Eilam-Amzallag Avraham

Dr. Avi Eilam Amzallag was born in Morocco in 1939 and in 1952 immigrated to Israel alone as part of the Youth Aliyah. While still a student at the "Aliyah" institution in Israel, his musical talent was discovered and so he won scholarships from the Sharett Foundation (Norman Foundation) and was accepted as a flute student by Dr. Uri Toeplitz, who at the time was the principal flutist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Immediately after his military service as a paratrooper, he began his studies at the Tel Aviv Teachers' College of Music. During his studies, he worked for the "Inbal" Dance Theatre as a flutist, composer and director of the orchestra and choir.

As part of his work in the Inbal Dance Theater, he wrote many works, the most known among them is the play Akhoti Kallah (My Sister, My Bride), Songs and Music to the choreography of Sarah Levi Tannay.

After completing his studies at the Teachers' College of Music, he began working as a flutist and composer in various institutions, including Orna Porat's Children's Theater. He wrote music for several plays and founded the Mizmor Group.

Eilam Amzalag completed his bachelor's and master's degrees at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music where he studied music, conducting, composition and musicology. As a master's thesis he submitted a research paper on Eden Partosh's Maqamat for Flute and Strings. He completed his Ph.D. studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and submitted his doctoral dissertation on the Maqam system of North Africa, under the guidance of Prof. Amnon Shiloah. In addition, he studied Hebrew medieval poetry, Arabic and English literature.

He taught at the University of Be'er Sheva and the University of Haifa. During his academic work, he directed students and researchers to various degrees.

Eilam Amzalag participated in the establishment of the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra and served as its musical director and chief conductor for nine years from its establishment. For the first time the Jewish version of the Andalusian music was transcribed by him into Western notation. 

He composed many works for various ensembles, and his works were performed by the best musical institutions in Israel and abroad, including the Israel Chamber Orchestra, musicians from the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Camerata Orchestra, the Israel Broadcasting Authority Orchestra, the Kibbutzim-Netanya Orchestra and others. His choral works were commissioned and performed by the New York Metropolitan Opera chorus singers, Cameran Singers conducted by Prof. Avner Etay, Maya Shavit and others. His flute quartets were commissioned and performed by the Israeli Flute Quartet with Uri Shoham, works for the orchestra such as "Libi Bamizrah" commissioned and performed by the Israel Camerata Orchestra conducted by Prof.  Avner Biron, and 'Moroccan Suite' for flute and chamber orchestra was played by the Netanya Kibbutz Orchestra with flutist Sharon Batzali.

The works of Eilam Amazlag are very successful and combine Eastern Melos with Western compositional techniques. 

As a researcher, he researched the Jewish music of North Africa and published books and articles in this field.

Dr. Eilam Amzallag won various prizes for his works and for his contribution to the Israeli music. Among the prizes: Luciano Berio Award; The Israel Chamber Orchestra Prize, the Tel Aviv Municipality Prize for the Performing Arts and the Golden Age Award.