About Kobi Arad (Piano, Keyboards)

Pianist / composer Kobi Arad has performed in his native Israel at the Tel Aviv Museum and Israeli Parliament ("Knesset"). He has performed in Boston at Jordan Hall, and most recently at the New York Knitting Factory, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and at Bostons Virgin Megastore. Mr. Arad, a multi-faceted musician, works in a wide range of musical genres, including jazz, pop, world, and classical. Previous season in the Boston area Mr. Arad performed with Bob Moses and Cecil McBee, presenting Indian and Pakistani songs in Jazz trio settings. The concert, on the Harvard campus, was sponsored by the Sufi Studies Organization. Mr. Arad has also performed as an orchestral pianist and celesta player with the Israeli Philharmonic orchestra. With the orchestra, Mr. Arad appeared on the televised event, "The Music of Ravel," broadcast from Tel Aviv.

Mr. Arad's compositions have been performed on Israeli National Radio, at Jordan Hall, Boston and at the Jerusalem Performing Arts Center. He has written works for voice and orchestra, chamber groups,
Jazz Big Band and solo piano solo. Mr. Arad draws his musical inspiration from an eclectic mix of influences, including Mingus, Schoenberg, Monk, Stevie Wonder, as well as Beethoven, Brahms, and Berg. Kobi Arad also uses world music traditions, particularly Sufi music of India and the Middle East and the classical music of India.

Mr. Arad currently arranges and transcribes Pop songs and Jazz Solos for Warner Brothers and Hal Leonard publication companies. In Israel, Kobi Arad worked for two seasons as arranger, transcriber and Musical Director for the Israeli Army bands. For the bands, he arranged dozens of pop, folk, and jazz songs for vocal ensemble with synthesizer. Mr. Arad's arrangements were performed at army bases, universities, and concert halls throughout Israel. In 1996 Mr. Arad was commissioned
to do a re-orchestration of Hindemith's "Wir Bauen Ein Stadt" for the Israeli Chamber Orchestra. The arrangement was performed at the Tel Aviv Museum main performance hall.

Mr. Arad is working on his Doctorate at New England Conservatory, where he got his Master's Degree in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory of Music. His primary studies include Lee Hyla, Bob Brookmeyer, Ran Blake, Peter Row, Joe Maneri and Paul Bley. Mr. Arad has also participated in composition master classes with Gunther Schuller, Clare Fischer.