4th prize in the 2008 Joseph Dorfman Composition Competition in Michelstadt, Germany. 1st Prize in the 2008 Daniel International Young Composers Competition, and an honorable mention in the 2009 Chana Avni-Yaddor’s Composition Competition.
Composer Nissim Khalifa brings his unique musical identity in various genres of music ranging from chamber music to vocal, to symphonic. His first opera, FIONN (with a libretto by Eugene Kaminsky) was partially performed and recorded by various well-known Israeli opera performers, and recently he has finished composing a short Cantata based on the Ballade ‘In Endor’ by Israeli Poet Shaul Tchernichovsky. Currently under development are a new opera, Solomon & Asmedeus, written in collaboration with librettist Eugene Kaminsky, a new musical, The Rabbi, a new oratorio and a suite for piano.
