Singer/songwriter/composer, Ayala Asherov Kalus began writing songs at age 15. After completing her two year army service with the Israel Defense Forces as a performer with the entertainment troupe, she pursued her formal studies in music at the Rimon School of Contemporary Music in Tel Aviv. As she was completing her studies at Rimon, Israel's renown singer Ofra Haza released a recording of Ayala's song, "Along the Sea" ("L'Orech Ha Yam"), one of Israel's most frequently performed and recorded songs which has since been recorded by multiple other artists nationally and internationally. Ayala continued her studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston graduating in 1998 Summa cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music in composition and film scoring, and a Master of Arts in composition and film scoring from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 2000. In 2003, two of Ayala's songs were recorded and published by celebrated Israeli singer, Gali Atari.
After a brief hiatus from her music to devote to her twin boys, Ron and Daniel born in 2002, Ayala returned to composition with the completion of an original classical composition for cello, "Yizkor" as part of the 2003 Holocaust Memorial Commemoration. Since that time, the piece has been performed in multiple venues nationally and internationally.
More recently, in 2006 Ayala co-wrote with composer Dick Goodwin and writer Jenny Maxwell, "Porcupine Saves the Dance", an original chamber musical tale which debuted at Edventure Children's Museum in Columbia, South Carolina. Also in 2006 was the posthumous release of legendary Israeli chansonere, Arik Lavi's last recorded song which was written by Ayala. In 2008 Ayala released her debut CD of original songs and music, "Crossing the River", published by the Israeli label, Hed Artzi, following which she was a featured performer of her own music at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. In 2009, Ayala completed "Songs of Peace", an original composition inspired by Arab and Israeli children's poems, which premiered at Columbia College. Also in 2009 Ayala completed an original chamber composition, "Three Rivers" commissioned by the Three Rivers Trio which was premiered in January of 2010 in McCormick, South Carolina. This year she completed "Seasons", an original chamber composition inspired by the poetry of Chaim Nachman Bialik, Israel's poet laureate, first performed in Tel Aviv in February 2010 and scheduled to be performed as part of the Innovista Concert Series at the University of South Carolina School of Music in October, 2010. Her original classical works are being featured in the opening evening launching the 21 Sounds Composers Series at the White Mule in Columbia, South Carolina in April, 2010.
Ayala is a 2010 recipient of the prestigious Wild Acres Artist Residency Award in North Carolina and is currently working on the score for an ETV Documentary, Forgotten Founder, to be aired in September 2010.
General Web Marketing By Rosemont Media