Tel Aviv Wind Quintet
The Tel Aviv Wind Quintet was founded in 2009 by young Israeli musicians, and quickly established itself as a leading chamber ensemble, excelling in rich repertoire and multidisciplinary works involving movement and theatre.
Today, the quintet performs more than 30 concerts each season all around Israel, including its most prestigious concert venues, such as the YMCA (at the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival), the Jerusalem Music Centre, the Mormon University, Henry Crown Hall in the Jerusalem Theater, the Israel Conservatory and the Tel-Aviv Museum. Special emphasis is placed on creating perennial cultural and educational programs for underprivileged communities in the periphery of Israel, from Kfar Blum to Mitzpe Ramon.
International tours brought the Quintet to Switzerland, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, and China. Upcoming performances and collaborations are planned in Canada, the USA and the UK.
An integral part of the quintet's credo is to perform and record music by leading Israeli composers of all generations. Recent collaborations include Menachem Zur, Eitan Steinberg, Aharon Harlap, Arie Shapira, Amit Gilutz and Tzvi Avni. In addition, the ensemble regularly hosts workshops for young composers and composition students in partnership with the Israel Composer’s League.
The quintet is supported by the Culture Administration of the Ministry of Culture and Sports. It was awarded the Eilam prize for Israeli performers (2011) as well as grants from the Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts, Haifa Arts Foundation, the Ronen Foundation and the Israel Lottery Council for Culture & Arts. The TAWQ's Debut album was released in the end of 2016, including works by Bach, Beethoven, Ari Ben-Shabetai (World premiere recording) and Piazzolla. ‘LIVE’, the ensemble's second album, was released in April 2018. It includes live concert recordings, collaborating with pianist Yaron Kohlberg.
Musicians
Roy Amotz - Flute
Born in Jerusalem in 1982, Roy resides in Berlin nowadays, performing as a soloist and in various chamber music formations around the world. His teachers in Israel include Vladimir Silva, Moshe Epstein, Yossi Arnheim and Avner Biron. He graduated degrees in musical performance and early music practice from the Berlin University of Arts (with Prof Staege and Prof. Hungeburth, both with honors). Engagements in the early music field include working with the Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, as well as concerts with "Zoom Quartet", with which he won the Biagio-Marini international early music Competition. Other prizes Roy received include the first prize in the International Flute Competition in Greece and the Pergamenchikow Prize in Berlin with "Trio Vis", with whom he created the crossover "64 Things Show” inspired by John Cage.
Roy was a member of the acclaimed Meitar Ensemble for Contemporary Music for more than a decade. The Ensemble has performed in Israel and abroad in numerous festivals including the Venice Biennale and the Manifeste Festival in Paris. Personal collaborations with composers lead to the creation of three new flute concerti.
Since 2013 Roy is the principal flutist of the Geneva Camerata - an innovative ensemble performing music all the way from early music to contemporary music. His performances as a soloist include the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra and the Scotland BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 2017 Roy founded a new platform called "Music and Beyond", aiming to present classical music in new contexts, and to create a transformative experience for audience and performers. The first project of this platform is called “Fantasies”, and is a sensory journey exploring the relationship of our senses to each other from a new perspective.
Dmitry Malkin - Oboe
Born in 1976 in the Ukraine, Dmitry Malkin immigrated to Israel with his family the age of 13. A graduate of the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance, in 2005 he completed his Master’s degree in Orchestral Performance at the Manhattan School of Music in the class of Mr. Joseph Robinson. Since 1993, he has won several American-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships. Performance credits include the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Dmitry Malkin has been a member of the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra since 2004 and a member of the UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra since 2006. In 2006-09 he played with the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra in Japan under Yutaka Sado’s baton. In 2012 he joined the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra as an English horn player, serving as the orchestra’s Principal Oboist between 2014-17. In 2017 he joined the Israel Philharmonic.
Danny Erdman - Clarinet
Danny Erdman has performed across Israel, Europe, and United States both as a soloist and a chamber musician. The youngest artist to perform at the first EuroCass convention in 1997, Danny has also participated in festivals such as Ostend, Paris, Norfolk, Sarasota and Aspen. He holds music performance degrees from Tel Aviv University, Yale University and the Zurich School of Arts. An Avid Chamber and new music performer, Danny is a member of the Israel contemporary players and a founding member of the Tel Aviv wind quintet. Between 2007 – 2015 he was the principle clarinetist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra. Now he is the principle clarinetist of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.
Danny served in the Israeli army for three years as an "Outstanding Musician". Since 1996 he had been a recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship. Among his mentors are Eva Wasserman, Ron Selka, David Shifrin and Matthias Müller.
Itamar Leshem - Horn
Itamar started playing the horn at the age of 12. Today he is performing regularly with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Israel, the U.S.A, Asia, and Europe and recently performed with them as a soloist under the baton of Maestro Zubin Mehta in Israel and on tours in South America and Europe. He also performed as a soloist with orchestras in China. In concert season 2019 - 2020 Itamar was playing with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra as well as with the BBC Philharmonic as guest principal horn.
Itamar has graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Roosevelt University, studying with Mr. Dale Clevenger in Chicago. His studies were supported by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
Itamar has performed in some of the most distinguished festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival, the Proms, Jerusalem Chamber music Festival, Landsberg Chamber music Festival and in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Teatro Colon and La Scala.
He is a member of the West-Eastern Divan orchestra under Maestro Daniel Barenboim and former member of the Israel Symphony Orchestra, Rishon Le'Zion.
In recent years he has guided the horn section of the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and teaches at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in the Tel Aviv University.
Merav Goldman - Horn (Guest artist)
Born in Lod, Merav started her musical education in Israel at an early age. She went on to earn her bachelor's degree at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv University while serving as a member of the Israeli Opera House Orchestra. After her studies in Israel, Merav moved to New York to complete her master's degree at Mannes College of The New School. Upon finishing, she relocated to Berlin to participate in the Orchesterakademie of the State Opera of Berlin (Staatsoper Berlin), conducted by Daniel Barenboim. She has been based in Berlin ever since.
Merav is a member of both the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and the Geneva Camerata, as well as a guest player in the State Opera of Berlin, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the German Symphonic Orchestra (DSO), the Zafraan Ensemble, and various chamber music festivals worldwide.
As versatile musician, Merav is also very active in Berlin's non-classical music scene. She is a member of an afro-soul band called Jembaa Groove, a guest member in a jazz band called Move78, and regularly performs and records with many of the city's local artists.
Merav was granted scholarships by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the Barenboim-Said Foundation, Mannes College, and the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music.
Nadav Cohen - Bassoon
Born in 1983, Nadav started his bassoon studies with Uzi Shalev. After serving in the IDF as an Outstanding Musician, he completed his B. Mus degree in the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (JAMD) in bassoon with Mr. Mauricio Paez and composition with Prof. Yinam Leef. He continued his bassoon studies under the tutorship of Prof. Ole Kristian Dahl in Cologne alongside baroque-bassoon studies with Donna Agrell at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Nadav was awarded scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Ronen Foundation. He won the JAMD President's Excellence Award and first prize at the Yidor-Avni Composition competition.
Following his graduation, Nadav became principal bassoonist of the Israel Camerata Jerusalem and has been chosen to participate in numerous advanced training programs such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Experience, the Britten-Pears Orchestra and the Aldeburgh World Orchestra. During 2012-2013 Nadav completed his Master degree of contemporary music performance as a member of the International Academy of Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt; since then he had collaborated regularly with Ensemble Modern in prestigious concert venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Oper Frankfurt and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
A devoted chamber music player, Nadav was a member of the Parisian woodwind quintet "Le concert impromptu" between 2014 and 2017. In addition to his activity as a founding member and a producer of the Tel-Aviv Wind Quintet he is a member of the award winning Meitar Ensemble (Since 2006), where he functions also as a faculty member of its "Tedarim" program - a unique Master’s degree for contemporary music in the Jerusalem Academy.
At the beginning of 2018 Nadav released his debut Solo CD "Animate", dedicated to new music written for bassoon.