Shlomo Gronich

Shlomo Gronich was born in 1949 in Hadera

Shlomo Gronich was born in Hadera in 1949 into a musical family, the middle of 3 sons. His father was a music teacher and clarinet player. He began piano lessons at 6 and started performing at 7.

At 14 he went to study at the Hadassim youth village. He later earned a B.A. in music education from Tel Aviv Educational Academy and a B.A. in composition from the Mannes School of Music in New York City.

In 1971 he released his first album, produced by Zvika Kagan. He then worked with Matti Caspi on the 1973 album and show Behind the Sounds, and in 1974 and 1975 he was a member of the group Ktzat Aheret with Shlomo Yidov and Shem Tov Levy. His younger brother Yaron was killed in the Yom Kippur War.

He wrote more than 15 film scores and music for more than 20 theater shows, as well as ballet and classical works. He won Ophir Awards for film music in 1991 and 1998, and composed a Hebrew and Arabic coexistence song for Peace Child Israel.

In 2017 two women publicly accused him of sexual misconduct, and he received the Prize for Jewish Culture in his absence. In 2022 he apologized for an ethnic remark at a festival in Ein Gev, and his family said he was in early stages of dementia. In 2024 he received the Arik Einstein Prize.