Ben-Dor, Gisèle(née Buka)

Ben-Dor, Gisèle(née Buka), Uruguayan conductor of Polish descent; b. Montevideo, April 26, 1955. Her parents emigrated to Uruguay after World War II. She commenced piano lessons at age 4 with Gloria Rodriguez and Santiago Baranda Reyes at the J.S. Bach Cons. She later received instruction in harmony and counterpoint from Yolanda Rizzardini. She was only 12 when she began conducting, and at 14 she was made music director of her school’s choral and instrumental ensembles. In 1973 she accompanied her family to Israel, where she studied piano with Enrique Barenboim and composition with Arthur Gelbrun. She then studied orchestral conducting with S. Ronley Riklis and choral conducting with Avner Itai. She also trained with Mendi Rodan in Jerusalem. Following further studies with Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena (1980), she completed her education at the Yale School of Music (M.A., 1982). In 1982 she made a notably successful debut with the Israel Phil. She subsequently appeared with other Israeli orchs. She was a Fellow Conductor of the Los Angeles Phil. Inst. and at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood in 1985, and was awarded the Leonard Bernstein fellowship. In 1986 she won the Bartók Prize of the Hungarian TV conductor’s competition. In 1987-88 she was asst. conductor of the Louisville Orch. From 1988 to 1991 she was resident conductor of the Houston Sym. Orch., where, during her tenure, she also served as music director of the Houston Youth Sym. and as acting music director of the Orch. at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice Univ. In 1991 she became music director of the Boston ProArte Chamber Orch. and of the Annapolis Sym. Orch. In Dec. 1993 she made an auspicious debut with the N.Y. Phil, when she was called in at the last minute to substitute for an ailing Kurt Masur. She conducted the concert without benefit of rehearsals and without scores, winning audience acclaim. In 1994 she became music director of the Santa Barbara Sym. Orch. while retaining her posts in Annapolis until 1997 and in Boston until 2000. As a guest conductor, she appeared widely in North America, Europe, and Israel.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire