Guest Artist Residency Recital
Praised by the press as “a magician” (New York’s WQXR), whose “virtuoso playing conjures an astonishing range of colour and dynamic” (The Daily Telegraph), Sivan Magen transforms the harp into an expressive, colorful and virtuosic instrument, moving it to center stage through the exploration of the standard repertoire, the commissioning of today’s composers and his new adaptations of some of the greatest music of the last three centuries.
The only Israeli to have ever won the International Harp Contest in Israel, Magen is a winner of the Pro Musicis International Award and in 2012 was chosen by a committee headed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida as the winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. He appeared as a soloist across the US, South America, Europe and Israel, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Sydney Opera House and the Vienna Konzerthaus, and with orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic, the Strasbourg Philharmonic, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony, the Sydney Symphony and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. In fall 2014 he was invited by Carnegie Hall to return for a recital in celebration of the American release of his first solo CD for Linn records, Fantasien, a recital which also included the world premiere of the Carnegie Hall-commissioned Fantasy for Solo Harp by American composer Sean Shepherd.
Born in Jerusalem, Sivan Magen studied the piano with Benjamin Oren and Talma Cohen and the harp with Irena Kaganovsky-Kessler at the Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance. After completing his military service as an "Outstanding Musician" in 2001, he continued his studies with Germaine Lorenzini in France and then joined Isabelle Moretti’s harp class at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP) from which he graduated with a “Premier Prix”. He completed a Master of Music degree as a student of Nancy Allen at the Juilliard School. He currently resides in New York City.