Composer and violist Emmanuel Witzthum, born in Oxford in 1975, hails from Jerusalem. From 1996 to 1999, he lived in New York, where he studied viola with Michael Tree (member of the Guarneri Quartet) and composition with Nils Vigeland at the Manhattan School of Music. As a violist, he has performed with the Orpheus chamber orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain and Itineraire, and with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Georg Solti, Kurt Masur, and Loren Maazel. In the summer of 2000, he performed Eclats-Multiples by Pierre Boulez in Aix-en-Provence with Ensemble Intercontemporain, under the direction of the composer. He began composing in 1998, and since then, has written many works, including pieces for four and six pianos; Study No.1 for orchestra; Commentary for chambre ensemble and voice, with a text comprising four of the composer’s own poems; 38/105, a setting of poetry by e e cummings for six voices; Ground for percussion solo; and the jazz work Sequences for Sally for piano.