Was born in Uruguay. She studied at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv and a the Yale School of Music before residing in the United States. She is the conductor laureate of the Santa Barbara Symphony and the conductor emerita of the Boston Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra. She has led many international orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Helsinki Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, New World Symphony, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Tuscan Sun Festival Orchestra, Mississippi Symphony, National Orchestra of Chile, Thunder Bay Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Bard Conservatory and many others. She is a champion of Latin American music, notably the works of Ginastera, Revueltas, Piazzolla, and Luis Bacalov. Amongst her major performances of the music of Ginastera, includes a new production and European premiere of his last opera Beatrix Cenci at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, as well as Turbae ad Passionem Gregorianam in Madrid.

She has committed much of this repertoire to disc, most noticeably her recording on EMI Classics with the Santa Barbara Symphony of vocal music by Ginastera, featuring Placido Domingo, Ana Maria Martinez and Virginia Tola in excerpts from Ginastera's first opera Don Rodrigo. Other notable recordings include the world premiere recording of the complete score of Ginastera's ballet Estancia with the London Symphony Orchestra, Ginastera's Variations Concertantes with the London Symphony Orchestra and the world premiere of both versions of the Glosses on Themes of Pablo Casals. In addition, Ms Ben-Dor has recorded the music of Silvestre Revueltas for Koch, including the world premiere of Revueltas' final work, the ballet La Coronela with the Santa Barbara Symphony and the English Chamber Orchestra. Ms Ben-Dor has also recorded the world premiere of Villa-Lobos' Symphony No. 10, Amerindia, on Koch also with the Santa Barbara Symphony and chorus. Her latest disc on Delos entitled The Soul of Tango with the Santa Barbara Symphony includes tango-related works by Argentinean composers Piazzolla and Bakalov. At the Israeli Opera she conducted Rigoletto (Verdi).