Assaf Benraf

Music

Assaf Benraf

Assaf Benraf is a conductor, singer, and translator, currently serving as Chorus Master at the Israeli Opera (since 2020).
He is a graduate of the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in conducting from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and a Master’s in conducting from Penn State University in the United States. He began his musical life playing the violin and the viola and continued as a singer. Conducting is currently Benraf’s primary occupation.
Benraf has performed as a vocalist in many choirs (including the Israeli Opera Chorus) and with most of the orchestras in Israel. He has performed as a soloist with the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, the Ra’anana Symphonette, the Phoenix Ensemble, and the Calace Ensemble for Neapolitan Music (of which he was founder and musical director). Benraf has received scholarships and grants from the America Israel Cultural Foundation, the “Zefunot Tarbut” non-profit, the Gary Bertini Foundation, and Penn State University, and has attended many masterclasses in Israel and abroad. Benraf was also a finalist in the Luigi Mancinelli International Competition for Opera Conductors in Orvieto, Italy (2018).
In addition to music, Benraf works as a translator of poetry. His translations have been published in “Nifl’ata, an Anthology of LGBT Poetry,” and in the poetry journal “Oh!, Literary Magazine” (published by HaKibbutz HaMeuchad). These publications include translations of works of Ungaretti, Foscolo, Michelangelo, Govoni, Cortese, Molodowsky, Naidus, and Trakl.