Ohad Talmor is a jazz saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, conductor and arranger.
Life and work
Early Years
Talmor grew up in Geneva, Switzerland where he began piano lessons at the age of 5 at the local conservatory. He met virtuoso pianist Martha Argerich in his teens who exposed him to a world of music and musicians which helped shape his musical upbringing both as an instrumentalist and as a composer.
Talmor discovered the saxophone while attending high school in the US in 1987. Back in Switzerland, he devoted himself to this instrument while briefly studying musicology and philosophy at the University of Geneva. He also studied composition with Russian pianist and composer Alexander Rabinovitch.
In 1989, he met alto saxophonistLee Konitz at a recording session. Lee Konitz would prove pivotal in Ohad Talmor's career, mentoring him closely for years to come. Eventually Talmor became one of Lee Konitz's privileged musical partner, resulting in 4 records and over 200 concerts worldwide. From 1990 to 1995, Talmor was deeply involved in the European Jazz scene, leading his own quartet or quintet which featured American trombonist Glenn Ferris. During this time, he collaborated with many of Europe's leading musicians including Joachim Kühn, Matthieu Michel, Benoit Delbecq.
In 1994 and 1995 he toured Europe with Lee Konitz, Steve Swallow and different large ensembles featuring music he had composed. Talmor eventually moved to New York in 1995 getting a Composition degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 1997.
Present day
Ohad Talmor lives currently in New York where he plays regularly with his own project NEWSREEL; a flexible group mirroring his multi-faceted musical identity and which features some of New York's most creative musicians: Dan Weiss, Jacob Sacks, Miles Okazaki, Shane Endsley and Matt Pavolka.
Talmor's other projects include:
"Steve Swallow/Ohad Talmor/Adam Nussbaum TRIO"
"MASS TRANSFORMATION" a Nonet focusing on the Music of Anton Bruckner and featuring Austria's Spring String 4tet, singer Judith Berkson, Pete McCann, Shane Endsley, Mark Ferber.
"TRIO", with Miles Okazaki and Dan Weiss. The group's original repertoire focuses on short forms with highly interactive rhythmic studies.
Since 2004, he is a devoted student of Hindustani music, playing the bansuri under the guidance of his teacher, virtuoso flutist Steve Gorn.
As a Composer and Arranger, Talmor is equally involved in writing for Jazz and Classical idioms.
Talmor has composed, arranged and conducted music written for large ensemble and the following soloists: Kurt Rosenwinkel, Joshua Redman/Mark Turner/Chris Cheek, Gregoire Maret, Lee Konitz, Chris Potter.
His music has been performed by various Jazz ensembles all over the world, including: Germany "WDR Big Band", Portugal's "OJM Big Band", Switzerland's "Big Band de Lausanne", "Lucerne Jazz Orchestra" and "DKSJ All Stars", Brazil's "SoundScape Orquestra", Belgium's "Bruxelles Jazz Orchestra" and NYC's "MSM Big Band" with the Brecker Brothers. His contributions to the Classical idiom include music for pianist Martha Argerich, São Paulo's Symphonic Band, the Spring String Quartet from Austria or Portugal National Orchestra. Talmor's large form composition include his Concerto for Piano/Drums and Double Orchestras "LAYAS" premiered in February 2010 by the Porto National Orchestra, the OJM Big Band with Jason Moran and Dan Weiss as featured soloists.
Other Activities
Talmor is actively involved as a composer for films and radio plays.
He has contributed numerous scores to Sci-Fi's Radio Drama Channel Seeing Ear Theater including the Tales from the Crypt audio series Talmor is a Professor of Composition and Arranging at the Geneva Conservatory of Music. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the New School and Queens College CUNY in New York City. In 2011 Talmor founded the Performance Space located in Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, NY. In 2012 he was awarded the Jazz prize from Switzerland's SUISA Foundation for Music for his "innovative and creative jazz work". In 2015 Talmor was awarded the EBU Award for European Jazz Composer of the year.
