Chen Halev, Clarinet
Clarinetist Chen Halevi has performed as soloist with major orchestras in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, European Soloists, Heilbronn Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, Jerusalem Radio Orchestra, Leipzig’s MDR Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra, and Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. He participates frequently at festivals around the world, including the Marlboro, Ravinia, Santa Fe, Schleswig-Holstein, Davos, and Verbier Chamber music festivals. As a chamber musician, he has performed with Pinchas Zuckerman and Christoph Eschenbach, as well as with numerous well-known string quartets. Chen Halevi has had a number of works dedicated to him by eminent composers; a recent highlight is Doppelgaenger, a new clarinet concerto by Sven Ingo Koch, commissioned by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In 2007 Mr. Halevi founded ClaRecords to commission, produce, and record new pieces from leading and emerging composers. ClaRecords also works with specialists in other artistic fields to stimulate dialogue between different forms of art in the 21st century. Upcoming projects include Winds-Unlimited, a period instrument wind group exploring woodwind repertoire from the Classical and Romantic periods. With composer and bandoneón player Marcelo Nisinman, Mr. Halevi has formed TangoLab, a group of four diverse but complementary musicians who share a passion for expanding the horizons of tango.
A native of the Negev Desert in Israel, he studied the clarinet with Yitzchak Kazap and Richard Lesser, continuing with Mordechai Rechtman and Chaim Taub for his chamber music studies. Chen Halevi is currently clarinet professor at the Trossingen Hochschule für Musik in Germany, and gives master classes around the world. Since 2007 he has been a faculty member in the summer master classes at The Banff Centre in Canada.
