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Myrna Herzog

Myrna Herzog (; born 1 December 1951) is a Brazilian-born Israeli musician, conductor, teacher and early music researcher. She is a player of the viola da gamba and baroque cello.

Music career

Herzog started her professional career in 1972 as one of the winners of the Young Soloists competition of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (OSB). Her early music involved the groups Kalenda Maya (1970–72) and Pro-Arte Antiqua (1971–74). In 1973 she founded Quadro Cervantes with Rosana Lanzelotte. In 1983 she founded Brazil's first Baroque Orchestra Academia Antiqua Pro-Arte. In 1992, Herzog immigrated to Israel where she taught the first generation of sabra viola da gamba players.

Herzog studied the viol with Judith Davidoff and Wieland Kuijken. Since 1998, she has been the musical director and conductor of the Ensemble PHOENIX of early instruments.

In July 1990, Myrna Herzog was a member of "Trio MMM", together with singer Margarita Schack and pianist Maria Tereza Madeira.

Herzog has also worked in opera. She transcribed and staged the 13th-century Play of Daniel and the Baroque opera La púrpura de la rosa.

As a viola da gamba soloist, Myrna has performed throughout Europe, South America, the US, and Israel. She participated in the Israeli premiere of the Passions (Bach) with the Israel Philharmonic, performing solos with the viola da gamba. Myrna Herzog has recorded for labels as a conductor and as a performer on the viol, quinton, vielle, baroque cello, and modern cello. She has a doctorate degree in music from Bar-Ilan University. In February 2024, Herzog held workshops on baroque music for conductors in Brazil and at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

In January 2026 Luciana Medeiros called Myrna Herzog 'Early Music's Locomotive', and described Herzog's creation of the Phoenix-Brasil ensamble in her return to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Discography

Solo albums

  • Bachiana Mineira (1983) by Calimério Soares (Brazil, 1944–2011), for solo viola da gamba. Recorded on the 2001 CD Toccata.
  • Choose Life: Music for Solo Viola da Gamba (2022) – solo viola da gamba album.

With Quadro Cervantes

  • Concerto BHU (1989). Quadro Cervantes, Coro de Câmera Pro-Arte, Rosana Lanzelotte, Settecento (3×LP, box set), no number, 1989.
  • Telemann (1984). Quadro Cervantes. Brazil, 1984. Vinyl, Barclay – 4192621.
  • Música Medieval, Renascentista e Barroca (1979). Brazil, 1979. Vinyl, Continental – 1-35-404-012.

With Denise Emmer

  • Canto Lunar (1982). Music by Denise Emmer. Vinyl, RGE – 308.6029.

With Wieland Kuijken and Rosana Lanzelotte

  • Wieland Kuijken Live in Rio (recorded 1988; released 2020). Wieland Kuijken, Myrna Herzog, Rosana Lanzelotte. Tratore, 2020.

With the Jerusalem Consort

  • Concert spirituel (1999). Recorded in 1997.

With Ensemble PHOENIX (directed by Myrna Herzog)

  • 2025 VENICE: Lotti, Caldara – Ensemble PHOENIX and The Madrigal Singers, conducted by Myrna Herzog.
  • 2025 Michelangelo Falvetti: Il Nabucco (1683) – Ensemble PHOENIX.
  • 2025 Convivencia: Moors, Christians and Jews in Iberia – Ensemble PHOENIX.
  • 2024 Bach in Italy – Ensemble PHOENIX.
  • 2024 Leonora Duarte, Palazzo & Synagogue – Ensemble PHOENIX.
  • 2023 Brazil: Dom Pedro I and the Music of Imperial Brazil – Ensemble PHOENIX.
  • 2022 Bach: Goldberg Variations (arr. Bernard Labadie). Ensemble PHOENIX & Myrna Herzog. Tratore, 2022.
  • 2021 Uri Brener: Spanish Lamento. Ensemble PHOENIX & Myrna Herzog. Tratore, 2021.
  • 2020 José Maurício Nunes Garcia: Requiem. Ensemble PHOENIX.
  • 2020 François Couperin: Pièces de Clavecin à deux violes. Myrna Herzog, Giomar Sthel, Ensemble PHOENIX. Tratore, 2020.
  • 2017 Misa Zapoteca and the Exotic Music of Baroque México.
  • 2007 O Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. Ensemble PHOENIX.
  • 2003 Wind and Sea. Ensemble PHOENIX.
  • 2000 As Brazil Was Discovered. Ensemble PHOENIX.
  • 1999 Shakespeare. Ensemble PHOENIX with Miriam Meltzer and Benny Hendel.

With Tal Arbel

  • 2024 Matthew Locke: Duos on Lewis Viols – with Tal Arbel.

With David Loeb

  • 2022 Hidden Pathways: David Loeb and Others. Centaur Records Inc., CRC 3920.

Publications

Poetry

  • Canto Aberto: Cinco Poetas Jovens. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1969.
  • A Casa do Alaúde. Rio de Janeiro: Boca da Noite, 1999.

Musicology

Herzog's scholarly work focuses primarily on organology, the history of bowed string instruments, and historically informed performance practice, with numerous studies published on academic platforms.

Articles and essays

  • The Division Viol – an overview: A detailed study of the division viol, its technique, and repertoire.
  • Reassessing Bourdelot-Bonnet’s first French History of Music (1715): A historical reassessment of Bourdelot-Bonnet's foundational work on French music history. Also available in Spanish as La reevaluación de la primera Historia de la Música francesa de Bourdelot-Bonnet.
  • Is the quinton a viol? A puzzle unravelled: An investigation into the hybrid nature of the quinton and its organological classification.
  • Looking through the mist of "Tous les matins du Monde": Sainte-Colombe revisited: A critical and historical analysis of Sainte-Colombe, contrasting documentary evidence with modern cinematic portrayals.
  • Stradivari’s viols: Research on the surviving and documented viols built by Antonio Stradivari.
  • Violin Traits in Italian Viols: A technical study of violin‑derived physical characteristics found in Italian viols.
  • The viol in Bach's Passions: a performer's notes: Technical reflections from a performer's perspective on the role of the viola da gamba in J. S. Bach's Passions.
  • Finding the true identity of the Castagneri viol: a detective story: An organological investigation into the provenance and authorship of a specific historical viol.

Theses

  • The Quinton and other Viols with Violin Traits: Doctoral dissertation on the organological intersection between viol and violin families in the eighteenth century.
  • Volume I: Analytical study and historical contextualization.
  • Volume II (Addendum): Catalogue of instruments exhibiting hybrid violin traits.

References

External links