Maya Dunietz
Encyclopedia
Maya Dunietz is an Israeli pianist, singer and composer, recording and performing worldwide in a wide range of musical genres.
. Between 1994-1998 attended The Thelma Yellin school of Fine Arts and graduated with honors. In 1995 Dunietz acted in the feature film There was no War in 1972 by director David Kraner. In 1996 she hosted a weekly youth television program on Channel 1 (Israel)
. On the same year she represented Israel at the annual conference of Jeunesses Musicales International in Ivory Coast, Africa. In 1997 Dunietz acted in the feature film Dana isn't Dancing by Shmuel Imberman, and acted in several student productions. Between 1996-1998 presented a weekly radio show on local radio. In 1997 she performed as premier pianist of the Thelma Yellin big band
in Boston and New York. She also produced and composed the soundtrack of The Blue Bird by Maurice Maeterlinck
. In 1998 Dunietz joined Reflex Ensemble for music and new interdiscipline art, and performed with it as solo artist on the New Voices festival at Kfar Blum
. In 1999 She composed a piece for the Ilan Mochiah Big Band at the Women Festival in Holon Theater, Performed at the Red Sea Jazz Festival
in Eilat, and with the Salsa
band Coco Loco in Israel and in Turkey
. In 1999 Dunietz enrolled in The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music
in New York. While there, she performed with John Zorn
, Daniel Zamir
and Aaron Dugan, Performed in New Jersey with George Antheil
's Ballet Mécanique
, Played for the New York Shakespeare Theater Company in the Hampton Festival in New York, and for Yehonatan Geffen
in his US tour.
on piano, keyboards and vocalist, recorded two albums (in 2002 and 2006), and performed with them in Israel and in Europe. In 2002 and 2003 she performed with Japanese musician Yuka Yamamoto, Bass player Adam Sheflan, and Saxophone player Eyal Talmudi.
In 2003 Dunietz studied Classical piano with Professor Alexander Volkov, and performed in the Israel Festival
with a Cobra concert
by John Zorn
. In the same year she joined Israeli band Eatliz as lead vocalist, and wrote the lyrics for most of its first album (released only after she left the band in 2005). In 2003 Dunietz founded Givol Choir, an Avant-garde
vocal supergroup
consisting of musicians already notable in a variety of styles and genres. Between 2003-2008 the choir created and performed five different programs. Dunietz wrote the music and was musical director of the play Garinim, directed by Ariel Efraim Ashbel, awarded best play and best musical soundtrack in the 2003 Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre
. The music in this symbolic visual theater project was performed by a Givol Choir ensemble. Since then, Dunietz acts as resident composer for Ashbel's theatrical ensemble, and wrote the music for its next projects. In 2004 she played in the first album by Rona Keinan, Breathing Down to Zero. Since 2004 (and until 2008) she performed regularly with Clarinet
player Harold Rubin
. These improv
shows, generally on a weekly basis, had a small but consistent following, and took place mostly in The West Bank club in Tel Aviv. In 2005 Dunietz joined The Midnight Peacocks - a hard-core rock trio from Tel Aviv, playing music they like to define as "circus-core" – a crossover between hard-core, oriental and cabaret. With the Peacocks she recorded their debut album, It's a brutal machine. Dunietz still occasionally performs with this band as guest vocalist. In 2005 she also took part in recording an album with Bass player Jean Claude Jones With Friends. On the same year she composed Surprise1 - a piece for piano and voice, and performed it at the Rowdyism festival in Tel Aviv. She also performed with Roy Yarkoni's compositions in the New Waves concert series of the Musica Nova group, titled The Milk Underground, featuring the poetry of Ronny Someck
. In November 2005 Dunietz performed at the Piano festival at Susan Dallal center in Tel Aviv, in a Duet performance with David Broza
. In the very same festival, she also gave a solo concert titled "Boogy Woogy, Honky Tonk and Blues - The Cat House Piano" - a tribute to Jelly Roll Morton
, Art Tatum
, Scott Joplin
, Lucille Bogan
and others. Dunietz surprised the audience when she came on stage with her face painted black, in protest of the blackface
phenomenon in early 20th century American Jazz.
Festival, and Surprise2 - a piece for piano and voice performed in Israel and in concerts of Reflex Ensemble at Symphony Space, New York. In the same year she also recorded a session with Yoni Silver, Eitan Radushinsky, Constantin Gross, Keren Rosenbaum and Aaron Dugan titled The Romanians. The session was recorded and published by the label Zukovprocessor.
In 2006, Dunietz enrolled in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague
in The Netherlands and studied composition with Gilius van Bergeijk
. under this hospice she wrote in 2007 the pieces "Tzutzik" for The New Ensemble, Amsterdam
, "Put it in My Mouth", an electronic piece, performed by her at The Royal Conservatory in Den Haag, and "Minutes", a piece for Saxophone and piano performed at Korzo Theater Den Haag. In the same year she gave a solo concert at Stone New York with an original piano composition, and a duet with clarinet player Harold Rubin at Free Music Production festival in Berlin
. She also recorded with the Midnigfht Peacocks their second album Three, and performed with musicians Steve Noble, Yedo Gibson and Marcio Mattos as Pau Na Maquina Quartet.
In August 2007 Dunietz and her partner, conductor
Ilan Volkov
, had their first daughter Nadia Borboleta. In the days prior to the birth, Dunietz participated in the farewell concerts of Habiluim
, with The Midnight Peacocks, and with vocalist Mike Patton
in Cobra concert
in Tel Aviv. Two months later, due to public demand, she repeated "Boogy Woogy, Honky Tonk and Blues - The Cat House Piano", with her two months old baby in the audience. In December 2007 she presented two sound installation
s at the Sound Disturbance show of the Israeli Center for Digital Art in Holon. In 2008 her improvisation duo with Harold Rubin was joined by musician and saxophone player Yoni Silver, and the three recorded the album Mono Musical Suite for Three Manic Musicians. In the same year Dunietz performed with Saxophone player Evan Parker
, and pianist August Fernandez, with musician Alvin Coran, with pianist and poet Ophir Klemperer on drums and percussions, as guest pianist with the Magreb Orchestra, with Jewlia Eisenberg
and Shizad Ismaily's Toychestra, and with the Givol Choir's fifth program, which took place in a historical Tel Aviv building together with composer and percussionist David Moss
in three consecutive days of performance. Before the year was out, Dunietz recorded the second album of Boom Pam, Puerto Rican Nights.
In 2009 Dunietz took part in recording the debut album of Israeli singer/songwriter Ori Mark; performed with the Midnight Peacocks at the South by Southwest
festival in Austin, Texas
; played with composer and saxophone player John Butcher
and drummer Eddie Prévost
in a show in London; Played with bass player and percussionist Shahzad Ismaily at The Chelsea Art Museum in New York, recorded Itamar Rothschild's first album; and played with Aaron Dugan and rapper Matisyahu
in Levontin 7 Tel Aviv. She also performed with Desert Blues and a variety of experimantal avant garde solo performances. In the same year, she performed with the Mambo Mambas in a number of shows and festivals, and in October 2009 she rejoined forces with singer Michal Oppenhaim for a new vocal Duet show. Towards the end of the year, she temporarily joined the klezmer
band Oy Division as lead singer, in the Yiddish language
.
by The Velvet Underground
. She also performed with and wrote the string arrangements for "1000", an album released in 2011 by French Hyphy post-punk trio Cheveu. Presented and performed in two consecutive exhibitions in Art Site Jerusalem "Yaffo 23", a multidisciplinary art venue run by Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design,. Performed on piano at "You Make Remake" Festival in Tel Aviv curated by Renana Raz. Performed with Uzi (Ramirez) Feinerman (guitar) and Ram Gabai (drums) in the "PsanTrio" Festival in Tel-Aviv. Presented a musical installation together with visual artist Alona Rodeh in the main opening event of 2010 Design Year in Holon. In the summer of 2010 Dunietz performed with John Butcher
, Eddie Prévost
and Guillaume Villtard at Cafe Oto in London, and with Neil Davidson and Johnny Chang in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland. Performed with DJ Ofer (SchoolMaster) Tal at the 20th anniversary of The Left Bank. In October 2010 Dunietz performed in Toulouse, France with "Vortex", a French Improv
Jazz Duo consisting of Heddy Boubaker and Sebastian Ciroutteau. In January 2011 Dunietz performed in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with Stephen O'Malley
(US) and Iancu Dumitrescu
(Romania). In the same month She performed with Ansamblu Hyperion La Ateneul Roman
in Bucharest
, Romania, and also performed at the International Conference and Workshop, titled "Whispering, Prompting, Shadowing: Performed Voices" conducted by The Institute for Advanced Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
. Later that year Dunietz performed Solo Piano alongside two other women pianists: Misa Shimomora (Japan), and Katia Tubul (Israel) and exhibited in the Ashdod Museum of art group show "On the Road to Nowhere". In April and May 2011 Dunietz curated a series of events at London Avant-Garde venue "Cafe Oto", labeled "Hit & Run". Dunietz also took active part in each of those events, featuring musicians such as Oren Ambarchi
, Daniel Higgs
, Steve Beresford
and Fritz Welch. Later that year she released an album, playing piano with John Edwards (Bass) and Steve Noble (Drums), recorded at Eastcote Studios in London in 2008.
Her early years
Maya Dunietz received an early musical education, starting with piano lessons at the age of 6. Took piano lessons with Naomi Lev and Jenina Lowenberg, studied with composer Keren Rosenbaum and at the Shtriker Israeli Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv, Flute with Flutist Moshe Epstein, and Musical Theory with composer Lev Kogan. In 1992 Started taking voice training and vocal lessons with Anat Morag, joined the Bat Kol youth choir, and performed with it in Israel and abroad. In 1993 Dunietz acted and sang in the theatrical Opera of the Jews directed by Yoram Porat, at the Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli TheatreAcco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre
The Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre is a four-day performing arts festival held annually in the city of Acre, Israel during the Intermediate Days of the Sukkot holiday in early autumn...
. Between 1994-1998 attended The Thelma Yellin school of Fine Arts and graduated with honors. In 1995 Dunietz acted in the feature film There was no War in 1972 by director David Kraner. In 1996 she hosted a weekly youth television program on Channel 1 (Israel)
Channel 1 (Israel)
Channel 1 is one of the oldest television channels in Israel and one of five terrestrial channels in the country...
. On the same year she represented Israel at the annual conference of Jeunesses Musicales International in Ivory Coast, Africa. In 1997 Dunietz acted in the feature film Dana isn't Dancing by Shmuel Imberman, and acted in several student productions. Between 1996-1998 presented a weekly radio show on local radio. In 1997 she performed as premier pianist of the Thelma Yellin big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
in Boston and New York. She also produced and composed the soundtrack of The Blue Bird by Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
. In 1998 Dunietz joined Reflex Ensemble for music and new interdiscipline art, and performed with it as solo artist on the New Voices festival at Kfar Blum
Kfar Blum
Kfar Blum is a kibbutz in the Hula Valley part of the Upper Galilee in Israel. Located about southeast of the town of Kiryat Shmona, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In 1994 the population was 615.-History:...
. In 1999 She composed a piece for the Ilan Mochiah Big Band at the Women Festival in Holon Theater, Performed at the Red Sea Jazz Festival
Red Sea Jazz Festival
The Red Sea Jazz Festival is a jazz festival held annually in Eilat, Israel.The Red Sea Jazz Festival was first held in 1987. It is a four-day long event featuring 9-10 concerts per evening, 6 workshops with guest artists and nightly jam sessions. All performances are held outdoors at the Eilat port...
in Eilat, and with the Salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
band Coco Loco in Israel and in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. In 1999 Dunietz enrolled in The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music
The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music
The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music is the second conservatory of The New School university. It is located on 13th Street in New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood.-History:...
in New York. While there, she performed with John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, Daniel Zamir
Daniel Zamir
Daniel Zamir is an Israeli religious Jewish saxophonist. Having started on alto saxophone, Zamir is mainly known for his soprano playing.-Background:...
and Aaron Dugan, Performed in New Jersey with George Antheil
George Antheil
George Antheil was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor. A self-described "Bad Boy of Music", his modernist compositions amazed and appalled listeners in Europe and the US during the 1920s with their cacophonous celebration of mechanical devices.Returning permanently to...
's Ballet Mécanique
Ballet mécanique
Ballet Mécanique was a project by the American composer George Antheil and the filmmaker/artists Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy. Although the film was intended to use Antheil's score as a soundtrack, the two parts were not brought together until the 1990s. As a composition, Ballet Mécanique is...
, Played for the New York Shakespeare Theater Company in the Hampton Festival in New York, and for Yehonatan Geffen
Yehonatan Geffen
Yehonatan Geffen also known as Yonatan Gefen, is an Israeli author, poet, songwriter, journalist, and playwright.- Biography :...
in his US tour.
2002–2005
In 2002 Dunietz joined the international all-women vocal group Women's Voice, which consisted of seven woman musicians of various nationalities, and performed with it for two years in Africa, Europe and the US. In 2002 she started collaborating with Israeli singer Michal Oppenhaim, and performed with her in a vocal duo with original material composed by both. In the same year Dunietz also joined Israeli band HabiluimHabiluim
Habiluim is an Israeli, theatrical rock & polka band formed in 1996 by Noam Inbar & Yammi Wisler as a reaction to the deep sense of abhorrence they felt listening to contemporary Israeli Pop music, which they viewed as means for escape from the harsh Israeli reality Habiluim (Hebrew: "הבילויים",...
on piano, keyboards and vocalist, recorded two albums (in 2002 and 2006), and performed with them in Israel and in Europe. In 2002 and 2003 she performed with Japanese musician Yuka Yamamoto, Bass player Adam Sheflan, and Saxophone player Eyal Talmudi.
In 2003 Dunietz studied Classical piano with Professor Alexander Volkov, and performed in the Israel Festival
Israel Festival
The Israel Festival is a multidisciplinary arts festival held every spring in Israel. Its center is Jerusalem.The Israel Festival started in 1961 as a summer festival for classical music in the ancient Roman theater in Caesarea...
with a Cobra concert
Cobra (Zorn)
Cobra is an unpublished but recorded and frequently performed musical composition by John Zorn that was conceived as a system with very detailed rules but with no pre-conceived sequence of events, or game piece, for a group of musical improvisors and a prompter. Zorn completed Cobra on October 9,...
by John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
. In the same year she joined Israeli band Eatliz as lead vocalist, and wrote the lyrics for most of its first album (released only after she left the band in 2005). In 2003 Dunietz founded Givol Choir, an Avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
vocal supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
consisting of musicians already notable in a variety of styles and genres. Between 2003-2008 the choir created and performed five different programs. Dunietz wrote the music and was musical director of the play Garinim, directed by Ariel Efraim Ashbel, awarded best play and best musical soundtrack in the 2003 Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre
Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre
The Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre is a four-day performing arts festival held annually in the city of Acre, Israel during the Intermediate Days of the Sukkot holiday in early autumn...
. The music in this symbolic visual theater project was performed by a Givol Choir ensemble. Since then, Dunietz acts as resident composer for Ashbel's theatrical ensemble, and wrote the music for its next projects. In 2004 she played in the first album by Rona Keinan, Breathing Down to Zero. Since 2004 (and until 2008) she performed regularly with Clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
player Harold Rubin
Harold Rubin
Harold Rubin is a South African-born Israeli visual artist and free jazz clarinettist.-Biography:Harold Rubin was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on 13 May 1932. He attended the Jeppe High School for Boys and received private instruction in the fine arts...
. These improv
Improvisational theatre
Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
shows, generally on a weekly basis, had a small but consistent following, and took place mostly in The West Bank club in Tel Aviv. In 2005 Dunietz joined The Midnight Peacocks - a hard-core rock trio from Tel Aviv, playing music they like to define as "circus-core" – a crossover between hard-core, oriental and cabaret. With the Peacocks she recorded their debut album, It's a brutal machine. Dunietz still occasionally performs with this band as guest vocalist. In 2005 she also took part in recording an album with Bass player Jean Claude Jones With Friends. On the same year she composed Surprise1 - a piece for piano and voice, and performed it at the Rowdyism festival in Tel Aviv. She also performed with Roy Yarkoni's compositions in the New Waves concert series of the Musica Nova group, titled The Milk Underground, featuring the poetry of Ronny Someck
Ronny Someck
Ronny Someck is an Israeli poet and author, whose works have been translated into many languages.-Biography:Someck was born in Baghdad and came to Israel as a young child. He studied Hebrew literature and philosophy at Tel Aviv University and drawing at the Avni Academy of Art...
. In November 2005 Dunietz performed at the Piano festival at Susan Dallal center in Tel Aviv, in a Duet performance with David Broza
David Broza
David Broza is a multi-platinum Israeli singer-songwriter and guitarist.-Personal life:The son of an Israeli–British businessman and a folk singer, Broza was born in Haifa, Israel. He was raised and educated in England and Spain, where he was schooled at Runnymede College, in Madrid...
. In the very same festival, she also gave a solo concert titled "Boogy Woogy, Honky Tonk and Blues - The Cat House Piano" - a tribute to Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
, Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
, Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas...
, Lucille Bogan
Lucille Bogan
Lucille Bogan was an American blues singer, among the first to be recorded. She also recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson...
and others. Dunietz surprised the audience when she came on stage with her face painted black, in protest of the blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
phenomenon in early 20th century American Jazz.
2006–2009
In 2006 Dunietz composed OP - a composition for the Tel Aviv Art Ensemble, performed at the Felicja BlumentalFelicja Blumental
Felicja Blumental was a Polish--Brazilian pianist.Felicja Blumental was born in Warsaw, Poland, into a musical family, daughter of a violinist. She began piano lessons at the age of five, and made her debut at the age of ten...
Festival, and Surprise2 - a piece for piano and voice performed in Israel and in concerts of Reflex Ensemble at Symphony Space, New York. In the same year she also recorded a session with Yoni Silver, Eitan Radushinsky, Constantin Gross, Keren Rosenbaum and Aaron Dugan titled The Romanians. The session was recorded and published by the label Zukovprocessor.
In 2006, Dunietz enrolled in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague
Royal Conservatory of The Hague
The Royal Conservatory of The Hague is a conservatorium of music, providing higher education in music and dance, it is located in The Hague, Netherlands.-The Conservatory:...
in The Netherlands and studied composition with Gilius van Bergeijk
Gilius van Bergeijk
Gilius van Bergeijk is a Dutch composer.Taught by Kees van Baaren and Dick Raaymakers , Gilius van Bergeijk is a highly respected teacher at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag...
. under this hospice she wrote in 2007 the pieces "Tzutzik" for The New Ensemble, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, "Put it in My Mouth", an electronic piece, performed by her at The Royal Conservatory in Den Haag, and "Minutes", a piece for Saxophone and piano performed at Korzo Theater Den Haag. In the same year she gave a solo concert at Stone New York with an original piano composition, and a duet with clarinet player Harold Rubin at Free Music Production festival in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. She also recorded with the Midnigfht Peacocks their second album Three, and performed with musicians Steve Noble, Yedo Gibson and Marcio Mattos as Pau Na Maquina Quartet.
In August 2007 Dunietz and her partner, conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
Ilan Volkov
Ilan Volkov
Ilan Volkov is an orchestral conductor. His father, Alexander Volkov, was a concert pianist of Ukrainian ancestry. His mother, Professor Shulamit Volkov of The School of Historical Studies in Tel Aviv University, is of German ancestry...
, had their first daughter Nadia Borboleta. In the days prior to the birth, Dunietz participated in the farewell concerts of Habiluim
Habiluim
Habiluim is an Israeli, theatrical rock & polka band formed in 1996 by Noam Inbar & Yammi Wisler as a reaction to the deep sense of abhorrence they felt listening to contemporary Israeli Pop music, which they viewed as means for escape from the harsh Israeli reality Habiluim (Hebrew: "הבילויים",...
, with The Midnight Peacocks, and with vocalist Mike Patton
Mike Patton
Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the metal/experimental rock band Faith No More. He has also sung for Mr...
in Cobra concert
Cobra (Zorn)
Cobra is an unpublished but recorded and frequently performed musical composition by John Zorn that was conceived as a system with very detailed rules but with no pre-conceived sequence of events, or game piece, for a group of musical improvisors and a prompter. Zorn completed Cobra on October 9,...
in Tel Aviv. Two months later, due to public demand, she repeated "Boogy Woogy, Honky Tonk and Blues - The Cat House Piano", with her two months old baby in the audience. In December 2007 she presented two sound installation
Sound installation
Sound installation is an intermedia and time based art form. It is an expansion of an art installation in the sense that it includes the sound element and therefore the time element...
s at the Sound Disturbance show of the Israeli Center for Digital Art in Holon. In 2008 her improvisation duo with Harold Rubin was joined by musician and saxophone player Yoni Silver, and the three recorded the album Mono Musical Suite for Three Manic Musicians. In the same year Dunietz performed with Saxophone player Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
, and pianist August Fernandez, with musician Alvin Coran, with pianist and poet Ophir Klemperer on drums and percussions, as guest pianist with the Magreb Orchestra, with Jewlia Eisenberg
Jewlia Eisenberg
Jewlia Eisenberg is an American composer. As founder and bandleader of Charming Hostess she coined the term "Nerdy-Sexy-Commie-Girly" to describe her genre of music which spans an eclectic range of styles....
and Shizad Ismaily's Toychestra, and with the Givol Choir's fifth program, which took place in a historical Tel Aviv building together with composer and percussionist David Moss
David Moss (musician)
David Moss is an American composer, percussionist and self-taught vocalist, founder of the David Moss Dense Band; co-founder and artistic director of the Institute for Living Voice, Antwerp...
in three consecutive days of performance. Before the year was out, Dunietz recorded the second album of Boom Pam, Puerto Rican Nights.
In 2009 Dunietz took part in recording the debut album of Israeli singer/songwriter Ori Mark; performed with the Midnight Peacocks at the South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
festival in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
; played with composer and saxophone player John Butcher
John Butcher (musician)
John Butcher is an English tenor and soprano saxophone player who has lived in London since the late 1970s. He began playing at the University of Surrey where he was studying physics...
and drummer Eddie Prévost
Eddie Prévost
Edwin Prévost is an English drummer and percussionist.Prévost began as a jazz drummer before branching out into entirely improvised music. He was a co-founder of the group AMM, and remains its only constant member...
in a show in London; Played with bass player and percussionist Shahzad Ismaily at The Chelsea Art Museum in New York, recorded Itamar Rothschild's first album; and played with Aaron Dugan and rapper Matisyahu
Matisyahu
Matthew Paul Miller , better known by his Hebrew name and stage name Matisyahu, is an American Hasidic Jewish reggae and alternative rock musician....
in Levontin 7 Tel Aviv. She also performed with Desert Blues and a variety of experimantal avant garde solo performances. In the same year, she performed with the Mambo Mambas in a number of shows and festivals, and in October 2009 she rejoined forces with singer Michal Oppenhaim for a new vocal Duet show. Towards the end of the year, she temporarily joined the klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
band Oy Division as lead singer, in the Yiddish language
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
.
2010–Present
In 2010 Dunietz recorded several covers as lead singer, including "Can We Kiss" by Calvin Johnson and I'll Be Your MirrorI'll Be Your Mirror
"I'll Be Your Mirror" is a song by The Velvet Underground. It appeared on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It also surfaced as a single a year earlier with "All Tomorrow's Parties" in 1966....
by The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
. She also performed with and wrote the string arrangements for "1000", an album released in 2011 by French Hyphy post-punk trio Cheveu. Presented and performed in two consecutive exhibitions in Art Site Jerusalem "Yaffo 23", a multidisciplinary art venue run by Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design,. Performed on piano at "You Make Remake" Festival in Tel Aviv curated by Renana Raz. Performed with Uzi (Ramirez) Feinerman (guitar) and Ram Gabai (drums) in the "PsanTrio" Festival in Tel-Aviv. Presented a musical installation together with visual artist Alona Rodeh in the main opening event of 2010 Design Year in Holon. In the summer of 2010 Dunietz performed with John Butcher
John Butcher (musician)
John Butcher is an English tenor and soprano saxophone player who has lived in London since the late 1970s. He began playing at the University of Surrey where he was studying physics...
, Eddie Prévost
Eddie Prévost
Edwin Prévost is an English drummer and percussionist.Prévost began as a jazz drummer before branching out into entirely improvised music. He was a co-founder of the group AMM, and remains its only constant member...
and Guillaume Villtard at Cafe Oto in London, and with Neil Davidson and Johnny Chang in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland. Performed with DJ Ofer (SchoolMaster) Tal at the 20th anniversary of The Left Bank. In October 2010 Dunietz performed in Toulouse, France with "Vortex", a French Improv
Musical improvisation
Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...
Jazz Duo consisting of Heddy Boubaker and Sebastian Ciroutteau. In January 2011 Dunietz performed in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with Stephen O'Malley
Stephen O'Malley
Stephen O'Malley is a musician, predominantly a guitarist, producer and composer from Seattle, Washington who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone doom, death/doom, and experimental music groups....
(US) and Iancu Dumitrescu
Iancu Dumitrescu
Iancu Dumitrescu is a Romanian avant-garde composer.- Life and works :Dumitrescu received a master's degree in composition in Bucharest; Alfred Mendelssohn was among his teachers...
(Romania). In the same month She performed with Ansamblu Hyperion La Ateneul Roman
Hyperion Ensemble
Hyperion Ensemble is a chamber music ensemble from Romania, based in Bucharest. It was founded in 1976 by composer Iancu Dumitrescu and specializes in the performance of contemporary classical music, more particular it is the main promoter in Romania of the Spectral Music trend.Hyperion performed...
in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, Romania, and also performed at the International Conference and Workshop, titled "Whispering, Prompting, Shadowing: Performed Voices" conducted by The Institute for Advanced Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Institute for Advanced Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Institute for Advanced Studies of Jerusalem is a national science institution devoted to academic research. It is a self-governing body, both in its administrative function as well as its academic pursuits. It is located at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, on the Edmond J...
. Later that year Dunietz performed Solo Piano alongside two other women pianists: Misa Shimomora (Japan), and Katia Tubul (Israel) and exhibited in the Ashdod Museum of art group show "On the Road to Nowhere". In April and May 2011 Dunietz curated a series of events at London Avant-Garde venue "Cafe Oto", labeled "Hit & Run". Dunietz also took active part in each of those events, featuring musicians such as Oren Ambarchi
Oren Ambarchi
Oren Ambarchi is a multi-instrumentalist who in major plays electric guitar and drums, with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. He was born in Sydney, Australia in 1969 to a Jewish family originally from Iraq....
, Daniel Higgs
Lungfish (band)
Lungfish is a post-hardcore band formed in 1987 in Baltimore, Maryland. All of their music has been released by the Washington, D.C. punk label Dischord except for their first LP, Necklace of Heads which was released by Simple Machines .Their line-up as of 2005 consists of Daniel Higgs , Asa...
, Steve Beresford
Steve Beresford
Steve Beresford is a British musician who graduated from the University of York. He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, trumpet, euphonium, double-bass and a wide variety of toy instruments, such as the toy piano. He has also played a wide range of music...
and Fritz Welch. Later that year she released an album, playing piano with John Edwards (Bass) and Steve Noble (Drums), recorded at Eastcote Studios in London in 2008.
Reviews
Dunietz enjoys public and critical acclaim as an original musician. Despite a strong background in Jazz and classical music, as well as funk, punk and rock, she prefers to push the envelope and engage in musical experiments far from the mainstream, even at the cost of appealing to limited audiences. "Despite her charisma and extrovert personality, it seems that... Dunietz will not sell many copies of her work. her alternative avant garde style will not buy her wide popularity. Her commitment for ongoing personal musical experimentation and the lack of boundaries in her work may not buy her commercial success, but definitely make her a great artistic promise" (Assaf Levanon, Haaretz). The attempt to position Dunietz in a concrete musical genre is bound to fail. She is active in Jazz, rock, funk, polka - both classical and avant garde, both local and international. A prominent musical critic, Ben Shalev, wrote about her: "Free or standard jazz, pop, salsa, blues, boogie woogie, modern classical music or heavy metal - in all these worlds young pianist and singer Maya Dunietz feels at home". About her performance at the Piano Festival, Nadav Holander (Maariv) wrote: Maya indeed made a statement, in an excellent tribute recital to the great American pianists of the early 20th century. Her comprehensive research work, her absolute command of the piano, and even her blackened face, turned this performance into the perfect closing act."Awards
- Tel Aviv Municipality and Rabinovich Foundation - Givol Choir
- Best Soundtrack - Garinim - Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli TheatreAcco Festival of Alternative Israeli TheatreThe Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre is a four-day performing arts festival held annually in the city of Acre, Israel during the Intermediate Days of the Sukkot holiday in early autumn...
2003
Discography
- 2002 HabiluimHabiluimHabiluim is an Israeli, theatrical rock & polka band formed in 1996 by Noam Inbar & Yammi Wisler as a reaction to the deep sense of abhorrence they felt listening to contemporary Israeli Pop music, which they viewed as means for escape from the harsh Israeli reality Habiluim (Hebrew: "הבילויים",...
, Habiluim, NMC - 2004 Rona Keinan, Breathing Down to Zero, NMC
- 2004 Jean Claude Jones, With Friends, Kadima
- 2005 Midnight Peacocks, It's a Brutal Machine, Earsay
- 2006 HabiluimHabiluimHabiluim is an Israeli, theatrical rock & polka band formed in 1996 by Noam Inbar & Yammi Wisler as a reaction to the deep sense of abhorrence they felt listening to contemporary Israeli Pop music, which they viewed as means for escape from the harsh Israeli reality Habiluim (Hebrew: "הבילויים",...
, Bereavement and Failure, NMC - 2006 Midnight Peacocks, Three, Earsay
- 2008 Harold Rubin, Yoni Silver, Maya Dunietz, Mono Musical Suite for Three Manic Musicians Levontin
- 2008 Boom Pam, Puerto Rican Nights, 8th Note
- 2009 Ori Mark, Don't Talk about Sex, 8th Note
- 2009 Itamar Rothschild, Itamar Rothschild, Hed Artzi
- 2011 Cheveu, 1000, Born Bad Records
- 2011 Maya Dunietz, John Edwards, Steve Noble, Cousin It, Hopscotch Records