Composer, Performer, Scholar.
Devorah (Fisher) Belin enjoys experimenting with unusual instrumentations and loves the unique opportunities for collaboration and discovery these instrumentations afford. Though Devorah has written for everything from the symphony orchestra to solo instruments, some of her favorite instrumentations to work with have been horn, piano, and percussion (Slow Burn, 2020), two harps and marimba (A Yid, a Bee, and a Heel, 2018), and klezmer band (Gilgul Nefesh, 2017). Devorah enjoys tackling themes of Jewish identity in her music by attempting to parse and portray her experiences through sound.
As a composer, Devorah participated in Peabody Conservatory’s Virtual Artist in Residence program, through which she was selected to compose a trio for viola, clarinet, and bassoon trio for Talea Ensemble, premiered virtually in December 2020. Her other works and arrangements have been performed in NYC, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Boston, Madison, and Jerusalem. During her time in Madison, WI, her pieces were performed by numerous student groups, including several ensembles spearheaded by Devorah herself. From 2014-2016, Devorah was a John Downey Composition Project Fellow, where her compositions were premiered by the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra. Devorah has participated in masterclasses by Melinda Wagner, Cygnus Ensemble, Rob Gardner, Eighth Blackbird, and many others.
In addition to being a composer, Devorah is an active harpist with over 15 years of experience. She has performed across Southeastern Wisconsin, and in Austria, Hungary, and Israel. In an effort to combat the somewhat “inaccessible” reputation of the harp, Devorah has performed with orchestras, in nursing homes, with chamber ensembles, and at dinner parties, utilizing a broad range of concert music. She was a featured soloist with the Impromptu Chamber Orchestra in Madison in 2018, and appeared in RUACH Inc.’s Summer 2017 Rubin Sharpe Tribute Series. In 2018, she received UW-Madison’s Cooper Harp award, as well as its Robert & Randall Zenter Music Scholarship Award.
Devorah received her undergraduate degree in composition from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2020, where she also minored in Middle Eastern Studies, and a Masters at Peabody Conservatory, studying under Dr. Kevin Puts. Currently, Devorah is a PhD candidate in Ethnomusicology at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in NYC.