“The C. Bechstein is such a special instrument. It’s not a passive machine like some other upright or grand pianos. Whenever I play a Bechstein, it feels like we’re performing together.”
Itamar Carmeli
June 2024 / Page 1 of 1 ITAMAR CARMELI Itamar Carmeli, born 2000 in Tel Aviv, is a pianist currently studying in the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin with Sir András Schiff. Among the festivals and venues where he performed are the ‘Mendelssohn Haus’ in Leipzig, ‘Intonations Festival (Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival)’ and ‘Pierre Boulez Saal’ in Berlin, 'Arte Amanti Festival' Belgium, 'Radio Classique festival' in Saint Malo, France, 'Tribul Aritstic' in Romania,'Into the Open’ Berlin & Tbilisi, Georgia, ‘Moscow Meets Friends Festival’, 'Chieti Classica', 'Largo Mahler Auditorium' Milan 'Accademia Filarmonica Romana', Italy, 'Mannes Sounds Festival’ in New York, 'Jerusalem Music Center’, ‘Talin-Tel Aviv Festival’, 'Corfu International Festival', Kammeroper Shlosstheater Rehinsberg, Germany, and as Soloist with the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra (Finland), the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Camerata and Specturm Ensemble (Israel).
He collaborated with artists such as violinists Michael Barenboim, Clara-Jumi Kang and Benjamin Schmidt, violist Zvi Carmeli, mezzo-soprano Eliraz Carmeli, cellists Thomas Demenga and Astrig Siranossian, the Pierre Boulez Ensemble (conductors Daniel Cohen and Thomas Guggeis) the Staatsoper Under den Linden Berlin and the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra (conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Cristian Macelaru and Finnegan Downie Dear)
He previously studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance with Prof. Daria Monastyrksi and at the Mannes School of Music in New York with Prof. Pavlina Dokovska, where he was granted a full tuition scholarship. He is a regular recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, and a graduate of the David Goldman Program for Outstanding Young Musicians of the Jerusalem Music Center and the Henrietta Szold Institute’s national mentoring program for highly gifted students in Israel in collaboration with the Weizmann Institute for Science, where he studied composition with Composer Menachem Wiesenberg.
Itamar is also regularly mentored by Maestro Daniel Barenboim, both as a solo pianist and chamber musician and received guidance in masterclasses with artists such as Murray Perahia, Jerome Lowenthal, Boris Berman, Jean Yves Thibaudet, Jonathan Biss, Andreas Frölich, Christian A. Pohl, Emanuel Krasovsky, Franz Helmerson, Michaela Martin, Michael Barenboim, Miriam Fried, Gary Hoffman, Orfeo Mandozzi, Emmanuel Pahud, Ludwig Quandt, and Jacques Zoon.
As a jazz pianist, he received a full scholarship for studies at the Berklee College of Music (Massachusetts, USA) where he took part in the annual Berklee Five-Weeks Jazz Workshop, under the guidance of Terry Lynn-Carrington and Rick DiMuzio. Itamar has performed alongside artists such asviolinist Benjamin Schmidt (Austria) and pianist and composer Cesare Pico (Italy). He has performed at the Red Sea Jazz Festival (Israel) and the Cambridge Jazz Festival (Massachusetts, USA).
photos © Eesa-Khoury/ Oukool.Creative and C. Bechstein/ N.Kornilowa
