Boris Yoffe
Boris Yoffe is a Russian-born Israeli composer, resident of Karlsruhe, Germany.Biography
Boris Yoffe initially studied violin but turned to composing early, premiering his first works in the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in 1983.
He emigrated to Israel before the break-up of Soviet Union, and completed his composition studies at the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. Later he moved to Karlsruhe, Germany to study with Wolfgang Rihm in 1997. Around that time, the composer began composing a series of short one-page pieces for string quartet. These were given a performance at ZKM in Karlsruhe in May 2003 and recorded on the ECM label by the Rosamunde Quartett with the Hilliard Ensemble. Boris Yoffe himself considers his work not specifically national: Russian, Israeli or German, but in principle ″belonging to all three cultures″.
From modern composers Boris Yoffe distinguishes for himself such paradoxically different landmarks as Galina Ustvolskaya, Morton Feldman and Yuri Khanon.