Descrizione
Born in Israel, Itai Daniel is a composer, pianist and conductor. He begins his piano studies at the age of eight with renowned teachers such as Jonathan Zak, Boris Guslitzer and Victor Derevianko, which later are completed with viola and harmony courses.
In 1991 he enters the Academy of Music at the Tel Aviv University, where he studies, as a full-scholarship student, orchestra conducting with prof. Noam Sheriff and choral conducting with prof. Avner Itai. After completing his degree he leaves to the Cleveland Institute of Music in the United-States, to continue his studies. Following a music summer-festival in Aspen, he receives an invitation to join the Oregon Symphony Orchestra as an Apprentice Conductor and the following summer returns to this prestigious festival as a Fellowship Conductor. Later on, he moves to Chicago and works there as conductor and pianist, mainly at the Northwestern and DePaul universities.
In 2004, Itai Daniel moves to Paris and decides to devote himself to composition. Among his major works in the Jewish tradition are three large cantatas (Mahzor Hayim, Shma Koleinu and B’reshït) and many compositions, large and small, based on major Jewish prayers and texts (Kaddish, Oseh Shalom, Adon Olam, Kol Nidrei, Yotzer, Haskivenu, Shalom Rav and many others). Among his non-Jewish compositions are a piano sonata, a flute sonata, an Elégie for cello and piano and Shlosha Yeladim for soprano and piano (dedicated to the children perished during the Holocaust). His works have been performed in England, the United States, Germany, Italy, South Africa, and France.
Since 2009, Itai Daniel is the conductor of the Copernic Choral Ensemble in Paris, now recognized as one of the leading Jewish choirs in Europe. Since 2019 he has been a member of the executive committee of the EUAJC (European Association of Jewish Choirs).
