Composer · Artistic Director · Digital Artist
Composer · Artistic Director · Digital Artist
Collaborations & Partnerships
About
Emmanuel combines work as composer, artistic director and creator of artistic digital experiences. He currently serves as Artistic Director for the Israeli/Palestinian culture house "FeelBeit" in Jerusalem and as the curator of the Creative Resident Program at the ZEISS Innovation Hub at KIT.
His main focus over the past eight years has been to develop artistic platforms and frameworks that foster shared spaces of equality, representation and trust — between Israelis and Palestinians on a local level, and tackling polarization on a broader level.
He has created artistic collaborations with Ensemble Modern, IRCAM, Google, The Guggenheim, The Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Enjoy Jazz Festival, The Future en Seine Festival, The Matadero, The Jewish Museum Berlin, The Pacific Northwest Ballet, ZKM and ZEISS, amongst others.
He has performed as violist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in NYC, the Berlin Staatskapelle, and Ensemble Intercontemporain, recording for Deutsche Grammophon under Pierre Boulez.
He is a consultant and lecturer on transformation processes in the arts and strategic business development in the arts in the 21st century.
Building scalable platforms that bring art into participation, co-creation, and systemic impact — across cities, institutions, and cultures. Reaching over 1.5 million people worldwide.
Explore this work →Creating compositions as open systems — graphic scores, live electronics, immersive installations — premiered by Ensemble Modern, performed from Tokyo to Berlin.
Explore this work →My work as an artistic director centers on designing scalable artistic platforms that connect people, disciplines, and technologies. Across cultural institutions, cities, and innovation environments, I develop frameworks that allow art to move beyond presentation — toward participation, co-creation, and systemic impact.
At the Israeli–Palestinian culture house FeelBeit in Jerusalem, I co-lead a platform that brings together artists and audiences across deep divides, using the arts to foster dialogue, shared experience, and new forms of collective imagination.
At the ZEISS Innovation Hub, I curate the Creative Resident Program, inviting artists working at the intersection of art, science, and technology to embed within research teams — bringing new perspectives into fields such as medical robotics and microchip development.
As Head of Arts at the British Council in Israel, I developed national arts programming toward impact-driven, digitally oriented initiatives. As Global Arts Digital Project Manager, I initiated large-scale participatory platforms — Mix the City and Mix the Body (created with Wayne McGregor) — reaching over 1.5 million users worldwide, with partners including the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and cities such as Berlin, Glasgow, Delhi, and Belfast.
In Shalem – Orchestra of Broken Harmonies, I created and led a 120-member community orchestra in Jerusalem, performing original music on broken instruments — reframing limitation as a source of collective creativity.
As a composer and musician, my work combines technology, graphic notation, and open-form structures. My compositions are often built as open systems rather than fixed works — creating shared spaces of interpretation where performers actively shape the outcome through listening, negotiation, and collective decision-making.
A central example is Please stay a while, you are so beautiful (2022), commissioned for the "1700 Years of Jewish Culture in Germany" project and premiered by Ensemble Modern at the Mannheim Opera House. In The Symphonic Garden, natural data — soil conditions and weather patterns — directly influence the music, turning the environment itself into a living performer.
Works have been developed in collaboration with IRCAM, ZKM, and ensembles including Ensemble Modern and Ensemble Meitar. I have created music for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and collaborated with the Guggenheim Museum, among others.
As a performer, I have worked as a violist with Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Deutsche Oper, Berlin Staatsoper and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, recording under Pierre Boulez.
Score Excerpts
2025
The Trace of Echoes
For mixed ensemble. Premiered by the O/MOdernt Orchestra and the Trondheim Voices at the "Resonance of Time" Festival.
2022
The Contour of Stars
For mixed ensemble. Premiered by Ensemble Modern. Commissioned by the Zeiss Innovation Hub, Karlsruhe.
2025
Shevarim — שברים
For brass quartet. Premiered by the Munich Composers Collective at the "Resonance of Time" Festival.
2022
Verweile Doch Du Bist So Schoen
Premiered by Ensemble Modern. Commissioned by the Enjoy Jazz Festival. Mannheim National Opera.
2021
Contra-Noise
Based on a text by David Witzthum. For speaker and solo cello or mixed ensemble. Premiered by the Meitar Ensemble.
2021
Lesson in Public Movement
Based on a text by Renana Raz. For speaker and solo cello or mixed ensemble. Premiered by the Meitar Ensemble.
Discography
Previews
Let's connect
Open to working across disciplines, sectors, and geographies.
emmanuel(dot)witzthum(at)gmail(dot)com
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Phone
Location
Israel
