Gilad Hochman

In 2007 Hochman graduated with honors from the Buchman-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, studying composition under Gil Shohat, musicology and theoretical subjects under some of Israel's leading senior musicians.The New York Times commented: "perhaps most impressive was Mr. Hochman’s gift for assembling musical gestures that come across as psychologically revealing, whether it’s players’ finishing each other's sentences, the neurotic instability suggested by a microtonal wobble on a held note or the freezing self-doubt of a painfully quiet passage.He founded and artistically directed the Arco String Ensemble and the New Sounds concert series of the Israel Composers’ League and in 2007 won a merit certificate from the city of Ra'anana.In this work Hochman originally defines the place of the individual cello vis-à-vis the choir surrounding it, creating a dialogue that shifts between a whispered prayer and dramatic, powerfully expressive climaxes.The uniqueness of this work does not derive solely from the unconventional ensemble, but more significantly from Hochman's sensitive treatment of the melodic phrases, the gradual construction of the dramatic progression and the way in which the distinctive artistic goal is reached in the end.