Roee Ben Sira is a pianist and composer who specializes in Brazilian music and performs regularly on stages in Israel and throughout the world. In 2018, Cosmos New Music Quartet performed the world premiere of his piece A La Pixinguinha in Carnegie Hall. His latest album, which was recorded in Rio de Janeiro with renowned choro musicians, was chosen as one of the ten best albums of the year by Ben Shalev, the Haaretz newspaper’s respected music critic. Ben Sira recently won the prestigious Schusterman Prize for an artist-in-residence position in Florida State University. He has collaborated with many artists such as Yamandu Costa, Mauricio Carrilho, Luciana Rebello, Danilo Brito, Yoni Rechter, and Anat Cohen.

He started out as a classical pianist in Thelma Yellin school of arts, then went on to study jazz at Rimon School of Music and Berklee College of Music, winning prizes and scholarships from both institutions. He completed his composition studies at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where he now teaches. He is completing his PhD in ethnomusicology at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem.