About the Research on Performance Group, Israel (RPGI)

The Research on Performance Group Israel (RPGI) is a group of scholars who are interested in the study of musical performance. RPGI members are located in Israel or are scholars who live outside of Israel but are interested in the Israeli musicological scene. 

The group meets every three months for presenting to each other their latest research and enjoying the stimulation of ideas and feedback. The group is planning to organize study days and mutual publications on musical performance. 

Current RPGI Memebers: Dr. Eitan Ornoy, Dr. Avior Byron, Dr. Ori Golomb, Dr. Ron Atar, and Avigail Dolan.

Dr. Eitan Ornoy 

Eitan Ornoy studied violin with Prof. Felix Andrievsky and Arthur Zisserman at the Rubin Academy, Tel Aviv, Israel. He continued his studies in the USA with renowned violinist Serjiu Luca who introduced him to the Baroque violin and to the 'historically informed' style of playing. He received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (under the guidance of Prof. Jeohash Hirshberg), his dissertation focused on the historically informed performance movement’ (HIP).

His research activities focus mainly on recording analysis and on music cognition. In 2003 he was awarded the British Library's National Sound Archive Edison Fellowship.

As a violinist he has played in orchestras in Israel and in the USA, including the Israel Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Ballet and the Israel Chamber Orchestra.

Dr. Ornoy serves as lecturer of musical studies at Beitberl Academic College and is affiliated as an external researcher to the Musicology Department of the Hebrew University.

Publications

Conference papers

Dr. Avior Byron

Dr. Avior Byron is a musicologist, blogger and composer. Byron published in journals such as Music Theory Online and is currently working on a book on Schoenberg's writings on aesthetics and interpretation in performance (Oxford University Press).

His current research is on the violinist Bronislaw Huberman, the reception of his performances and recording analysis. 

Byron did his Ph.D. in Music, Royal Holloway Collage, University of London, under the supervision of Prof. John Rink. Thesis: 'Schoenberg as Performer: An Aesthetics in Practice'. B.A. Degree from Tel-Aviv University in Musicology and Orchestra Conducting.

Read more about Avior Byron here

Publications

Book

Articles

See the full list of Byron's publications here

Dr. Uri Golomb

Born in Israel in 1972. BA (in musicology and general interdisciplinary studies in humanities) at Tel-Aviv University, and MA (in Historical Musicology) at King’s College, London.

In 2004, completed PhD at Cambridge University, under the supervision of Prof. John Butt (now at Glasgow University) and Dr. Geoffrey Weber (Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge). The title of my dissertation is: “Expression and Meaning in Bach Performance and Reception: An Examination of the B minor Mass on Record”; (see: http://www.snipurl.com/ugphd_abs).

Currently engaged in a post-doctoral project entitled The Fifth Evangelist, the Impassioned Rhetorician and the Practical Musician: Re-Creating Bach’s Vocal Music in the Age of Recordings.

Publications

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Dr. Ron Atar

Ron Atar received his PhD in 2007. He wrote his dissertation: "Analysis of Béla Bartók's Performances to Selected Compositions" under the supervision of Prof. Judith Frigyesi at Bar Ilan University. He had completed his MA degree (in Ethnomusicology) at Bar-Ilan University, under the supervision of Prof. Simcha Arom (CNRS-PARIS) and Prof. Edwin Seroussi.

Parts of his PhD dissertation were presented in the framework of two international conferences: Bartók Orbit Conference at the Bartók archive of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest (2006) and the annual conference of the Royal Musical Association and CHARM, Royal Holloway-University of London (2007).

He was awarded the British Library's National Sound Archive grant (Edison Fellowship) for the years 2008-2009.

Dr. Atar's current research deals with the interpretation of Bartók's orchestral compositions during the last few decades from the perspective of the composer's notation and his written and recorded legacy.

Dr. Atar is also active in the ethnomusicological research field, focusing particularly on the performance styles of the liturgical and secular music of Beta Israel (the Ethiopian Jews). He published few articles on these issues and took part at the writing of the music chapter of "Ethiopia" volume of Jewish Communities in the East in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries series (Ben-Zevi Institute, 2008).

Selected List of Publications

• Atar, Ron. "Form Created by Performance: Bartók's recording of his improvisations op.20 ." Studia Musicologica 48/1-2, (2007): 155-172. (Online).
• Atar, Ron. (Forthcoming) "Bartók's recordings of 15 Hungarian Peasants Folksongs-from a collection of arrangements into integrated composition." Musicae Scientiae.
• Atar, Ron. "The Performance practice in Beta Israel prayers - a Service for the New Moon: a case study." Aethiopica-International Journal of Ethiopian Studies, vol. 12 (2010).

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