Israeli composer Oded Zehavi was born in Jerusalem in 1961. He is well versed in a wide variety of musical styles (pop/rock arrangements, soundtracks, electronic, chamber and orchestral music) and is renowned for his vocal scores and textual affinity for classics of Hebrew literature. His music has been premiered by a number of prominent musicians such as Valery Gergiev, Marek Janowsky, Antonio Pappano and David Robertson. He is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Barlow Foundation Award, Annenburg Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Prime Minister's Prize, Landau Prize for Stage Arts and the City of Tel Aviv-Jaffa's Engel Prize. He began piano studies at an early age, and during his teen years worked as an arranger and programmer for the Israel Broadcasting Authority. He served as a tank commander during the First Lebanon War, an experience which profoundly affected his world view and musical direction. He obtained a Bachelor's degree in music from the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance under composers Andre Hajdu and Marc Kopytman and moved to the United States in 1986 to begin graduate studies with American composer George Crumb at the University of Pennsylvania. During this period he wrote 'L.H.M: Israeli War Requiem' (after Britten) for children's choir, women's choir, vocal soloists and symphony orchestra, which was critically and popularly acclaimed upon its debut in Tel Aviv under conductor Noam Sheriff and the Rishon Lezion Symphony Orchestra. He completed doctoral studies with Sheila Silver at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, earning a PhD in 1992. He subsequently returned to Israel and served as a senior lecturer at a number of academic institutions before accepting the position of Associate Professor of Music at Haifa University, where he founded the Department of Music. He resides in Tel Aviv with his wife and two children.