Talia Erdal

Talia Erdal

Talia Erdal

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Jerusalem born musician Talia Erdal enjoys a colourful career that covers a wide range of styles.
Principal cellist of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra at day and a composer, singer-songwriter, arranger and improviser at night (sometimes also the other way around…), Talia’s repertoire as a cellist includes early music, classical cello repertoire, newly written pieces, folk, jazz, rock, world music and free improvisations. As a composer and songwriter she is influenced by Western-classical music, Ladino, Jazz, R&B, Middle Eastern music, and Bluegrass.
Her songs and compositions were performed in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, Canda, USA, Israel and more.

Born in Jerusalem, Israel 1991, Talia studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, the Buchman-Mehta School of Music Tel-Aviv, Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Trinity Laban Conservatoire, London. 
She served in the IDF as an Outstanding Musician and was supported by the American-Israel cultural foundation between 2005-2015.
Her studies at Trinity Laban were made possible thanks to Alan Niekirk and Trinity College London scholarships.
Among her teachers were: Sabina Frankenberg, Zvi Plesser, Hillel Zori, Felix Nemirovsky, Monique Bartels, Viola de Hoog (baroque cello), Michal Korman, Sally Pendlebury and Laura Jurd (composition).
She was principal cellist of the Tel-Aviv Soloist Ensemble between 2016-2017. In 2017 she was appointed assistant principal cellist of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and in 2020 became their principal cellist.

Talia is the cellist of the German Jazz band Der Weise Panda, having performed with them in Jazzahead Bremen, JazzArt Schwäbisch Hall, Internationaler Augsburger Jazzsommer, Jazzhaus Freiburg, Jazz Initiative Dinslaken and more. She is the founder, singer, cellist and composer of the Dutch-Israeli Zenith Duo, having performed in Cello Biennale Amsterdam, Cello Festival Zutphen, Jerusalem Music Center, Mitzpe Ramon Jazz Club, Felicja Blumental Music Center as well as community concerts, performances in hospitals and workshops for students. The Duo released their debut album “Yona” in March 2020. 
She also performed with the Ofer Mizrahi Trio and the Ariel Bart Trio at Internationales Jazzfestival Münster and Akbank Caz Festivali, Istanbul.

In 2021 Talia began performing her solo show “MOONLIGHT” – a programme made fully of original compositions for cello and voice. Since its beginning she has performed the show in concerts and clubs throughout Israel and in NYC and Germany, Paris and London.

Talia played as soloist with the Trinity Laban Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Beer-Sheva Sinfonietta, Jerusalem Strings, Tel-Aviv Soloists Ensemble, Jerusalem Street Orchestra, and the Mendi Rodan Symphony Orchestra of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.  
Talia often participates in community-oriented projects such as “Mekudeshet” festival (“Dissolving Boundaries” journey) and the Jerusalem Street Orchestra. Her playing was broadcasted on the German television, the BBC radio, and can often be heard at the Israeli classical radio station “Kol HaMusika”. 
Talia often composes for theatre, and her performance of original music in the play „A Very Narrow Bridge“ (Chutzpah! Festival 2016, Vancouver, Canada) was nominated for a Jessie Richardson Award in the category “significant artistic achievement”.
Her compositions for alto flute and piccolo were published by Tetractys Publishing, London.