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Compositions

Long celebrated as “a cellist with something to say” (Gramophone), Inbal Segev makes solo appearances at leading international venues and with preeminent orchestras and conductors worldwide. As well as commissioning and premiering a host of major new works, the Israeli American cellist is now making a name for herself as a composer. During the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, she lent her own voice to the 20 for 2020 project, which saw her commission 20 new chamber works for a four-volume recording and video series from Avie Records. Her contribution was the cello quartet Behold (2021); filmed and recorded for the project’s final installment, this had its live premiere at Mexico’s Guadalajara International Chamber Music Festival. Subsequent compositions include I’m Nobody! Who are you?, an Emily Dickinson setting for unaccompanied women’s choir; the Concerto for String Orchestra (2022); B Natural (2023), a cello octet premiered by Yale Cellos and conductor Paul Watkins at Yale University; and astring trio (2023), which premiered at the Fort Worth Chamber Music Society. After premiering in Jerusalem, Segev’s Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano (2024) received its U.S. premiere from the counter)induction ensemble in New York, followed by performances during her residencies with the Western Michigan Symphony and at Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival, where she also reprised Behold. Uru (2026), scored for cello and woodwind trio, was premiered by Harmony 3 in New York and features alongside the clarinet trio on Segev’s upcoming recording Uru. Additional 2026 premieres include a piano trio, commissioned by the Salix Piano Trio for performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall; Maya, scored for cello and electronics, which Segev brings to life in the GatherNYC series at New York’s Museum of Art & Design; and her score for When Robert Met Judith (2026), a film by Yaniv Rokah. Her composition mentors include such leading lights as Timo Andres and Anna Clyne.

For rental and performance inquiries, please contact the artist.

  • Behold for Cello Quartet (2021)

    Premiere: March 2024 at the Guadalajara International Chamber Music Festival (Guadalajara, Mexico)
    Recording: 20 for 2020, Vol. IV (Avie Records)
    Instrumentation: 4 cellos





  • Concerto for String Orchestra (2022)

  • B Natural  for Cello Octet (2023) 

    Premiere: May 2023 by the Yale Cellos conducted by Paul Watkins at Yale University’s Sprague Hall (New Haven, CT)
    Instrumentation: 8 cellos



  • String Trio (2023) 

    Premiere: March 2024 by the Fort Worth Chamber Music Society (Fort Worth, TX)
    Instrumentation: violin, viola, cello

  • Trio for Cello, Clarinet and Piano (2024) 

    Premiere: October 2024 by counter)induction at Tenri Cultural Institute (New York, NY)
    Instrumentation: cello, clarinet, piano



  • “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” (2024)

    For SSAA chorus
    Text by Emily Dickinson

    I’m nobody! Who are you?
    Are you nobody, too?
    Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!
    They’d banish us, you know.

    How dreary to be somebody!
    How public, like a frog
    To tell your name the livelong day
    To an admiring bog!

     

  • Cello Concerto (work in progress)

    Instrumentation: solo cello, 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 B-flat clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoon, contrabassoon, 2 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, tuba, timpani (2×32”), Percussion 1 – Vibraphone (with bow), cymbals; Percussion 2 – crotales (with bow), marimba (4 octaves)

  • Suite for Orchestra (work in progress)

  • Score for “Follow Me” (work in progress)

    Follow Me, a feature documentary directed by Yaniv Rokah (Queen Mimi) that tells the inspiring story of Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev. Learn more about Gidon and the project here.