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Ye'ela Avital |
Soprano |
Ye'ela received her vocal degree from the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem, studying with Miriam Melzer and Marina Levit. She began her musical path singing as soloist at the "Ankor" choir. She participated in master classes with Nancy Argente, Evelyn Tubb, Joan Dornmann and Vera Rosa Nordel. Since 1998 Ye'ela has been performing in concerts and recitals in Israel and abroad, with a repertoire ranging from early to contemporary music, next to well known artists from Europe. As soloist Ye'ela performed with orchestras such as "Israeli Chamber Orchestra", and "The Ra'anana Symphonette". She recorded for the Israeli radio and television with ensemble "Spirito Barocco". Ye'ela performs constantly in international festivals, such as the "York Early Music Festival", the "Abu Gosh Festival", the "Yehiam Festival" and the "Days of Music in Upper Galilee". She has been awarded a yearly scholarship from the America-Israel Foundation in the years 1998-2007. In 2001 she won the first prize in the "Baroque Music Contest" at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem.
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Kimberly Reine |
Traverso |
Kimberly Reine, a traverso player from Canada, began her studies on traverso with Claire Guimond at McGill university after receiving an undergraduate degree in modern flute. She received a First Phase Diploma and Certificaat from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, the Netherlands, where she studied with Wilbert Hazelzet, and continued her studies with Marc Hantai at the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya. Kimberly performs regularly both in Israel and abroad and her performances have been broadcast on CBC, Radio Canada and the Concertzender. She has worked with a variety of early music ensembles including le Studio de musique ancienne de Montreal , under the direction of Christopher Jackson, the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, under the direction of David Shemer and the Academie Baroque d'Ambronnay, under the direction of William Christie.
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Boaz Berney |
Traverso |
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Katya Polin |
Recorder & Viola |
Katya was born in Moscow in 1987 and immigrated to Israel in 1991. She started her recorder studuies at the age of 9 with Josef
Sharon and at the age of 13 started to learn the viola with Dr. Lilach Levanon, and is currently a student of Mr. Roman Spitzer at the
Buchmann-Mehta School of Music. At the age of 13 Katya won the 1st prize at the "Maestro" competition, and since then won several
competitions in Israel and abroad, among the Young Artist competition, the Paul Ben-Haim competition, competition for soloists of the
Jerusalem Music Academy, International Recorder competition in Germany, First International Recorder competition in Montreal, and others.
Performs as a soloist with many orchestras, including The Rudolstadt Symphony Orchestra cond. - Mark Voloch, The Consservatoire de
Paris Orchestra cond. - David Stern, The Jerusalem Academy Chamber Orchestra cond. - Mendi Rodan, The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra cond. -
Yaniv Dinur, The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra cond. - Zubin Mehta, among others.
Katya is a dedicated chamber Musician, she performed with chamber groups in Israel, Berlin, Milan' Denmark and Paris with artists
such as Itamar Golan, Hagai Saham, Guy Ben-Ziony and others. She is a member of the Israeli Contemporary Music String Quartet which has been
invited to perfom in Bulgaria, Romania, Holland and the U.S.A. , and The "Gertler" Quartet - the Tel Aviv academy representative string
quartet. She also performed and recorded for the Israeli Broadcasting Authority and for television programs, gives solo recitals and takes
part in festivals on both viola and recorder. Since the age of 11, Katya is a pecipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation on both
instruments.
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Shlomit Sivan |
Baroque Violin |
Shlomit started her Violin studies at the Jerusalem Conservatory with Walter Reiter, and continued with Viola studies with David Hen. Graduated from the Young Mucisians Unit of Mishkenot Shaananim. Served as an outstanding Musician in the IDF Chamber Quartet. Toured the former Soviet Union with the Quartet. In 1991 received a full scholarship from USC University, where she studied with Donald Mc'Guiness. Winner of Scholarships from the American - Israel Cultural Foundation, and perfromed on its behalf in Recitals in the USA. In 1993 Shlomit was accepted as a member of the Israeli Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Shlomo Mintz. She graduated com laude her BM studies at the Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv. She played in festivals in Interloken (USA), Schleswig Holstein, Rolansek (Germany), Dartington (UK), Kfar Blum, Yehiam, and Abu Gosh. In the years 1998 – 2002 belonged to the teachers staff of the Stricker Conservatory in Tel Aviv. She recorded for the Israeli Broadcast Authority a recital as part of the “Young Musicians in the Center” program and with "Spirito Barocco".
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Yasuko Hirata |
Baroque Violin |
Yasuko Hirata was born in 1970 in Tokyo and started playing the violin at the age of 6.
She received her bachelor degree in economics from the Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan (1993), where she played in the Kwansei Gakuin Orchestra. From 1992 she was the concertmaster of The Kwansei Gakuin Orchestra, With which she performed in Japan, Germany and The Netherlands (the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam).
During the years 1994-1999 Yasuko studied violin performance and teaching at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague under the direction of Prof.Theodora Geraets.
She took part in a master class with Prof.Hermann Krebbers in the Brahms Festival in The Hague. During those years yasuko performed with various orchestras and ensembles including the Residentie Orkest and Musica Ducis (Netherlands) and the Osaka philharmonic orchestra (Japan).
Since 2000 Yasuko lives in Israel , where she performs duo recitals with Harpist Adina Haroz and pianist Ran Zemach, with The Tel-Aviv soloists ensemble,and as a Baroque violinist with various ensembles such as Barrocade, The Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra and the Jaffa Baroque Ensemble.
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Alexandra Polin |
Viola da Gamba |
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Amit Tiefenbrunn |
Viola da Gamba |
Amit studied double bass with Eli Magen and has played with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra and the Beer-Sheba Synfonieta. In 1991 he went to the Netherlands, where he studied Viola da Gamba at the Utrecht Conservatory of Music with Anneke Pols and violone at the Royal Conservatory in Hague with Maggy Urquhart. There he also studied the art of building historical String instruments with Dirk Jacob Hamoen. In the Netherlands Amit was a member of two Baroque orchestras - Florelegium Roterdam and Brabant Baroque Colegium - and of Ensemble Aeole which specialized in polyphonic music from the Renaissance and the Baroque. Amit recorded several CDs and made recordings for the Dutch and the Israeli Radio. He constantly participates in international festivals, such as: Bachwochen Festival in Eisenach, Bachtage Festival in Berlin,Abu Gosh Festival, Yehiam Festival and Music Days in Upper Galilee. In his workshop Amit builds viols, Baroque violins, vielles and other string instruments. In his performances and CDs he plays instruments which he has built.
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Alon Portal |
Double Bass |
Alon Portal was born in Israel. He graduated from the “Igal Alon” High School for the Arts in ramat hasharon.
He plays the viola da gamba and baroque double bass with several early music ensembles and orchestras.
Alon presently is studying early music at the Rubin Music Academy in Jerusalem.
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Yizhar Karshon |
Harpsichord |
Born 1974, Israel, Yizhar Karshon is a harpsichord player, graduate of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the Jerusalem Music Academy
and the Musicology department of the Hebrew University. Karshon has studied with Jorg-Andreas Botticher, David Shemer and Rudolf Lutz.
Yizhar Karshon has participated in many international festivals, such as the Utrecht Early Music Festival (Holland), the
International Chamber Music Festival (Israel), Eurofestival Zupfmusik (Germany), Brezice Festival (Slovenia) and Rondalla Festival (the
Philippines). His solo recital on historical instruments (Hamburg 2006) got excellent review, in which was written: "Karshon as a soloist
has charmed with brilliant playing, and managed to fill the static sound of the instrument with dynamics and emotion".
Yizhar Karshon plays as a continuo player on the harpsichord and on the organ with orchestras and chamber music ensembles. He played
as soloist with the Israel Chamber Orchestra (5th Brandenburg Concerto), and as continuo player with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Verbier Festival Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, Israel Camerata Orchestra, the
Tel-Aviv Soloists Ensemble and the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra. In chamber music concerts he played with international artists such as Kai
Wessel, Alex Klein, Walter Reiter, Robert Holl, Linda Perillo and Corina Marti. He is the founder and musical director of "Qui Regna Amore",
which specializes in Renaissance Music, a member of the modern music ensemble “Three Plucked Strings”, with which he has performed widely in
Israel, Europe and South-East Asia and a member of " Ensemble Nobile", which performs chamber music of the 17th and 18th Centuries.
Karshon has given lectures and directed workshops on different aspects of baroque music performance practice. He has directed courses
in the University of Florida and in the University of the Philippines in Manila. He is member of faculty of the Jerusalem Early Music
Workshop.
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Eitan Hoffer |
Theorbo & Lute |
Eitan Hoffer grew up in Haifa and played Violin and Classic guitar from his youth. Between 1992-1998 he specialized in early music in Holland, studying the baroque violin with Manfredo Kraemer and Florian Deuter, and lute with Fred Jacobs at the conservatory of Amsterdam. During those years he performed and recorded with several orchestras and groups in Holland such as "Concerto d'Amsterdam" and "Compagnia Vocale", with them he won third prize at the "Van Wassenar" international competition in 1998. As lute player he performed accompanying singers such as Max Van Egmond, Maria Luz Alvarez and others.
Since his return to Israel Eitan regularly performs at home and abroad, playing the baroque violin, lute, baroque guitar and theorbo with groups as "Barrocade", "Phoenix Consort", "Discantvs", and teaches lute at the Early Music department of the "Stricker" Conservatory in Tel-Aviv.
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Yacob Reuven |
Mandoline |
Jacob Reuven was born in 1976 In Israel. He began playing the mandolin at age of eight, studying at the Beer Sheva Conservatory under
the guidance of Prof. Simha Nathanson. In 1994 he graduated under the guidance of Mr. Lev Haimovitch and was awarded the Excellent Musician
Status by the Israeli army, which allowed him to pursue acadmic studies at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem while doing his
military service.
During his time as a student at the Rubin Academy and under the guidance of Prof. Motti Smidt, Jacob won the prestigious concerto
competition for two years in a row, which lead to several performances under the baton of the conductor Mendi Rodan. In 1998 he graduated
the Rubin Academy, receiving a M.Ba.Mus.
Jacob has performed with some of the best Israeli orchestras and ensembles, including, amongst others, the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Israeli Sinfonietta ,the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the Twenty First Century Ensemble
under the batons of conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Antonio Pappano, Mendi Rodan and Zsolt Nagy.
His wide repertoire includes, as well as pieces written originally for Mandolin, pieces of the violin repertoire, most notably the
Bach Partitas, Paganini Caprices and Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saens which he was invited to play with the Israeli
Simfonietta. This was the first time a mandolin player was invited to play a violin composition with an Israeli Orchestra, and the success
of that performance led to more invitations to play violin repertoire on the mandolin with various other orchestras and ensembles and set
new standards to mandolin playing, both domestic and world-wide. Jacob is also an enthusiastic chamber musician and has collaborated with
the Jerusalem Quartet and the Vivace Ensemble, amongst others, as well as being a member of the award winning Kerman Mandolin Quartet, with
which he had also been touring Europe.
Apart from being an active classical musician, Jacob is also a member of the world music ensemble "Mactub", combining Classical,
Arabic and Middle- Eastern music.
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