Artist Spotlight: Dina Kitrossky

Photo by Hadar Alfasi

AICF alumna Dina Kitrossky is a pianist and composer. Since graduating from the Jerusalem Academy of Music, majoring in Composition, she has been creating Eastern and Western music, as well as merging traditional folklore with classical music. Other than performing and recording her own music, Dina also writes music for film.

What or who inspired you to want to be an artist?
The arts have excited me for as long as I can remember. As a girl, I couldn’t decide on a single instrument or form of artistic expression that suited me best. I’d bounce from writing to painting to playing instruments as varied as I could get my hands on. But all that changed when I discovered composition. I remember casually playing the piano when this simple, improvised melody came out. As plain as it was, I loved it so much that I couldn’t stop humming it. My lifelong addiction to creating music started then, with my first composition. Today, I still appreciate all art forms as I’ve come to see creators and their works as an infinite source of inspiration.

What was your creative journey that has brought you to where you are in your career today?
As a naïve twenty-year-old, I figured I’d study music for a year or so before getting a “real” education. I signed up for my first year at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and before I knew it, four years had gone by and I was regularly performing as a pianist on stage. I started out with classical music, jazz and my own compositions but soon developed a passion for the Eastern sounds of Arabic and Turkish music.

Welding such vastly different worlds together, particularly on the piano, is a surprisingly satisfying challenge. For years now, I’ve been playing, harmonizing and arranging the great music of Oum Kulthoum, Abdul Wahab and more. Together with the oud player, Izzik Gan, we explored the connection between the classical music of the East with that of the West. That relationship led to our creation of the piano and oud duo,”PianOud”.

Overtime, I’ve developed skills to work with computer programs. I work with Cubase, which I find very useful for recording and editing. At my home-based studio, I compose and record scores for movies, including Mirage, To Be a Cooperman, Fingers and more, as well as computer games and my own music.

What do you need as an artist today?
As a composer, it is crucial for me to keep up with the global music scene and related technology. I follow technological developments and innovations and acquire new skills that help me present my music at the highest quality.

What creative project are you working on now?
I’m scoring a comedy film, and I’m also recording and producing an album of my own compositions for the first time.

What does it mean to you to have an organization like AICF supporting artists and culture?
It’s a great feeling of not being alone because there are people who care about us artists and about art!