“… [Yoav Talmi’s] carefully measured overview appropriately reflected Bruckner’s granite-like structural blocks, but there were remarkable elements of insight and flexibility which, particularly in the concluding slow movement…reached astonishing heights of passion and emotion.”
Scottish Symphony Orchestra
SCOTSMAN (Glasgow)
Well known and celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, Yoav Talmi is Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra in Tel Aviv and Conductor Emeritus of the Quebec Symphony in Canada. He serves also as Head of the Conducting Department at the University of Tel Aviv's Buchmann-Mehta School of Music. In the past, he has served as Chief Conductor of the Hamburg Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, Music Director of the San Diego Symphony, Music Director of the Arnhem Philharmonic (Netherlands), and Music Director of both the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the New Israeli Opera.
Mr. Talmi’s long and impressive guest conducting career spans several continents. His European engagements include all the major London orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the symphony orchestras of Vienna and Prague, the philharmonic orchestras of St. Petersburg, Oslo, Stockholm, Warsaw and Israel, the Orchestre National de France, Zurich’s Tonhalle, Rome’s Santa Cecilia, and numerous radio orchestras in Israel, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and Sweden. He has also made several appearances with the NHK Symphony and the New Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan. In North America, Mr. Talmi has appeared with the orchestras of Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Madison, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Seattle, St. Louis, Toledo and Vancouver, as well as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), the New York Chamber Symphony and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. In the upcoming season, he will appear with the Quebec Symphony, as well as the Glenn Gould School Orchestra. His summer activities includedthe Aspen Music Festival, Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, Bergen Festival in Norway, Chautauqua Festival (NY), Helsinki Festival, Houston’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Jerusalem Festival, Lanaudière Festival and the Waterloo Festival in New Jersey.
Also a seasoned recording artist, Yoav Talmi has collaborated with Chandos, Decca, EMI, Naxos, Teldec, CBC Records (Toronto), Atma and Analekta (Montreal). His recording of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony with the Oslo Philharmonic won the prestigious “Grand Prix du Disque” in Paris. His two last recordings with the Quebec Symphony of Debussy and Bach orchestrations won the Joker Prize by the Magazine Crescendo in Brussels. His recording of Schoenberg and Tchaikovsky with the Israel Chamber Orchestra for Teldec was chosen as “Record of the Month” by Germany’s Fono-Forum magazine. The London Penguin Guide gave this same recording its highest rating. His recording French Showpieces with the Quebec Symphony and violinist James Ehnes was chosen “Record of the Month” by the French media magazine Repertoire, which gave this recording a perfect rating. Mr. Talmi’s Naxos recordings with the San Diego Symphony feature an all-Berlioz cycle that includes the Symphonie fantastique, the complete overtures, Roméo et Juliette, Harold in Italy, Rêverie et Caprice, excerpts from Les Troyens, and more.
He has recorded also as a pianist, accompanying his wife, flutist Er’ella Talmi.
Born in Israel, Yoav Talmi is a graduate of the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv and The Juilliard School in New York, where he earned degrees in both composition and conducting with grants from the America Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF). He was a recipient of the Koussevitzky Memorial Conducting Prize at the Tanglewood Festival (1969) and won the Rupert Conductor’s Competition in London (1973).
In 2009, Yoav Talmi was named Officer of the National Order of Quebec - the most prestigious honor in French Canada. In 2008, he was awarded the Frank Pelleg Prize of the Israeli Cultural Ministry, for his high level of artistic achievement through many years of activity. In the same year, he received the Quebec-City Medal, honoring his special contribution to the city’s 400th anniversary celebrations. Yoav Talmi holds an Honorary Doctorate from the Laval University in Quebec, Canada.
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