Ofra Yitzhaki – an internationally acclaimed Israeli pianist, artistic director of the Upper Galilee Chamber Music Festival at Kfar Blum, and a highly regarded faculty member at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music – has long established herself on world stages as a prominent interpreter of modern and avant-garde music.
Above all, the Juilliard graduate has emerged as one of today’s leading champions of Israeli art music.
Over the span of just 18 months, Yitzhaki released three distinct albums, each focusing on a monumental figure in Israeli composition.
Josef Tal and Mordecai Seter, she noted with enthusiasm, are two of the greatest composers Israel has ever produced, and they stand firmly on the global stage.
The third album features the complete piano works of Josef Bardanashvili, widely regarded as one of Israel’s greatest living composers.
Although released in rapid succession, the overarching project took years the develop.
“The initial spark occurred about eight years ago, when I was invited by the Berlin Orchestra to perform Tal’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (1944),” Yitzhaki recalled.
“It gripped me so intensely that I asked myself: How is it possible that I don’t know his piano music? It’s simply outstanding.”
Shortly after, a German record label invited her to record a comprehensive selection of Tal’s piano works – an invitation she eagerly accepted.
Part I: Josef Tal – Uncompromising innovation
Tal belongs to the founding generation of Israel's classical music. In 1934, at the age of 23, he fled Nazi Germany, leaving his parents behind. In his memoir, he recalled them sitting near the railway station like two statues, waving goodbye as his train departed. His father was later murdered in Auschwitz.
Settling in British Mandate Palestine, Tal established himself as a fierce artistic pioneer. Yet for decades, much of his piano music remained tucked away in archives or preserved only in sporadic historical recordings.
Yitzhaki’s album, Josef Tal: Piano Works 1936-2000, released on the premier German label NEOS, finally brings this repertoire to a global audience under the guidance of a dedicated interpreter.
“Knowing where our local classical scene stands regarding native repertoire, it didn’t surprise me culturally,” Yitzhaki admitted regarding the German release.
In Germany, Tal remains deeply revered, making the recording process feel, as she put it, “like bringing his piano music back to where it truly belonged.”
Tal’s legacy raises compelling questions about identity. Arriving in Mandate Palestine in the 1930s, he faced a web of aesthetic expectations to write music with explicit Jewish or Israeli folk themes.
Coming from an assimilated German-Jewish background, Tal resisted these demands, viewing them as an artificial imposition on his mature compositional technique.
While some scholars view his refusal to incorporate “Mediterraneanism” (Middle Eastern modes and traditional motifs) as a political statement or an expression of Eurocentric cultural commitment, Yitzhaki saw it more straightforwardly: “It is only natural to stay true to who you are.”
Tal did not ignore his surroundings entirely. His First Symphony references “By the Rivers of Babylon,” his Piano Sonata references Yehuda Sharett’s “Rachel,” and he frequently drew on extra-musical themes linked to his Jewish-Israeli identity.
However, he refused to alter his core compositional language – a balance musicologist Prof. Jehoash Hirshberg famously termed “national individualism.”
Tal’s achievements extend far beyond local influences. In 1961, he established the first electronic music studio in Israel, opening new horizons parallel to visionaries like Karlheinz Stockhausen.
His ability to integrate the acoustic idiom of the piano with emerging electronic media remains a landmark. He was also among the first to introduce avant-garde serialism, including his own treatment of Arnold Schoenberg’s 12-tone technique, to Israeli art music.
Moreover, while his earlier works are exceptional, original examples of modernism, in his later works Tal cultivated a unique musical idiom that challenges professional and non-professional musicians alike.
“He possessed immense creative freedom and intellectual curiosity,” explained Yitzhaki. “Even in his late 90s, he remained curious about new compositional techniques. That openness laid the groundwork for later modern and avant-garde Israeli composers.”
Part II: Mordecai Seter – Transcendental introspection
Yitzhaki’s commitment to capturing overlooked repertoire continued with Mordecai Seter: Late Works, released on the Israel Music Institute (IMI) label.
The project originated in 2024, when she curated a concert titled Still Seter: Intimate Sounds to mark 30 years since the composer’s death.
Performing Seter’s early pieces alongside his late, rarely heard compositions, Yitzhaki was struck by how deeply listeners connected to those final, austere pieces.
“Musicians, students, and general listeners were spellbound by his late works,” she said. “I felt compelled to capture this unique universe on record.”
Describing her experience performing this repertoire, Yitzhaki spoke of being absorbed into Seter’s meditative mysticism – a deeply philosophical worldview translated into sound that sits stylistically between the sparse stillness of Morton Feldman and the coloristic intensity of Olivier Messiaen.
Part III: Josef Bardanashvili – A living dialogue
Completing this trilogy is the complete piano works of Josef Bardanashvili, released on the German label TYXArt. Interpreting a living composer presented a stark contrast to recording Tal or Seter.
“With historical composers, it’s just me and my artistic choices,” Yitzhaki explained. “Here, the composer is in the booth, saying, ‘Try that again,’ or ‘I envisioned this differently.’ It becomes a true partnership.”
In an interview regarding this project, Bardanashvili echoed this sentiment: “Ofra takes my ideas and makes them entirely her own.”
The album highlights Bardanashvili’s striking versatility. It ranges from his early First Piano Sonata (1974), written when he was deeply influenced by Arnold Schoenberg, to his Second Piano Sonata (1990), which draws on Neo-Baroque textures inspired by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
The collection also features works written for theater and film – offering a window into his communicative, semi-popular style – alongside his popular Piano Fantasy, which seamlessly weaves synagogue cantillations, Georgian folk songs, and Soviet avant-garde techniques.
Though Bardanashvili draws heavily on liturgical themes, he noted that his settings of Georgian-Jewish melodies reflect a rich tapestry of traditions, spanning Sephardi, Russian Ashkenazi, and Lithuanian Ashkenazi roots brought together in Georgia.
When asked about his primary influences, he pointed to Soviet giants Dmitri Shostakovich, Alfred Schnittke, and Giya Kancheli.
Reflecting on her trilogy, Yitzhaki resisted labeling her project as an explicit political statement.
“My primary drive is simply to record music I believe in deeply, on an artistic level,” she said. “It just so happens that this superb music is Israeli. I feel a need to bridge the songs I grew up listening to with the classical repertoire I play on stage.”
As Bardanashvili aptly put it, Yitzhaki’s dedication is “a gift to everyone – to the audience, to the history of music, and especially to composers.”