Shaul Bustan, born in 1983 in a small kibbuz in the Negev desert, the Israeli composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist Shaul Bustan started playing classical music on the mandolin from a very young age. Growing up between two worlds, to a Persian mother and an Eastern European father, he was not only influenced by this on a personal level. Also musically, he has been a frequent traveler between these two worlds. Till today, Shauls musical language are the unique sounds and combinations of orient and occident.
Shaul graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in 2009, holding a master’s degree in composition. Among his teachers were violinist Motti Smidt, composer Haim Permont, and conductor and composer Aharon Harlap.
Throughout his career, he has composed over 300 pieces; from opera to chamber and orchestral music to music for film, theatre and dance. Shauls music has been performed in concerts internationally by the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israeli Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony (USA), the Tiroler Ensemble für Neue Musik - Innsbruck (Austria), Musica Nova Ensemble (Israel), Meitar Ensemble (Israel) as well as by the mandolinist Avi Avital, the klezmer maestro Giora Feidman and at the Schleswig-Holstein music festival.
Since 2011, Shauls is based in Berlin. As well as working as a musical director and composer in diverse theatre projects, he conducts several choirs in Berlin and performs regularly throughout Germany with his trio. And he has put his focus on composing and performing his own music on the Oud.
He won the Chana Avni-Yaddor's Composition Competition (2007-2008), the 2005/6 Deborah Grossman Award for Excellence in Music Education, and was awarded scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (2002-08) and the Berlin Senate in the JAZZ composition section (2017).
www.shaulbustan.com