Dr. Ariel Lazarus

Dr. Ariel Lazarus is a distinctive voice in contemporary Israeli music. Raised in a family with Sephardi musical roots from Gibraltar and Westphalia, he began composing and playing guitar as a teenager, and has since dedicated himself to developing a personal musical language—one that sustains an open dialogue between tradition and innovation.

Lazarus is the winner of the 2021 Yitzhak Navon Prize, awarded by the President of Israel for outstanding achievement in cultivating musical traditions. He is the co-founder and musical director of the Israeli Ladino Orchestra, established in partnership with Renanot, which represented Israel at the UN Global Cultural Forum in Fez. His orchestral works have been premiered by the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra, Ashdod, and the Ra’anana Symphony, while his chamber works are performed internationally.

As performer and composer, Lazarus has been invited to festivals and conferences across Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Germany, the USA, France, Luxembourg, Hungary, Gibraltar, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Israel. His recordings, released by the European boutique label Smoothfactor, have received critical acclaim in press, radio, and television, including Haaretz, KAN Tarbut, IBA, 88 FM, and Neue Westfälische. His works are published by Or-Tav and the Israel Music Institute (IMI).

Lazarus earned his Ph.D. in composition at Bar-Ilan University, studying under Prof. Betty Olivero and Prof. Gideon Lewensohn, with research supervision from Prof. Edwin Seroussi (Hebrew University). His doctoral thesis combined original composition with research on the rare repertoire of Spanish-Portuguese kinot (dirges). He also holds BMus and MMus degrees in classical guitar and composition from Oklahoma City University, where he studied with American composer Dr. Edward Knight.

Recipient of awards from ACUM and the Pais Art Council, Lazarus is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Salti Institute for Ladino Studies at Bar-Ilan University, as well as a senior lecturer and ensemble director at the Ono Academic College of Music, Givat Washington Academic College, and the Rimon School of Music.

He lives in Rehovot, Israel, with his wife Yamit and their three children: Uri, Emily, and Agam.