Dov Seltzer

Dov "Dubi" Seltzer is a Romanian-born Israeli composer and conductor, born in 1931, whose work spans musical theater, film scoring, and symphonic composition. His Broadway credits include The Megilla of Itzik Manger, To Live Another Summer, To Pass Another Winter, and La Traviata.

Seltzer was born and raised in Romania, where he began musical studies at an early age, receiving instruction in music theory and harmony from Alfred Mendelsohn and Mihail Jora. Before leaving the country, he had composed a musical comedy that continued to be staged by a professional youth theater in Bucharest for two years after his departure. At fifteen, he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine, completing his secondary education at Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek. On the recommendation of pianist Frank Pelleg, he received a scholarship to study at conservatories in Haifa and Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

At eighteen, Seltzer joined the Israel Defense Forces, where he became one of the founders and the first official composer of the Lehakat HaNahal military ensemble. During this period he also performed as an accordionist and arranger for the Israeli musical group Oranim Zabar, and was married to its lead singer, Geula Gill. While serving in the military, he received a special grant to study composition, harmony, and counterpoint with Herbert Brün, Mordechai Seter, and Abel Ehrlich.

Following his military service, Seltzer pursued advanced studies in the United States, earning a diploma in composition from the Mannes College of Music and a Bachelor of Science in music, with a focus on conducting and composition, from the State University of New York. His instructors there included Felix Salzer and Robert Starer. He has also stated that he attended the Juilliard School in New York City.

On Broadway, Seltzer's musical The Megilla of Itzik Manger, based on the Yiddish poetic libretto Songs of the Megillah by poet Itzik Manger, ran for 450 performances in its original production before receiving five additional theater stagings and three film versions, one of the stage productions appearing on Broadway. To Live Another Summer played at the Helen Hayes Theater. Among his other stage works, Ootz Li Gootz Li, a children's musical based on the Rumpelstiltskin story, accumulated more than 1,500 performances across eight productions over more than thirty years. The musical Kazablan received the Prize of the City of Tel Aviv for Best Musical Play of the Year in 1969, and Rumpelstiltskin received the same prize in 1967. A production of Comme la neige en été was staged at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris.

Seltzer composed scores for more than forty feature films produced in Israel, the United States, Italy, Germany, and France. His film credits include Kazablan, I Love You Rosa, Escape to the Sun, Entebbe: Operation Thunderbolt, Moses the Lawgiver, The Assisi Underground, and The Ambassador. I Love You Rosa, directed by Moshé Mizrahi, received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1973, and the title song from the film version of Kazablan was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1974.

His symphonic output includes works commissioned and premiered by major orchestras. Stempeniu, a dramatic poem for actor/narrator, solo violin, and symphony orchestra based on the novel by Shalom Aleichem, was commissioned and given its world premiere by Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Rhapsodie Hassidique, for violin and enlarged chamber orchestra, was commissioned and performed by Yehudi Menuhin in London with the English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Seltzer. This Scroll, an ode to the Israeli Declaration of Independence written for baritone solo, mixed choir, and symphony orchestra, was composed to mark the centenary of David Ben-Gurion's birth, with its world premiere given by the Haifa Symphony Orchestra and baritone Yehoram Gaon. The Gold of the Ashes, a symphonic poem with solo mezzo-soprano, children's choir, and symphony orchestra, was composed for the 500th anniversary of the expulsion of Jews from Spain and premiered by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra under Seltzer's direction. Lament for Yitzhak, a requiem in memory of Yitzhak Rabin, was premiered in April 1998 by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and later received the Prime Minister's Prize for Israeli Composers in 2000. The arrangement Tradition, featuring nine old Jewish songs for violin and symphony orchestra, was recorded with Yitzhak Perlman and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Seltzer, and performed live by the orchestra under Zubin Mehta. Seltzer also conducted both the Israel Philharmonic and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in performances of his own compositions, reportedly becoming the first Israeli composer to do so. His works have additionally been performed by the New York Philharmonic, the Queens Symphony, and the British Chamber Orchestra, and have been conducted by artists including Kurt Masur and Yehudi Menuhin.

Among the honors Seltzer has received, he is a two-time recipient of the Kinor David, awarded as Best Screen and Theater Composer of the Year in 1968 and 1970. In 1985 he received both the Itzik Manger Prize for contributions to Jewish and Yiddish music and culture and the ACUM Jury Award for lifetime achievement. Additional recognitions include the Sholom Aleichem House Award for Contribution and Creativity in the Field of Jewish Culture in 1989, the Prize of the Minister of Culture, Science and Sport for Lifetime Contribution to Israeli Song and Music in 2006, and the Theater Prize for Lifetime Achievement in 2014. In 2009, Seltzer was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement across popular song, musical theater, film scores, and symphonic music.