Primo Ish-Hurwitz

Primo Ish-Hurwitz (2001) is a Dutch composer. In addition, as artistic director, he develops new concert performances. He studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Willem Jeths and Meriç Artaç, and is currently studying at the Royal College of Music with Ed Bennett. In 2022, his work ‘Listen’ for voice and ensemble was awarded a shared first prize at the International Alba Rosa Viëtor Composition Competition. That same year, the concert tour ‘Toonzetters’ premiered at the Oranjewoud Festival, an initiative by Ish-Hurwitz, which presented a portrait of 20 Dutch composers from the newest generation. The tour and the resulting album were very well received by the national press—the NRC called it “a project that may well prove historic.” Ish-Hurwitz received commissions from the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale, and the Zeist International Lieder Festival, and his music has been performed at venues including the Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, and De Doelen, as well as in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, and Japan. As an arranger, Ish-Hurwitz regularly works with Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, with large-scale arrangements having been performed at venues including the Elbphilharmonie, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Concertgebouw, the Philharmonie Köln, and the Alte Oper Frankfurt. Ish-Hurwitz is currently working on ‘A Flat with a Thousand Windows’ with Joke van Leeuwen, the Chaos String Quartet, Ariane Schluter, and Jos van Kan, commissioned by the Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale.