
Yoav Talmi
CONDUCTOR
"Guest conductor Yoav Talmi led the orchestra with assurance, without score for all three works, with forthright phrasing and adamant closing gestures...Talmi demanded full voice as the work came to its exciting, succinct conclusion [Brahms: Serenade No. 1]."
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY
KANSAS CITY STAR
BIOGRAPHY
Well known on both sides of the Atlantic, Yoav Talmi is celebrated as one of Israel’s most distinguished conductors on the international scene. Conductor Emeritus of the Quebec Symphony in Canada and Head of the Orchestral Conducting Department at Tel Aviv University's BuchmannMehta School of Music, he is in demand worldwide for concerts and master classes in the U.S., Europe, South America, and Israel. In addition to his 13-year tenure as Artistic Director of the Quebec Symphony, he has also held positions as Music Director of the San Diego Symphony, Chief Conductor of the Hamburg Symphony and Principal Guest Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. Additionally, he was the first Music Director of the New Israeli Opera and Music Director of the renowned Israel Chamber Orchestra. 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, l’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, Kansas City, Madison, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Seattle, St. Louis, Toledo, and Vancouver, as well as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. His summer activities have included the Aspen Music Festival, Mostly Mozart/Houston, Chautauqua/Buffalo, Casals/Puerto Rico, Bergen/Norway, Helsinki, Jerusalem and the Lanaudière Festival in Montreal. Also a seasoned recording artist, Yoav Talmi has collaborated with Chandos, Decca, EMI, Naxos, Teldec, CBC Records (Toronto), Analekta and Atma Classique (Montreal). His recording of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony with the Oslo Philharmonic won the prestigious “Grand Prix du Disque” in Paris. His last two 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 complete overtures, Symphonie fantastique, Roméo et Juliette, Harold in Italy, Rêverie et Caprice, excerpts from Les Troyens, and more. He has also recorded as a pianist, accompanying his wife, flutist Er’ella Talmi. In 2008, Yoav Talmi was awarded the Frank Pelleg Prize of the Israeli Cultural Ministry, for his high level of artistic achievement through many years of activity; in 2013, he received the Israeli Prime Minister’s Prize for Composers. Named “Officer of the National Order of Quebec” in 2009, he was also awarded the “Quebec City Medal,” honoring his special contribution to the city’s 400th Anniversary celebrations. Born in Israel, Mr. 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. A recipient of the Koussevitzky Memorial Conducting Prize at the Tanglewood Music Festival in 1969, he also holds an Honorary Doctorate from Laval University in Quebec.
MEDIA




PRESS ACCLAIM
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY
"Guest conductor Yoav Talmi led the orchestra with assurance, without score for all three works, with forthright phrasing and adamant closing gestures ... Talmi demanded full voice as the work came to its exciting, succinct conclusion." [Brahms Serenade No. 1]
THE KANSAS CITY STAR
ISRAEL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
"… In Puccini’s I Crisantemi, transcribed for string orchestra by Yoav Talmi, the ecstasy of the beautiful melodies put the hall on edge. The strings muttered the Andante mesto’s yearning, sad ending in a soothing ritual. Seven minutes in which God was present on the main floor of Bellas Artes."
LA NACION (Costa Rica)
SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
“… [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.”
SCOTSMAN (Glasgow)
MUNICH PHILHARMONIC
“It is not always that the Munich Philharmonic works under a guest conductor with such an animated and disciplined manner, as it did in the last subscription concert. It was immediately evident that the Israeli conductor Yoav Talmi developed a good link with the musicians and induced them with his temperamental, sweeping manner to an impressive achievement.”
MÜNCHNER MERKUR
ISRAEL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
"Silky sonority, perfect intonation, exact and resolute arch strokes in the strings, refinement and richness in the winds section, distinguished the executions of the Israel Chamber Orchestra from the technical aspect. At the same time, on the interpretive side of the performance, conductor Yoav Talmi molded the musical phrases with sensitivity and elegance, while balancing the sections, handling the rhythmic agility and caring for the fluency and unity."
EL UNIVERSO (Ecuador)
ROCHESTER PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
“Haydn’s Symphony No. 96 (The Miracle) and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 … both received breathtaking readings under the baton of guest conductor Yoav Talmi.”
DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE (Rochester, NY)
SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY
“Talmi’s control of the orchestra’s attacks was a blessed refinement in the Mozart [Violin Concerto No. 3, K. 216] and a cause for huzzahs in the Bruckner Symphony No. 4 … this might have been a recording-ready performance …”
SANDIEGO.COM
DISCOGRAPHY
BERLIOZ Symphonie Fantastique
San Diego Symphony Orchestra
Label: Naxos
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 9
(completed version by W. Carragan)
Olso Philharmonic
WINNER: GRAND PRIX DU DISQUE (PARIS)
Label: Chandos Chan
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 9 in D Minor
(original version)
Olso Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Chandos Chan
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 1; Piano Concerto No. 1
André Laplante, piano
Quebec Symphony
Label: Radio-Canada
BERLIOZ Harold in Italy
Rivka Golani, viola
Igor Gruppman, violin
San Diego Symphony Orchestra
Label: Naxos
BERLIOZ Romêo et Juliette; Les Troyens
San Diego Master Chorale and Symphony Orchestra
Label: Naxos
BERLIOZ Overtures
Benvenuto Cellini, Waverley, Beatrice and Benedict,
King Lear, Rob Roy, Le Corsaire, Roman Carnival
San Diego Symphony Orchestra
Label: Naxos
RACHMANINOFF
The Isles of the Dead, Op. 29
Five Etudes Tableaux (Orch. by Respighi)
Capriccio Bohemian, Op. 12
Vocalise for Orchestra, Op. 34, No. 14
San Diego Symphony Orchestra
Label: PRO-ARTE / lntersound CDS
BRAHMS Orchestral Transcriptions
Sextet No.1 in Bb Major, for String Orchestra
(Trans. Yoav Talmi)
Four Serious Songs, for Baritone and Orchestra
(Orch. Erich Leinsdorf)
Five Hungarian Dances (Orch. Dvorak)
Kevin McMillan, baritone
San Diego Symphony Orchestra
Label: PRO-ARTE / lntersound CDS
GLIERE Symphony No. 3 in B Minor, "Ilya Murometz"
San Diego Symphony Orchestra
Label: PRO-ARTE/Intersound CDS
French Showpieces: SAINT-SAËNS, BERLIOZ, CHAUSSON, DEBUSSY, MILHAUD, MASSENET
James Ehnes, violin
Quebec Symphony
Label: Analekta
DVORAK 8 Slavonic Dances
BRAHMS Hungarian Dances
BARTOK Rumanian folk Dances
CHAMPAGNE Danse
Quebec Symphony
Label: Analekta
MATHIEU Concerto de Quebec
ADDINSELL Warsaw Concerto
GERSHWIN Piano Concerto in F
Alain Lefevre, pianist
Quebec Symphony
Label: Analekta
GRIEG Piano Concerto Op. 16 in A Minor
Dudley Moore, piano
Orchestra of St. Luke's
Label: EMI
TCHAIKOVSKY Souvenir de Florence (Trans. Yoav Talmi)
SCHOENBERG Verklatre Nacht ("Transfigured Night")
Israel Chamber Orchestra
Label: Teldec
BLOCH Concerto Grosso No.1
BARBER Adagio for Strings
GRIEG Holberg Suite, Op. 4
PUCCINI Crisantemi (Trans. Yoav Talmi)
Israel Chamber Orchestra
Label: Chandos Chan
MAHLER Blumine; Ruckertlieder
BRAHMS Choral-Preludes, Op. 122 (Orch. E. Leinsdort)
BRAHMS Four Serious Song (Orch. E. Leinsdort)
Jard van Nes, Mezzo-Soprano
Robert Holl, bass
Arnhem Philharmonic, Netherlands
Label: Ottavo
NORD HElM Magma; Tenebrae
Truls Mork, cello
Oslo Philharmonic
Label: Aurora ACD
AVNI Two Psalms
HAJDU Of Light and Depth
AMIR Music for Strings
GILBOA Three Lyric Pieces in Mediterranean Style
Oded Pintus, oboe
Israel Chamber Orchestra
Label: MII
Horn Concertos
C. STAMITZ Horn Concerto in E Major
M. HAYDN Concertino for Horn
TEYBER Horn Concerto
L. MOZART Horn Concerto
Hermann Baumann, Horn
Philharmonia Hungarica
Telefunken
ADBRECHTSBERGER Concerto for Alto Trombone
WAGENSEIL Concerto for Alto Trombone
M. HAYDN Adagio Und Allegro Molto Für Horn
Hermann Baumann, horn
Armin Rosin, trombone
Philharmonia Hungarica
Label: Telefunken
SIBELIUS Karelia Suite, Op. 11; Violin Concerto
Patrice Fontanarosa, violin
Orchestre National de France
Label: DECCA
WEBER Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F Minor
WEBER Concertino for Clarinet in Eb Major
ROSSINI Introduction, Theme, & Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra
Guy Deplus, clarinet
Orchestre National de France
SCHUBERT Sonata in A Minor, "Arpeggione"
MOZART Sonata in E Minor, K. 304
DVORAK Sonatina in G Major, Op. 100
SCHUBERT Sonatina in D Major, D.384
(Trans. Yoav Talmi)
Er'ella Talmi, flute
Label: Centaur
SCHUMANN Three Romances, Op. 94
DONIZETTI Sonata for Flute and Piano
KUHLAU Scherzo in A Minor, Op. 85
CHOPIN Variations on a Theme
MOZART Sonata No. 6, K. V. 15 in B flat Major
BACH Sonata No. 2 In E Flat Major, B. W. V. 1031
HÄNDEL Sonata In G Major, Op. 1, No. 5
TELEMANN Sonata In F Major
Er'ella Talmi, flute
Label: Fine Art Collection




