Na'ama Zisser () is a London-based composer.
Her work is visually driven and often collaborative with other art forms, with a focus on opera, contemporary dance, moving image, installations, staged performances, and instrumental music. Her practice involves the use of both electronic and acoustic mediums. Her music is concerned with intonation, textures, intimacy, and nostalgia, and has been described as âÂÂfree of clichesâ (The Guardian) and âÂÂhauntingly melodicâ (The Stage). She is the first to introduce cantorial music into contemporary opera. She is currently based in London.
Zisser was raised in an ultra-orthodox background. The fourth of five siblings, she began her classical music education at the age of six, playing piano. She went on to study composition at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, before moving to London to study at the Royal College of Music with Mark-Anthony Turnage where she won the Hurlston & Cobbett Prize. She completed her doctorate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Between 2015 and 2018, Na'ama Zisser was the doctoral composer in residence at the Royal Opera House and made her debut with the opera company with Mamzer/Bastard in the 2018 season. The newly commissioned opera was the first to feature and reference Orthodox-Jewish Cantorial music with a role written for a Cantor. Directed by Jay Scheib and conducted by Jessica Cottis, the opera premiered at the Hackney Empire to sold-out shows.
NaâÂÂama Zisser has been commissioned by and worked with such ensembles and organisations as: London Symphony Orchestra, London Contemporary Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Aurora Orchestra, CHROMA ensemble, Royal Opera House, National Opera Studio, Tête àTête, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israeli Contemporary Players and Ujazdowski Centre for Contemporary Art.
She has held residencies and fellowships with Sound & Music, East London Dance, BrittenâÂÂPears Artist Programme, Classical Next fellowship Rabbit Island Foundation & Rozsa Centre for Performing Arts, and LSO Soundhub residency, where she composed a piece for chamber ensemble, live visuals and karaoke singers. Her work has been supported by the Arts Council, Jerwood Arts and PRS, as well as broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and online radio station NTS. Zisser's music has been performed internationally across Europe, America and Israel.
In 2022, Zisser scored the first season of BBC radio 4's new horror audio anthology, LUSUS, which starred Ncuti Gatwa, Alistair Petrie and Morfydd Clark.