Ronnie Reshef is an Israeli composer active across Israel and the US.

Praised by the 2022 Israeli Acum Prize Committee for ‘a solid personal voice and an original, eloquent, and aesthetic musical language’, Ronnie Reshef is an active composer and educator in various musical genres, including concert music, opera, and music for theater. Her music is inspired by the wide range of music styles and genres she has experimented with over the years, incorporating rough sounds of rock music, delicate impressionistic textures, asymmetrical Arabic meters, repetitive American rhythms, cantabile arias, thick modern dissonances, and drama driven feelings from the theater.

Ronnie has received commissions from The Israeli Opera, The Israeli Chamber Project, The Rabinovich Foundation, The Gray Endowment Fund, Carmel Quartet, Modalius Ensemble, Air & String Duo, IMVAJ Masterclasses, The Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, The Israeli Composers’ Association, among others. Her music was performed in North America, Europe, and the Middle East, and released on Naxos/Delos and HaTav-Hashmini Records. Her pieces have been regularly performed throughout the US and Israel by groups such as Mivos Quartet, Opera On Tap, Hartford Opera Theater, Thompson Street Opera, The Israeli Sinfonietta, and Modalius Ensemble, in venues such as Le Poisson Rouge, Lincoln Center, The Tank, Teneri Institute, HaTeiva, Anette Studio, The Israeli Opera House, The Israeli Conservatory, and the Israel Music Fest.

Recent highlights include The Finger/After 30 Years (2024) commissioned and produced by the Israeli Opera to great praise, Playing Cards (2022), written for and premiered by Mivos Quartet; Night Moments (2021), commissioned by Air & String Duo; When He Was Good (2019 opera), commissioned and produced by IMVAJ Masterclasses to great praise by both audience and critiques: “…Uplifting… …Wonderfully beautiful music…” (Hagai Hitron, Ha’aretz newspaper). When He Was Good is scheduled for a US premiere in May 2024 with Fresh Squeezed Opera Company (NYC).

Current engagements include commissions for Carmel String Quartet and for the principal trombone player of the Israeli Philharmonic, Nir Erez, as well as a new guitar concerto for Nadav Lev and Mivos Quartet.

Notable prizes include the prestigious Acum Prize (2022), a Mif’al HaPais Grant (2020, 2023), the Atlanta Opera 24-hours First Prize (2014), Boston Metro Opera Main Stage Prize (2013), among others. Works for the theater include an ongoing close collaboration with the reknown Gesher Theater, multiple projects at the Juilliard School for Drama, projects with the American Mime Theater, Habima Theater, Haifa Theater, The Living Theater, and others.

Past fellowships and workshops include American Opera Projects’ Composer and the Voice program, BMI’s Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, Fort-Woth Opera’s Frontiers showcase, and a residency in Yaddo.

Reshef serves as the head of the Cross-Disciplinary Composition Department at The Jerusalem Music and Dance Academy. She holds a Doctoral degree from Manhattan School of Music, as well as degrees from Mannes College the New School, and The Jerusalem Music and Dance Academy. Her main teachers include Richard Danielpour, Reiko Fueting, Steven Osgood, Robert Cuckson, Rafi Kadishson, and Tzvi Avni.