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Born in Rio de Janeiro, Myrna Herzog is a Brazilian-Israeli viola da gamba performer, conductor and researcher. Her articles appear in important journals, books and in the New Grove's Dictionary. She studied cello with Iberê Gomes Grosso, viola da gamba with Judith Davidoff and Wieland Kuijken, and was mentored in conducting by Doron Salomon.
In 1972, after playing the viol for one year and a half, she was a winner of the Young Soloists Contest of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. Regarded as "one of the engines of the early music movement" (Jornal do Brasil) and "the biggest name of the viola da gamba in Brazil" (O Estado de São Paulo), Myrna founded in 1983 South America's first Baroque Orchestra (Academia Antiqua Pro-Arte) which she conducted until her moving to Israel in 1992. There as in Brazil, she continued to be a leading figure in the early music scene, teaching also the first generation of local viol players.
In 1998 she founded Ensemble PHOENIX of early instruments, which she conducts until the present day. As viola da gamba soloist, she has performed in 25 countries and has participated in the Israeli premiere of Bach's Passions with the Israel Philharmonic. As a conductor, she staged operas and oratorios, and taught workshops in Brazil and at the Royal Academy of Music, London. She holds a doctorate in music from Bar-Ilan University. She has recorded for several labels, as a conductor and as a performer on the viol, quinton, vielle, baroque and modern cello.
