When I studied with Philippe Leroux in Paris, he said to me once that he knows three Israeli young composers (who have been in his class), and he finds it weird that we do not have a common musical language. At this time his observation sounded very weird to me — why should we have a common musical language just because we are Israelis? Leroux’s question makes a lot of sense when one is looking at a French composer (or maybe any European composer), since the long tradition of the French culture can be easily observed in different schools throughout history and even with younger composers today. Since Israel is a new country, with immigrants coming from everywhere (mainly Europe and north Africa), the musical identity of composers is definitely less clear, and was completely obscure to me at the point Leroux mentioned his observation.
Raised in Haifa and of Polish descent, I possess French and Canadian citizenship as well as an Israeli passport. Embodying three various cultures myself (Israeli, French and Canadian), I share brief descriptions of these identities and demonstrate how I relate to them. I must mention that these observations are based on my personal point of view as a composer, and are not based on proper research.