Ofra Yitzhaki was described by the New York Magazine as “downright sensational” and by the Israeli Ha'aretz as
“a profound, virtuoso artist”. She is a winner of the Carnegie Hall Millennium Piano Book Competition and the Van
Cliburn Institute Concerto Competition and was awarded a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree from the Juilliard
School. Recent highlights of her activity include performing Beethoven's 'Emperor' Concerto with the Jerusalem
Symphony Orchestra and Ligeti's Piano Concerto with the Israel Contemporary Players.
With repertoire ranging from Bach and his contemporaries to the composers of her own generation, her recital
engagements have taken her to New York's Lincoln Center, the Chicago Cultural Center, Germany's Klavierfestival
Ruhr, Berlin Philharmonie's Instrument-Museum, the Tel Aviv Museum, the Jerusalem Theater, Taiwan's National
Concert Hall and Korea's National Arts-Center, among others.
Ofra Yitzhaki started her piano lessons in Tel-Aviv at the age of five with Dr. Noa Blass, and played her debut at
the Tel-Aviv Museum at age eight. She continued her studies with Dr. Zecharia Plavin. Subsequent to the
completion of her education at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, she became the recipient of the Vladimir
Horowitz Scholarship at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Prof. Jerome Lowenthal and Prof. Jacob
Lateiner. For her pianistic and scholastic achievements, she was awarded a Doctorate of Musical Art Degree in
Piano Performance from the Juilliard School. Following her participation in the Weimar Master classes in
Germany, she was invited by the legendary Austrian pianist Paul Badura-Skoda for a private study, focusing on
music by Bach and First Viennese School.
Yitzhaki gave her American debut after winning the Van Cliburn Institute Concerto Competition, as a soloist with
the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra in Texas. Her New York concerto debut followed a few years later, as a soloist
with the American Symphony Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.
As a recitalist, her recognition rose greatly when being invited to perform at Carnegie Hall world premieres of
piano music by Milton Babbitt and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. A subsequent invitation by Carnegie Hall’s director at the
time, Franz Xaver Ohnesorg, to perform at Germany’s Klavierfestival Ruhr, resulted in her European debut,
described by the German press as "An Evening with Soul, Poetry and Glorious Sounds". A few years later she was
invited by the prestigious German SchierseFoundation to give her Berlin Debut Recital at the chamber music hall
of the Berlin Philharmonie.
In addition, she is an avid performer of modern and contemporary music. Highlights of her work in this field
include a solo open-air recital of twentieth century music at New York’s Bryant park under the auspices of
MoMA (Museum of ModernArt), a chamber music concert with members of the Parisian Ensemble
Intercontemporain, and performances in New York‘s new music festivals such as 'Cutting Edge'and 'Focus!'.
Her concert-lectures about Israeli piano music, based on her Doctorate dissertation and on collaborations
with Israeli composers, have taken her to Cultural and Academic centers across Germany and the U.S.
Yitzhaki is currently on the piano faculty at the Levinsky College in Tel Aviv. She is a jury member on various
competitions, such as the Israeli Prime Minister Prize from Composers and the American-Israel Foundation
Competition for young musicians.
