Israeli-Canadian violinist Daniel Bard performs regularly as a violinist and violist in chamber music concerts in Israel, Europe, and North America. He began his musical studies in Haifa with Avigdor Zamir and after moving to Toronto at age thirteen, continued them with David Zafer, Lorand Fenyves, Peter Oundjian, and David Takeno.
Mr. Bard discovered his passion for chamber music during the six years he spent as a member of Canada’s Metro String Quartet, which collaborated with artists such as Menahem Pressler and Gilbert Kalish. In 2007, he co-founded Trio Mondrian, which won first prize as well as a special prize for their interpretation of Brahms at the 2007 International Chamber Music Competition in Trieste, Italy. The Trio has since performed in prestigious venues and festivals in Europe and Israel and won the audience prize at the 2008 Bologna Festival as well as a Fellowship from the BBT Trust in 2009.
Mr. Bard has been a principal player in Sweden’s Camerata Nordica since 2003. He is also a member of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Seiler Strings in Toronto. In 2007 he was invited by Tabea Zimmermann to guest-lead the Camerata Bern and since then has led several projects there. Recently, he joined the Amsterdam Sinfonietta as principal violist.
Since his debut of Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Bard has performed as a soloist with Camerata Nordica, the Tel Aviv Soloists, and the Strathfield Symphony in Australia. He has also participated in festivals such as Prussia Cove, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, Taos Chamber Music Festival, and Graz’s Styriarte Festival. Mr. Bard plays a 1631 Nicolo Amati violin generously on loan from Yehuda Zisapel. He lives in Tel Aviv with his wife, Tali, their daughter Naomi, and their adorable golden retriever, Lulu.
One of the most sought-after violists in Europe today, Guy Ben-Ziony collaborates frequently as guest principal violist in orchestras such as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Jaervi, the Camerata Salzburg under Leonidas Kavakos, Gidon Kremer’s Kremerata Baltica and the Camerata Nordica in Sweden.
As a chamber musician he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall and the Berlin Konzerthaus and has collaborated with such notable musicians as Gidon Kremer, Antje Weithaas, Tabea Zimmermann, Tatjana Masurenko, Boris Pergamenschikow and Menachem Pressler. He has taken part in many festivals including Lockenhaus, Davos, Dubrovnik, Ravinia, “Spannungen in Heimbach”, Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Moritzburg, Prussia-Cove and Kronberg. He is a member of the Waldstein Ensemble, a piano quartet-based ensemble. Future plans include appearances at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Vienna, and Wigmore Hall among others.
Mr. Ben-Ziony made his orchestral debut playing the Bartok concerto in Leipzig under Daniel Harding and has subsequently appeared with other European orchestras. In Israel he has appeared with most of the country’s orchestras, among them the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Tel-Aviv Soloists and the I.D.F. Chamber Orchestra. He began his musical studies on the violin at age 9, changing to viola four years later, and completed his studies under Professor Tabea Zimmermann in Frankfurt and Professor Tatiana Masurenko in Leipzig. He currently holds a professorship in viola at the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Musikhochschule in Leipzig.
Described as an “exciting soloist” by the NY Times, Israeli clarinetist Tibi Cziger is a graduate of the prestigious Artist Diploma program at The Juilliard School, under the guidance of Mr. Charles Neidich. He is also the artistic director and founder of the Israeli Chamber Project, an initiative bringing young and outstanding Israeli musicians together for chamber music projects in Israel and the US.
Mr. Cziger is a frequent recitalist and soloist and enjoys exploring new repertoire for the clarinet, including his own arrangements to works originally not for the clarinet. Solo appearances include concerti with the iPalpiti String Orchestra at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, Tivoli Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen, Metropolis Ensemble, and Israel Chamber Orchestra among others. Mr. Cziger has performed as guest clarinetist with the Oslo Radio Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Norway), Israel Philharmonic, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra among others, and was recently appointed as principal clarinetist of the Israeli Camerata Orchestra.
As a passionate chamber musician, Mr. Cziger has performed a vast amount of chamber literature for the clarinet, with various concerts in live and recorded television and radio broadcasts on channels in Israel, Europe, and the US. Recent venues include Bargemusic, Zankel and Weill Halls at Carnegie Hall, The Terrace Theater at The Kennedy Center, LACMA’s Bing Theater, Jerusalem Theater and YMCA, and the Musikverein (Vienna). He is a regular participant at Musique en Brionnais (France), and has taken part in the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, Tivoli Festival (Denmark), Craftsbury Chamber Players, iPalpiti International Festival, the West Eastern Divan Workshop, and Marlboro Festival.
Mr. Cziger holds an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School, M.Mus degree from the University of Southern California, and a B.Mus. degree magna cum laude from the Tel Aviv music Academy. He studied clarinet with Charles Neidich, Yehuda Gilad, Richard Lesser, and Itzhak Kazzap.
Mr. Cziger is a winner of the Leni Fe Bland Foundation Scholarship, Irene Diamond Scholarship, Jerome L. Greene Scholarship, Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship, and the Irving Berlin scholarship. He is also a recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships 1997-2003, and in 2003 he received the AICF special scholarship for studies abroad. As of Summer 2010 Mr. Cziger is a Selmer-Paris Artist.
Pianist Yael Kareth is a student of Daniel Barenboim in Berlin as well as of Prof. Dimitri Bashkirov, having earned her Bachelor’s degree as a student of Tomer Lev at the Buchman-Mehta school of music at Tel Aviv University. Previously, she studied with Ms. Eva Armonn at the Israeli Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv. As both a soloist and as a chamber musician, Ms. Kareth is a long-time scholarship recipient from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
She has participated regularly in many chamber music festivals including the Perlman Music Program, Aspen Music Festival and Apple Hill Festival, and has performed extensively in Israel’s most important venues. In addition, she has been been featured on several radio broadcasts. She has appeared as soloist with the Israel Camerata, the Tel Aviv Soloist Ensemble, and the Buchman-Mehta school orchestra under the batons of Zubin Mehta, Avner Biron and others. Ms. Kareth completed her military service as a member of the “outstanding musicians unit” in the IDF Orchestra.
Prize winner at the Gaspar Cassado International Cello Competition, Cellist Michal Korman has performed as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, The Tokyo Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Tivoli Festival Orchestra (Denmark), The Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Peru, Israel Camerata Jerusalem, Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, and has appeared in solo and chamber music recitals at Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel Halls, Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, Gardner Museum, People’s Symphony, and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, among others, as well as in all of Israel’s major venues, including YMCA Jerusalem and the Red Sea Music Festival.
An avid chamber musician, Ms. Korman is a founding member of the Israeli Chamber Project with which she tours annually throughout Israel and in the US. She has participated in the Marlboro and Yellow Barn chamber music festivals, has toured with Musicians From Marlboro twice in the 2009-10 season, and participated in the Verbier Festival and the Manchester International Cello Festival. Ms. Korman has performed various concerts in live and recorded broadcasts on WQXR and Israel’s national radio and television. She has performed and toured in Europe and the US with The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra directed by Daniel Barenboim.
Born in Jerusalem, Ms. Korman is a graduate of the Artist Diploma and Master of Music programs at The Juilliard School under the guidance of Joel Krosnick and Timothy Eddy. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree magna cum laude from the Buchman-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv, studying with Hillel Zori. Prior to her academic studies she studied with Uzi Wiesel and Sabena Frankenberg and graduated from the Rubin Academy High School of Music and Dance in Jerusalem.
She has been a recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships and The Kleppel and Slatkin Scholarships.
Acclaimed harpist Sivan Magen is the first Israeli to have ever won the prestigious International Harp Contest in Israel (2006), and is a recent winner of the Pro Musicis International Award in New York, as a result of which he will be presented in recitals in the USA and in Europe, including at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.
Recent engagements include recital and concerto performances in the USA, Taiwan, Colombia, Israel, and Europe, including the world premiere of Haim Permont’s “Aviv” concerto accompanied by the Israel Philharmonic, and debut recitals at New York’s Merkin Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall. He performed the opening concerts of the 10th World Harp Congress in Amsterdam (2008) and the First International Harp Festival of the Netherlands (2010) as well as the closing concert of the 2010 American Harp Society Convention, as a soloist with the Northwest Sinfonietta. The Victor Salvi Foundation, sponsor of the Wigmore Hall debut, will also sponsor his debut solo CD recording for the Egan label. This past season has also seen the release of the world premiere recording of Compline by Christopher Rouse on Koch International, in which he collaborated with the Calder Quartet.
Aside from his growing activity as a soloist, Mr. Magen is an avid chamber musician and as such has performed at Le Trianon and Salle Gaveau in Paris, recorded for Israeli Radio and Television, as well as New York’s WQXR and the French television channel Mezzo, and was recently featured in APM’s Performance Today’s special dedicated to Marlboro Music’s 60th anniversary. He participated in chamber music festivals in Marlboro (USA), Kuhmo (Finland), Giverny (France), Kfar-Blum (Israel) and the International Chamber Music Festival in Jerusalem, collaborating with artists such as Kim Kashkashian, Nobuko Imai, Shmuel Ashkenazi, Gary Hoffman, Franklin Cohen, Charles Neidich, Marina Piccinini, Carol Wincenc, Emmanuel Pahud, and members of the Guarneri Quartet. This coming season he will be featured on Musicians from Marlboro’s tour of the East Coast.
Mr. Magen is also a founding member of the Israeli Chamber Project, an ensemble that performs both in outreach venues, as well as major concert halls in Israel and the US.
Mr. Magen is also gaining a reputation as a sought-after teacher, presenting masterclasses in the US (The Juilliard School, Duquesne University), Colombia, Taiwan and Israel, the Utrecht Conservatory, London’s Guildhall School and Trinity College, and at the Jerusalem Music Academy’s International “Music in the Valley” seminar for strings. In addition, he has been invited to serve as member of the jury of the first Netherlands International Harp Competition, the Lyon & Healy Awards, and served as Head of the Jury of the 2007 National Harp Contest in Taiwan.
Born in Jerusalem, Sivan Magen studied the piano with Benjamin Oren and Talma Cohen and the harp with Irena Kaganovsky-Kessler at the Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance. After finishing his military service as an “Outstanding Musician”, he continued his studies with Germaine Lorenzini in France and then joined Isabelle Moretti’s harp class at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP) from which he graduated with a “Premier Prix”. He then completed a Master’s degree at Nancy Allen’s studio at the Juilliard School in New York City.
Sivan Magen was a winner of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarships from 1995 to 2008.
Pianist Assaff Weisman has been captivating audiences with his intensity, lyricism and communicative style since his solo debut at the age of twelve. The Greenville News observed “this piano virtuoso has facile fingers that toss off daredevil passages with ease and a mind for music that is as nimble as his fingers”, and the New York Sun observed “Remember his name.”
Mr. Weisman’s performances have taken him to some of the major venues in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. These include appearances at the Rudolfinum in Prague, Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Philips Hall in The Hague, the Millennium Piano Festival in Spain as well as in Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. As first prize winner in the 2006 Iowa International Piano Competition he has appeared as soloist with the Sioux City Symphony, American Chamber Orchestra, Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra, Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra as well as the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Peru.
Mr. Weisman’s radio credits include WQXR’s “Young Artist Showcase” featuring works of Haydn and Scriabin, “The Voice of Music” in Israel as well as multiple appearances on WGBH radio in Boston where he has recorded repertoire ranging from Bach to André Previn. He is still the youngest person to appear on that station making his debut at the age of twelve. His 2002 release of an all-Schubert recording for Yamaha’s “NYC Rising Star” series quickly became one of its best sellers.
An avid chamber musician, Mr. Weisman has collaborated with Isidore Cohen and Michael Tree, among others, and has taken part in the Aspen Music Festival, Campos do Jordão (Brazil), Lima Chamber Music Festival (Peru), The Music Festival of the Hamptons, and Verbier (Switzerland). He is a founding member, and the Executive Director of the Israeli Chamber Project, with whom he has toured Israel and North America since 2008.
Making his home in New York City, Mr. Weisman can often be heard in such local venues as Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, St. Paul’s Chapel, Trinity Church and Rockefeller University. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he studied with Herbert Stessin and where he now is a member of the Evening Division piano faculty. Prior to his studies in New York Mr. Weisman studied with Professor Victor Derevianko in Israel and was supported by scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
Cited by the press as a “Virtuoso of emotions”, violinist Itamar Zorman has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the American Symphony at Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall, the Philharmonie Baden-Baden, the Jerusalem Symphony, the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Israeli Chamber Orchestra, the Südwestdeutsches kammerorchester Pforzheim, the Israeli Sinfonietta, the Greenwich Village Orchestra, and the Salina Symphony. He has been featured in television and radio programs in Israel, Austria, France, Russia, and the U.S., including WQXR’s “Young Artist showcase”.
As a scholarship recipient from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, and the Ilona Feher Foundation, and as a member of the Jerusalem Music Center’s “Young Musicians Group”, Mr. Zorman has participated in master classes with Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zuckerman, Shlomo Mintz, Ida Handel, and Shmuel Ashkenazi.
Among his many awards are the First Prize and a special prize for a performance of a Mozart Concerto at the 2010 Freiburg International Violin Competition, the silver medal at the 2011 Tchaikovsky International Competition, as well as top prizes at The Juilliard Concerto Competition, The King Award Competition, The Manhattan School of Music’s Concerto Competition, The Claremont Competition in Israel, The Rubin Academy Jerusalem Competition, the Israeli Conservatory Competition, The ISA Budapest-Vienna-Prague Competition for Contemporary music, and the Ben-Haim Competition. Mr. Zorman has taken part in festivals at Marlboro, Radio France and Montpellier, Keshet Eilon, YAC of the National Center of the Arts in Canada, Aspen Music Festival and School, and The Heifetz International Music Institute.
He is a graduate of the Israeli Conservatory in Tel-Aviv, and received his Bachelor’s degree from the Jerusalem Academy of Music, where his teachers included Sally Bockel, David Chen, Nava Milo and Hagai Shaham. He holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Robert Mann and Sylvia Rosenberg, an Artist Diploma from the Manhattan School of Music, and is currently enrolled in the Artist Diploma Program at the Juilliard School as a student of Sylvia Rosenberg.
Mr. Zorman is a founding member of the Israeli Chamber Project and the Lysander piano trio, with whom he won the first prize in The Arriaga and The Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competitions.
He plays on a Pietro Guarneri violin, on loan to him from Mr. Yehuda Zisapel.
