Musicians
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 (Yale Summer School of Music), Sarasota, Aspen and Jerusalem. Following the completion of his Bachelor of Music degree at Tel Aviv University and his Master of Music degree at Yale University, Danny won the position of the principal clarinetist at the Israel Chamber Orchestra. An avid chamber and new music performer, he is now a member of the 'Israel contemporary Players' ensemble and the 'Tel Aviv' wind quintet.
Danny served in the Israeli army for three years as an "Outstanding Musician". Since 1996 he had been a recipient of the prestigious scholarship given by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Among his mentors are Eva Wasserman, Ron Selka, and David Shifrin.
Itamar Leshem - Horn
Itamar Leshem started playing the horn at the age of 12 in Rehovot, Israel. He studied at the Jerusalem Music Academy with Chezy Nir, (supported by scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation), and continued his studies with Dale Clevenger in Chicago. In addition, he played for Peter Dam, Wolfgang Gaag, Michael Hoelzl William VerMeulen and others.
Between 2004-2007 Itamar was Assistant Principal horn player with the Israel Symphony Orchestra, Rishon le'Zion. In addition, Itamar played in the West -Eastern Divan orchestra under the baton of Daniel Barenboim (2005-2009).
He has since gone on to perform with all major Israeli orchestras.
Nadav Cohen - Bassoon
Nadav Cohen studied bassoon at the Jerusalem Academy for Music with Uzi Shalev and Mauricio Paez, and composition with Yinam Leef and Eitan Steinberg, after serving in the IDF as an Outstanding Musician. He continued his bassoon studies under the tutorship of Ole Kristian Dahl at Cologne, in addition to baroque bassoon studies with Donna Agrell at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Nadav was awarded scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Ronen Foundation. He won the Jerusalem Music Academy's President's Excellence Award and first prize at the Yidor-Avni Composition competition. Nadav has since gone on to be Principle Bassoon of the Israel Camerata Jerusalem and the award winning Meitar Ensemble, performing as a Soloist with the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra of The Hague. He has been a member of the 2012-13 International Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt; Nadav Cohen is a member of "Le concert impromptu" ensemble in Paris since June 2014.
Roy Amotz – Flute
After having studied in Israel with Vladimir Silva, Moshe Epstein, Yossi Arnheim and Avner Biron, Roy attended the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Stuttgart with Jean Claude Gérard and the University of Arts Berlin with Roswitha Staege, where he received his soloist Diploma with honors in 2013.
Roy won first prizes in the International Flute Competition in Volos, Greece and in the Pergamenchikow Competition in Berlin with "Trio Vis".
He is the Flutist and the European projects manager of the acclaimed Meitar Ensemble. Roy has played as a principal player in the Israel Symphony Orchestra, Rishon le'Zion, and has taken part in projects of the Stuttgarter Kammer Orchester, SWR Baden Baden Freiburg and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He is is a member of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra since 2007 and as from September 2013, principal flautist of the Geneva Camerata.
Yigal Kaminka - Oboe
Yigal holds a double M.A degree and a third degree in Oboe
and Recorder from the Karlsruhe University, Germany. He performed as both
a soloist and as principle oboist in various orchestras, including the Budapest
Festival Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim’s
West-Eastern Divan, the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra and others.
He is a founding member of the international “Berlin Counterpoint” sextet, with whom he has performed at numerous music festivals around Europe and South-America.
Yigal has won numerous scholarships (AICF, DAAD, Starck and others) and
competitions, including the 2009 “Aviv Competition”, where he won the first prize in all 3 possible categories.
In 2010 Yigal founded JoyTunes, a startup company developing new technological solutions to music education. The company has grown to have over 3 million users in over 110 countries and has been awarded a prestigious U.N. award.