Eyran Katsenelenbogen (born July 5, 1965) is an Israeli jazz pianist.

Background

Katsenelenbogen was born in Israel and was first taught by Aida Barenboim, mother and teacher of pianist/conductor

Daniel Barenboim Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...

. He went on to complete his music education at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he trained with

Ran Blake Ran Blake (born April 20, 1935) is an American pianist, composer, and educator. He is known for his unique style that combines blues, gospel, classical, and film noir influences into an innovative and dark jazz sound. His career spans over 40 rec ...

Paul Bley Paul Bley, CM (November 10, 1932 – January 3, 2016) was a jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ...

Fred Hersch Fred Hersch (born October 21, 1955) is an American jazz pianist, educator and HIV/AIDS activist. He was the first person to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist at the Village Vanguard in New York City. He has recorded more than 70 of his ...

Danilo Pérez Danilo Pérez (born December 29, 1965) is a Panamanian pianist, composer, educator, and a social activist. His music is a blend of Panamanian roots with elements of Latin American folk music, jazz, European impressionism, African, and other music ...

, George Russell and

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City ...

. Eyran Katsenelenbogen is a descendant of Rabbi

Meir Katzenellenbogen Meir ben Isaac Katzenellenbogen (c. 1482 – 12 January 1565) (also, Meir of Padua, or Maharam Padua, he, מאיר בן יצחק קצנלנבויגן) was a German rabbi born in Katzenelnbogen. Biography Meïr ben Isaac, who was often called after ...

(c. 1482 – 12 January 1565) who was born in

Katzenelnbogen Katzenelnbogen () is the name of a castle and small town in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the '' Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Aar-Einrich. History Katzenelnbo ...

.Rosenstein, Neil. ''The Unbroken Chain: Biographical Sketches and Genealogy of Illustrious Jewish Families from the 15th–20th Century'', Volumes 1 and 2, Revised Edition, CIS Publishers: New York, 1990. On July 28, 2012, Eyran Katsenelenbogen performed a concert at the town hall of Katzenelnbogen, by invitation of the Mayor of Katzenelnbogen, Horst Klöppel, in celebration of the town’s 700th anniversary.

Career

A classically trained pianist with a jazz style, Katsenelenbogen has performed throughout the world. Venues have included the Iridium Jazz Club, New York; Teatro di Marcello, Rome; the Tel-Aviv Jazz & Blues Festival; the Bechstein Centrum, Hamburg; Mirrors Hall, Saint Petersburg; Scullers Jazz Club, Boston; Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, MA; Saint Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, UK; and the

Glenn Gould Studio The Canadian Broadcasting Centre, also known as the CBC Toronto Broadcast Centre, is an office and studio complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It serves as the main broadcast and master control point for the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...

, Toronto. Radio and TV appearances include

WGBH (FM) WGBH (89.7 MHz; branded as GBH without the " W" since August 31, 2020) is a public radio station located in Boston, Massachusetts. WGBH is a member station of National Public Radio (NPR) and affiliate of Public Radio Exchange (PRX), which ...

, WERS and

WHRB WHRB is a commercial FM radio station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It broadcasts at 95.3 MHz and is operated by students at Harvard College. The station is owned by Harvard Radio Broadcasting Co., Inc., a non-profit corporation independent o ...

, USA; BBC Radio York, UK; Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), and Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (

RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Comm ...

), Belgium. Katsenelenbogen's recordings have been reviewed by jazz publications such as ''Jazziz'', ''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growt ...

'', ''Jazz Journal International'' and ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'', which stated in its review of Katsenelenbogen's previous release: "''88 Fingers'' is truly a virtuoso's work. Perhaps Katsenelenbogen is most in league with

Art Tatum Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest in his field. From early in his career, Tatum's technical ability was regarded by fellow musicians as extraord ...

for this fact: he sets the bar towards which other pianists must strive."Deshpande, Jay (March 18, 2009) "Eyran Katsenelenbogen: "88 Fingers" (2009)
All About Jazz
/ref> Since 1996, Katsenelenbogen has held a faculty position at the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on H ...

(NEC) Preparatory School and School of Continuing Education in Boston. At NEC, he has pioneered innovative techniques for teaching improvisation to students with special abilities and diverse needs. As the first piano teacher of jazz prodigy

Matt Savage Matthew "Matt" Savage (born May 12, 1992) is an American autistic savant musician. Early life Born in Sudbury, Massachusetts,Pine, Dan"Autistic jazz prodigy already playing with greats" ''The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California'', Septemb ...

, Katsenelenbogen helped kick off Savage's recording career at the age of seven with their CD ''One is Not Fun, but 20 is Plenty''. In addition to solo touring, Katsenelenbogen has also performed with his ''Pictures At An Exhibition: Classical Meets Jazz'' collaboration with Russian classical pianist Andrei Ivanovitch. Following performances in Germany and Russia, the American premiere of ''Pictures At An Exhibition: Classical Meets Jazz'' took place at

Jordan Hall Jordan Hall is a 1,051-seat concert hall in Boston, Massachusetts, the principal performance space of the New England Conservatory. It is one block from Boston's Symphony Hall. It is the only conservatory building in the United States to be de ...

in Boston on May 24, 2009, and was released on DVD the following year. In 2014, Katsenelenbogen has toured the east coast of China with pianist Tal Zilber. During their ''Piano Fight'' concert tour, Katsenelenbogen and Zilber performed at the Dalian International Conference Center, the Hai Tian Grand Theatre Hotel, the Weifang Culture and Art Center, the Taiyuan Poly Great Theatre, the Henan Art Center in Zhongzhou, the Wuhan Qin Tai Grand Theatre, the Xuzhou Concert Hall and the Hong Tai Center in Xiamen. In 2015, Katsenelenbogen returned to China alone for a tour titled ''Jazz and Classical Highlights China Solo Tour'' dedicated to his mother, Pnina Katsenelenbogen. During that tour, Katsenelenbogen performed fifteen concerts in various venues, including the Cathay Pacific Arts Center Concert Hall (November 20, 2015), the Wuhu Grand Theatre (November 28, 2015) and the Guangzhou Opera House (December 5, 2015). In 2019 he released a solo album, titled ''Outstandards'', with a concert tour that included venues in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East. Since 2020 Katsenelenbogen is a member of the

Recording Academy The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...

Discography

*1989: Ways Jazz Ensemble (CD) (CDI) *1989: Jazzonettes (CD) (Jazzis) *1992: One-Time (CD) (Jazzis) *1996: The Bareback Trio (CD) (Eyran Records) *1998: Solo Piano (CD) (Eyran Records) *1999: Clouds (CD) (Eyran Records) *2000: One is Not Fun, but 20 is Plenty (CD) (with Matthew Savage) (Savage Records) *2001: Formation (CD) (Eyran Records) *2001: Oasis Jazz Instrumentals (CD) (Oasis) *2003: It's Reigning Kats & Dogs & Bogen (CD) (Eyran Records) *2005: Solotude (DVD) (Eyran Records) *2005: Just For Fun (CD) (with Ellie Malick) (Eyran Records) *2005: Solotude (CD) (Eyran Records) *2006: The Key Players Vol. 6 (CD) (Jazziz) *2007: Somthin' N'you – The Single (Digital Single) (Eyran Records) *2009: 88 Fingers (CD) (Eyran Records) *2011: Classical Meets Jazz: Pictures at an Exhibition (DVD) (with Andrei Ivanovitch) (Eyran Records) *2011: Black Ivory (CD) (With Ellie Malick) (Eyran Records) *2012: Nutcracker Swing – Live in Jordan Hall (Digital Single) (Eyran Records) *2012: Nutcracker Blues – Live in Jordan Hall (Digital Single) (Eyran Records) *2012: Swan Lake – Live in Jordan Hall (Digital Single) (Eyran Records) *2012: Nutcracker Sombrero – Live in Jordan Hall (Digital Single) (Eyran Records) *2012: Christmas Blues (Digital Single) (with Gitit Shoval and Vincere Sylph) (Eyran Records) *2013: Prélude À L'après-midi d'un faune – Live (Digital Single) (Eyran Records) *2013: Rêverie – Improvisation On Debussy (Digital Single) (Eyran Records) *2013: Prélude – Improvisation in the Style of Debussy – Live in Jordan Hall (Digital Single) (Eyran Records) *2013: Arabesque No. 1 – Live in Jordan Hall (Digital Single) (Eyran Records) *2013: I Love a Piano – Live (Digital Single) (Digital Single) (Eyran Records) *2013: When I Fall in Love (Live) (Digital Single) (Eyran Records) *2019: Outstandards (CD) (Eyran Records)

References

External links

Kulturring Peine

October 5, 2007
Calenberger Cultour & Co.

November 10, 2007 Concert reviews
''Peiner Allgemeine Zeitung''
October 14, 2007 Articles
Jazz Police
Published: March 15, 2006. Writer: Andrea Canter.
Jazz Police
Published: August 19, 2006. Writer: Andrea Canter.

Published: 2006

(Russian) Published: February 9, 2009. Writer: Aleksandra Feldman.
Peiner Allgemeine Zeitung
Published: July 9, 2009. Writer: Michael Schröder. Online interviews
Jazz Ink
Published: April 1, 2006. Interviewer: Andrea Canter.

Published: November 10, 2007. Interviewer: Hansjoerg G. Henker. German-English translation: Jessica C. Henker.

(German) Published: November 10, 2007. Interviewer: Hansjoerg G. Henker. {{DEFAULTSORT:Katsenelenbogen, Eyran American jazz pianists American male pianists Israeli jazz pianists Israeli Jews Israeli emigrants to the United States Jewish American musicians New England Conservatory faculty 1965 births Living people 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians 21st-century American Jews