| Michael Seltenreich | |
| Birth Date: | 5 June 1988 |
| Birth Place: | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Occupation: | Composer |
| Years Active: | 2008–present |
Michael Seltenreich (born 1988 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City. He is known for his distinctive, rhythmically captivating and technically sophisticated music, blending elements of modernism and experimentation. His works have been performed by leading ensembles and orchestras around the world, including the Munich Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Juilliard Orchestra. He earned commissions from staple institutions such as Lucerne Festival,[1] Aspen Music Festival, and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.[2] Seltenreich was the first Israeli to win the prestigious Toru Takemitsu Composition Award[3] and is a recipient of the Israel Prime Minister Award in Composition.[4] In 2022, he received the Music Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.[5]
Seltenreich was born in Tel Aviv. He graduated from Thelma Yellin High School for The Arts in 2006. By 2011 he received a bachelor's degree in music composition from Buchmann-Mehta School of Music of Tel Aviv University, where he primarily studied with composer Gil Shohat. In 2014 he relocated to New York to pursue a master's degree from The Juilliard School. During his time at Juilliard, he studied primarily with German composer and conductor Matthias Pintscher. He later went on to earn a PhD at New York University as a MacCracken Doctoral Fellow.[6]
During the ISCM Award Ceremony in Beijing (2018), the jury described their motivations for selecting Seltenreich as the award winner and referred to his music as "engaging, effervescent, energetic, and assured" and that it "demonstrates detailed control of the materials and a sophistication that makes us eager to hear more".[7]
Japanese composer, Toshi Ichiyanagi explained that Seltenreich's "sophisticated orchestration technique" and his music's "refinement in the way the nuances are brought out" along with its "richness of expression" were his motivations for selecting Seltenreich as a finalist for the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award.[8] Finally, when he chose Seltenreich's piece, "ARCHETYPE", as the receipt of the 1st prize, Ichyanagi explained that it "was a very rare piece in that it was very precisely and densely written" presenting a "very modern motif that resulted in creating a very deep, thick musical texture".[9]
Following a 2024 performance by the Munich Philharmonic, Michael Seltenreich's commissioned work The Prisoner’s Dilemma, was described as "fantastic, mysterious, infinitely delicate, and full of eruptive hardness".[10]