Hometown Jerusalem girl wins Grammy

February 16, 2009 - 11:28 AM by David · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Music

Hila Plitmann - just a simple Yerushalmi...

Betcha didn’t know that an Israeli won a Grammy last week at the Los Angeles awards ceremony for the year’s best music. And not just any Israeli, one of the most interesting and inspiring I’ve had the chance to talk to in a while.

Jerusalem-born and raised soprano Hila Plitmann received her award for Best Classical Performance as vocalist on a recording of Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (2000), an original composition for full orchestra and amplified soprano by John Corigliano using the lyrics of Dylan and performed by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by JoAnne Falletta.

Since graduating from the prestigious Juillard School of Music in New York in 1997, Plitmann has gone on to become a staple on the international music scene, regularly premiering works by leading composers while cementing her reputation in musical theater, recordings and film, including the soundtrack work as a soloist for the The Da Vinci Code. CNN reported “Plitmann’s glissandi sail above the petty pulpits of earthly doctrine with an ethereal ease that argues for Plitmann’s pairing with [Kathleen] Battle or Dawn Upshaw.”

But Plitmann is as down to earth as they come. Living in LA now with her husband, conductor Eric Whitacre and their three-year-old son Esh (Fire in Hebrew), Plitmann is unaffected by the accolades and the glitter of the Grammys. So much so, that she ended up missing the ceremony last week to attend a birthday party for a friend of Esh’s.

“I’m still a little surprised we won,” said Plitmann. “Just thinking about the level of artistry and the level of respect I hold for the others who were nominated in the category – I didn’t really expect this.”

With her family all still living in Jerusalem (her father is a professor of botany at Hebrew University), and socializing with many Israelis in LA, Plitmann remains an Israeli at heart. A few years ago, she collaborated with Whitacre by writing and singing the original poems for Five Hebrew Love Songs, a collection of Whitacre compositions.

And, if she wasn’t busy enough, she studied Tae Kwon for five years and has received a black belt. The debate has gone back and forth about how terrible it is that Israelis move abroad and abandon their country. But in Plitmann’s case, she’s presenting an amazing image of Israel to the world, and much like her expansive vocal style, filling us with pride at a home town girl made good.

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