The work of composer Sivan Eldar has been described as “resolutely of our time” (Opera Forum), “striking in its singularity and finesse” (ResMusica), "with a unique sensitivity to dramaturgy" (Diapason), “exceptionally expressive” (Bachtrack), “a form of trance” (Ôlyrix), “ethereal and transcendent” (Nieuwe Noten), “a contemporary gem” (Les Inrockuptibles), “Vividly imagined” (The Boston Globe), and “luxurious and rapturous” (SF Classical Voice).
Sivan’s music has been performed at many of today’s leading festivals and halls, including the Venice Biennale, Louvre Museum, Boston Symphony Hall, Théatre du Châtelet, Pompidou Centre (Festival ManiFeste), Maison de la Radio (Festival Présences), Luxembourg Philharmonic (Rainy Days Festival), Musikverein (Wien Modern), DiMenna Center (TIME:SPANS Festival), Ultraschall Festival, November Music Festival, Baerum Kulturhus, and the opera houses of Lille, Montpellier, Nancy and Marseille among others.
As a collaborator, she works frequently with writers, directors, dancers, and visual artists, and has held residencies through the Fulbright Foundation, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, MacDowell, Camargo Foundation, Villa Albertine, Cité Internationale des Arts, Royaumont Foundation, and Snape Maltings. Her sound installations have been presented at the MahN musuem in Neuchatel, MUSEC museum in Lugano, Brooklyn Public Library, Konfrontationen and Impuls Festivals in Austria, and Catherine Clark Gallery in San Francisco.
Sivan began her musical education at the age of 5, studying classical piano and voice. At the age of 15 she joined the experimental United World College in New Mexico, where she focused on music while also becoming involved in environmental and political work. She continued her studies in Boston at the New England Conservatory (BM), where she studied music composition, piano and ethnomusicology, alongside courses in gender studies and ethics. In 2009 she moved to California to pursue her PhD in composition at UC Berkeley with Franck Bedrossian, Edmund Campion, Cindy Cox and Myra Melford, with a diploma in new media studies at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) and the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM). She then moved to Paris for training at the Institut de Recherche Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) under Hèctor Parra (Cursus 2016-17). Since 2018 she has been in residence at IRCAM, working primarily with computer music designer Augustin Muller and researcher Jean-Louis Giavitto.
In addition to her work as a composer, Sivan has served on the theory faculty of the Department of Music at UC Berkeley, and on the composition faculty of the John Adams Young Composers Program (2009-16), the IlSuono Academy (2023), BE Connect Academy (2024) and Voix Nouvelles Academy at Royaumont (2024). From 2019-22, she was composer-in-residence at Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier, where she led several international workshops for composers, writers and directors, including “Paroles et musique” with director Ted Huffman. Together with her longtime collaborator writer Cordelia Lynn she composed her first opera Like flesh, which won the 2021 Fedora Opera Prize. She is currently working on her second chamber opera with collaborators Ganavya Doraiswamy (vocalist, librettist), Peter sellars (director), and Lauren Groff (co-librettist) for Festival d’Aix-on-Provence in 2025. She is a 2022-23 Rome Prize winner (French Academy in Rome - Villa Medici), a 2023 New Musical Talent Award winner (SACD), and a 2024 Opera America Discovery Grant winner. Her music is published by Durand-Universal Music Classical.