Dalit Hadass Warshaw

An internationally acclaimed composer, pianist and thereminist, Dalit Hadass Warshaw’s works have been performed by numerous orchestral ensembles, including the New York and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras (Zubin Mehta conducting), the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Albany Symphony and the Grand Rapids Symphony.  

Warshaw’s music has been widely praised for its lyricism, unique orchestral palette, distinctive harmonic vocabulary, emotional intensity and vivid portrayal of character. Recent premieres include Sirens: A Concerto for Theremin and Orchestra, performed by both the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the Albany Symphony, featuring theremin soloist Carolina Eyck, and Different Loves, A Cycle of Classical Portraits for solo piano, performed by the composer on the “Here and Now” Series at Bargemusic in 2021. Sirens was described by the Boston Globe as a “sublimely expressive concerto,” and listed among “Boston’s Best Classical Music Concerts in 2019.”  

Accolades within the past five years include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a commission from New York State Council on the Arts, an OPERA America Discovery Grant, and the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, given to mid-career composers of exceptional gifts. She has also received five ASCAP Foundation Grants to Young Composers, a Fulbright Scholarship to Israel, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and two BMI Awards, among other honors. 

As a pianist, Warshaw performed the premiere of her “narrative concerto,” Conjuring Tristan, with the Grand Rapids Symphony in 2015. She has been featured widely as both soloist and chamber player, in venues as diverse as Avery Fisher Hall, Miller Theater, Alice Tully Hall and Bargemusic, and has soloed with the Rockland Symphony, Cheyenne Symphony, and the Misgav Chamber Players under the direction of Lukas Foss.  

Having studied theremin with the renowned Clara Rockmore from an early age, she has appeared as theremin soloist with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the New York Festival of Song, and the San Francisco Symphony, also performing with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the American Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, among other ensembles.  

The first composer to have participated in the five-year double-degree program between Columbia University and Juilliard, Warshaw obtained her doctorate in music composition from the Juilliard School in 2003, studying composition with Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt and David Del Tredici. A full-time member of the composition faculty at the Boston Conservatory from 2004 to 2014, she currently teaches on the composition faculties of Brooklyn College (CUNY) and the Juilliard Extension Division, where she also taught orchestration from 2000 to 2005.  

Warshaw is twice a MacDowell Fellow, and has held multiple residencies at the Corporation of Yaddo. Her CD, Invocations, was released in January 2011 and is available on Albany Records. Pending CD recordings include Sirens, to be released on the BMOP/sound label.