Betty Olivero

Betty Olivero was born in 1954 in Tel Aviv

Betty Olivero was born in Tel Aviv on 16 May 1954 to Dora Kapon and Eli Olivero, who came to the Land of Israel from Greece. She began piano lessons at age 4 and composed as a child.

She studied composition and piano at the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University and earned a bachelor's degree in 1978. She then studied at Yale University and finished a master's degree in 1981. A Leonard Bernstein scholarship led her to study with Luciano Berio, and she continued with him in Italy from 1983 to 1986.

In Italy she met her husband, the double bass player Raffaello Majoni, and she lived there for 18 years. She was among the founders of a research center named for Berio and lectured as a guest at universities in the United States and Europe.

She returned to Israel and taught composition at Bar-Ilan University, where she also earned a doctorate and became a full professor. She was the first female professor of composition at an Israeli institution. From 2004 to 2008 she was composer-in-residence of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

Her works often use Sephardic and Middle Eastern folk tunes and liturgy, and orchestras in Israel and abroad have performed them. She is widowed and lives in Israel with her 2 children.