Avi Ostrowsky

Avi Ostrowsky studied with Gary Bertini and Mordechai Seter at Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv. He then studied with Hans Swarowsky in the Vienna Academy of Music and with Franco Ferrara in Italy. While studying in Vienna his talent was recognized by his teachers which permitted him to complete a three-year program in two years.

He lives near Tel Aviv and occasionally resides in Brussels.

In 1968, Ostrowsky won first prize in the Nikolai Malko contest in Copenhagen. That same year he became artistic director of the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 1972.[1] In 1970 he established the Israel Netanya Kibbutz Orchestra, which he directed until 1974 and again from 1998 to 2003. In 1973 he founded the Israel Sinfonietta Beersheba and directed it until 1978 when he was named director of the Antwerp Philharmonic Orchestra, position which he held until 1984. From 1989 to 1993 he led the Radio Norway Symphonica.

Since then he has been invited to conduct orchestras around the world, among them London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, OFUNAM, Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, South African National Youth Orchestra and Hungarian National Philharmonic. He toured Australia with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ostrowsky has recorded Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps and Petrushka as well as the Mahler and Schubert symphonies and Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique", among others.

He often travels to Mexico City to conduct the OFUNAM.

• Music of Israel