DANIEL GALAY

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1945) to a family who had emigrated from Europe, bringing with them a rich and vibrant Jewish cultural heritage. At family events and through radio stations, he heard classical music, klezmer, and tango.

 

There he breathed in the Yiddish, Hebrew, and Spanish languages that would accompany him throughout his life, which inspired his artistic work. Thanks to Zishe Goldwasser z"l, his father, a renowned Yiddish actor, he absorbed the emotions, richness, and traditions of Jewish theater. He immigrated to Israel in 1965, studied at the University of Chicago, and today lives in Tel Aviv with his wife, Hannah Ne’eman-Galay.

 

His daughter Racheli Galay is a cellist, and his son Asaf Galay is an award-winning filmmaker.

At age 12, he joined a Zionist youth movement in Argentina. At age 20, he arrived in Israel and became a member of Kibbutz Lahavot Ha-Bashan and Dvir. He moved to Tel Aviv in 1970 and began his studies at the Rubin Academy of Music.

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Musical Education 

Galay began his piano studies at age five. He later studied piano with Waldemar Axel Roldan at the National Carlos Lopez Buchardo Conservatory, from which he received a degree as a piano, theory, and solfege teacher. In Israel, he studied piano with Arie Vardi and Yahli Wagman. At the Rubin Music Academy of Tel Aviv, he studied with Mordechai Seter, Gary Bertini, Yehezkel Braun, and Avner Bahat, and composition with Abel Ehrlich, Leon Schidlowsky, and Josef Tal. He received a Masters in Composition from the University of Chicago, studying with Ralph Shapey. In the 1980s, he participated in the Darmstadt summer courses.

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Scholarships and Awards

Galay received scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the University of Chicago, the Illinois Arts Council, and the British Council. In 2009, he received the Prime Minister's Prize for Composers, and in 2020 The Lifetime Achievement Award in Music from the National Authority for Yiddish Culture.

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Highlighted Concerts

In 1975, a premiere concert of his works was held at the Central Music Library Tel Aviv, featuring Sonata for Flute (for different types of flutes), Piano Sonata, Duo Sonata for Violin and Cello. In the 1970s, he founded the composers' group "Mirvach" which held concerts of Israeli music at the Central Music Library. 

At the same place, he worked as a librarian under the direction of composer Tzvi Avni. In the 1980s, the composers' group Acoustic 7/11 was established with Josef Dorfman, Gabriel Iranyi, Lior Shambadal, and Daniel Galay. Acoustic 7/11 operated independently and held concerts in collaboration with Cultural Institutes and Embassies of Canada, Italy, Norway, the Goethe Institute, and more. 

In 1996, the Galay Duo, his daughter Racheli on cello and Daniel on piano conducted a successful concert series in Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. The programs included contemporary works and Israeli composers. Later, the duo was invited on a concert tour in Hungary where Racheli Galay performed the premiere of Galay's Cello Concerto. In the same year, 1998, the Rosario Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Fernando Ciraolo performed with R. Galay the premiere of "In Memoriam" for Cello and String Orchestra dedicated to the victims of the attack at the AMIA building in Buenos Aires. 

Symphony No. 2 was conducted by Maestro José María Florencio with the Poznan Philharmonic (2001).  Symphony No. 3 with the Lublin Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Piotr Wiatkowski (2002). His Klezmer Rhapsody (2003) was performed with the Wroclaw Philharmonic under the baton of Amos Talmon.

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The cantata "In Kingdom of the Cross" ["In Malkhuth fun Tseilem"], based on Uri Zvi Greenberg's work, was broadcast on Israel TV Channel 1 on Holocaust Remembrance Day (2005). "What, He's Still Alive?!" ["Vos, er lebt nokh?!"] by Tsvi Kanar was staged at the Central Library for Music (2008). "The Twin Sisters" ["Der Tsvilingl"], based on Abvrom Sutzkever's work, was staged at the prestigious Israel Festival (2011) and recorded for CD. His chamber opera "GreenTime," conducted by Racheli Galay, was staged at the Rozin Center (2011). "I will keep searching until my last day" premiered at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs for International Holocaust Remembrance Day (2012). "Bride and Groom from Nemirov" was staged at Beit Leyvik, Tel Aviv, and directed by Tal Shahar (2014). Galay's play "The King of the Klezmers" premiered at the TES Romanian National Yiddish Theater in Bucharest in 2024, and in the same year, his "Klezmer Tunes with a Classical Touch" was performed by the Jerusalem Symphony conducted by Ionut Pascu. In 2025, Galay's composition "Desacuerdos" for string orchestra was selected blindly in a competition organized by the Israeli League of Composers and chosen for a recording session with the Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble conducted by Barak Tal.