Chen Halevi - clarinet

 At the age of fifteen, the clarinettist Chen Halevi’s debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta created a sensation. Haaretz wrote: “ This boy is blessed with a wonderful fusion of artistic musicality and amazing playing technique, all in the service of the muses. ”
Since then he has performed with several of the most important orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Japan, including the Israel Philharmonic, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the European Soloists, the Heilbronn Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Virtuosi, the Jerusalem Radio Orchestra, the MDR Philharmonic Leipzig, the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, and the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.  In October 2010 he first time plays with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, participating the American premier of “Kraft” by Magnus Lindberg.

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. Today, Chen Halevi is considered to be one of the world’s leading virtuoso clarinettists, playing recitals, concertos, and chamber music with equal success. He is famous for his impressive repertoire range that goes from the most difficult contemporary music to playing early music on authentic ‘period’ instruments. 

A frequent participant in summer festivals, Chen Halevi has appeared at the Marlboro, Ravinia, and Santa Fe Festivals in the US, while his European appearances have included stops at SchlesswigHolstein, Colmar, Forcalquier, Prussia Cove, Davos, Rolandseck, Aldebburgh and Verbier Chamber Music Festivals, as well as the PMF Festival in Japan and the Perth International Arts Festival.

A great lover of chamber music, Chen Halevi has performed with Pinchas Zuckerman and Christoph Eschenbach, as well as numerous well-known string quartets, including the Keller, Szymanowski, Fine arts, Miro, Prazac, St. Lawrence, Arcanto, Vogler and Kronos Quartets.