IOWA CITY — The largest and most comprehensive international festival of music by living Israeli composers outside of Israel is coming to the University of Iowa.

The Festival of Contemporary Music from Israel will be held April 17 to 23 as part of the Provost’s Global Forum.

Organized by the UI’s Center for New Music, under the direction of David Gompper, the festival features nine free concerts showcasing 32 new or recent works, performed in the Voxman Music Building’s Concert Hall, 93 E. Burlington St.

The concerts will be livestreamed, and also recorded for later viewing on the UI School of Music YouTube channel, youtube.com/@UniversityofIowaSchoolofMusic.

Special guest is the world-renown Meitar Ensemble and its conductor, Pierre-Andre Valade. The group was founded in 2004 by pianist Amit Dolberg, one of Israel's leading performers of new music. He also is serving as festival curator, programming new voices from well-known and established composers living and working in Israel.

Many composers will be in attendance, with opportunities to meet them through seminars scheduled throughout the week.

Based in Tel Aviv, the award-winning Meitar Ensemble has appeared in festivals around the world and according to its website, has been lauded for its “significant contribution to the development of Israeli culture and music.” In the past 15 years, the Meitar Ensemble has commissioned and premiered more than 300 new works.

UI School of Music students and students in the Tedarim ensemble at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, will unite to premiere a composition by Jerusalem Academy professor Amnon Wolman.

The Tedarim ensemble is an intensive, two-year master’s degree track in contemporary music performance at the Jerusalem Academy, with artistic direction from Meitar since 2017. Students work with Meitar members on such areas as technique, aesthetic concepts and interpretation, performing at the academy and with Meitar in its Tel Aviv concert series.

Other special features of the Iowa City festival include a Holocaust memorial concert, featuring the Meitar Ensemble, at 7:30 p.m. April 18 in the Voxman Concert Hall; Johnson County Landmark, with guest Arnon Palty, at 7:30 p.m. April 21, also in the Concert Hall.

The festival will culminate with performances by UI large ensembles at 7:30 p.m. April 23 in the Concert Hall.

For the full schedule of concerts, seminars and master classes, go to cnm.uiowa.edu/israeli-festival