Yoav Levanon

Having started his professional piano education at the age of 3, Yoav Levanon, has an impressive career of performances, winning competitions, receiving prestigious awards, creative excellence grants and playing with orchestras around the world.

At the beginning of 2021, Yoav took part in a filmed project with maestro Daniel Barenboim. Later during the year, he was invited to play on some of the most prestigious stages in France, Germany, Israel, Latvia, Russia and Switzerland including the Louis Vuitton Auditorium and Radio France Grand Auditorium, Paris and with the “Orchestre de la Swiss Romande”, Geneva, among others.

2020 started with a Solo Recital performance in a “Piano Summit” with Martha Argerich at Schloss Elmau, Germany. Later during the year Yoav performed at the Piano Jacobins Festival in Toulouse. His performance was highly praised in a critic by ‘Le Monde’ journal: ‘Though Yoav Levanon is a very young person, he is already a great pianist. At 16, the Israeli is a meteor’ and in “Diapason”: In spite of outstanding abilities, Yoav Levanon is not only a stunning virtuoso. His assertive interpretative choices already make him an authentic musician, who has everything to become one of the major pianists of this century.

In 2019, Yoav appeared as the youngest pianist in festival history at the renowned Swiss Verbier Festival and was celebrated as a "discovery". His debut Solo Recital, broadcast globally on medici.tv, gained the largest online audience of any of the 2019 Festival’s events. As “Le Temps” wrote: “Among the stars of Verbier, magical touch of Yoav Levanon, the little prince of the piano. Yoav Levanon made quite an impression at the opening weekend of the Verbier Festival ... This is an authentic musician, innately and naturally lyrical ... The Israeli pianist intuitively traces the architecture of a work and the melodic curve of a phrase ... His playing is full of supple elegance ...”

Soon after, Yoav took part in the Tsinandali Festival, Georgia, where he played Mozart and Bach Concertos for Two Pianos and Orchestra with acclaimed pianist Sergei Babayan. During the same year, 2019, Yoav received “Young Talent Award” of the “Excelentia Foundation” and performed in a ceremony at the National Auditorium Madrid with the presence of her majesty Queen Dona Sofia. Later on, he made his orchestral debut

in Spain on the same stage performing Tchaikovsky concerto No1. with Santa Cecilia Classic Orchestra.

During the year 2018, Yoav, then 13, performed the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no.2 with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra in concerts titled “First Prize – the best young pianists in the music world”. Later during the year he participated in the Verbier Festival Academy, Swiss, performed a solo recital at the Verdi Theatre, Italy, and took part at the Verbier Festival at Schloss Elmau, Germany, performing a solo recital and participating in a chamber music concert. Yoav was named as one of 10 extraordinary Israelis under the age of 16 who have “accomplished by the age of (less then) 16 more than many of us do in a life time”.

Being only 11 years old, Yoav performed the Chopin Piano Concerto no.1 on the prestigious San Carlo Theatre stage under the direction of the well-reputed maestro Daniel Oren. In a breathtaking performance, Yoav won the audience excitement by his delicate Chopin interpretations, with an astounding variety of timbre and fluent virtuosity.

Maestro Daniel Oren commented:

“The child is undoubtedly a genius. A unique talent. Yoav Levanon played in a way that pianists in their 40's can't play. This child's depth is indescribable......the way he sings, the poetry of this boy is extraordinary, truly extraordinary! And he captivates the audience.”

The critics praised the performance:

“Young Yoav Levanon aroused great enthusiasm at the San Carlo theatre, being one of the promising upcoming stars of classical music”

“Yoav’s style of piano playing is bewildering: it’s filled with both a rare sensitivity and a rigorous technique, and he grasps each note even in the most virtuous passages. He’s aware of phrases, rhythm, shapes, and dynamics, thanks to his noble and clear touch. He takes a distance stand from the most recent interpretations, piano tight-rope walkers, and media-sponsored sideshows. His style can be compared to that of the legendary Arthur Rubinstein.”

At 10, Yoav became the First Prize winner of the Pnina Salzman Piano Competition and “Piano Forever” piano competition. At the age of 9, Yoav performed the Beethoven's First Piano Concerto with the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra and received the Sharett Creative Excellence Grant from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.

When Yoav was 8, he opened the “International Summer Jewish Festival” performing with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra. After the concert, that took place in Europe’s largest synagogue – Dohány Synagogue – in Budapest, an enthusiastic critic stated:

“...Yoav Levanon is not a child prodigy. He is an eight-year old artist of high calibre...” Agnes Kory, MusicalCriticism.com

Shortly thereafter, Yoav was chosen to join a tour with the acclaimed Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra to perform Haydn's Concerto under the baton of maestro Vladimir Spivakov who expressed his feelings by saying:

“Yoav was blessed by a touch of God”