Daniel Cohen - Artistic Director
Tiran is one of Israel's most esteemed actors. Trained as a concert pianist, he graduated the Telma Yalin Hight School of Arts and switched to acting, entering the celebrated Beit Zvi School of Drama, where he graduated with highest distinction and received the Claire Award. During his time at Beit Zvi he gave a highly acclaimed rendering of Richard II, and In 2003 Tiran was awarded the 'Promising Young Actor Award' by the Israeli Theatre.

Despite his young age, Tiran has played several main roles as actor in the Israeli Cameri Theater such as: Hamlet, Eiloff in Mutter Korage, Berger in Hair, King Richard in Richard II, Mozart in Peter Shafer's Amadeus, Kitel in Getto. Tiran will soon make his directing debut at the Cameri Theater with Büchner's

Woyzeck  in which he will also play the leading role.

Itay Tiran has played leading roles in Award winning Films such as Forgiveness , presented at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival , Beaufort , which won the Silver Bear Award for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival in 2007 and was later nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Category for 2008 and Lebanon which won The Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2009.

Tiran performed Mendelssohn’s ‘Midsummer’s night dream’ with the Israel Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de France under Kurt Mazur.
Itay Tiran: Principal actor
Matan Porat - Gropius Ensemble's Resident Composer


Born in Tel Aviv, 1982, Porat is one of Israel's most prominent composers and pianists. Porat's works were commissioned by such renowned artists as Maria João Pires, Elena Bashkirova, the AICF's Spring Competitions, and Kim Kashkashian, and were premiered at the Montpellier, Schleswig-Holstein and Menuhin festivals to general acclaim. His opera, "Animal Farm", was commissioned by the Tel-Aviv Academy. 
Porat studied composition with André Hajdu, Ruben Seroussi and George Benjamin. As a concert pianist Poart performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Irish National Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber and Symphony Orchestras and played concerts and recitals around the world in such prestigious veniues as  the Carnegie Hall in New York, Auditorium du Louvre and Salle Cortot in Paris, the Irish National Concert Hall, and in the Palacio Carlos V in Granada.
He graduated from the Masters degree in Juilliard School of Music and In the past two years Porat has
studied extensively with pianist Murray Perahia in London. Porat won of the Prime Minister’s prize for composition 2009.
Daniel Cohen founded the Gropius Ensemble in 2004, gathering around him a devoted Gropius of like-minded young musicians eager to expand the boundaries of musical performance. He since led the ensemble along side actor Itay Tiran on in numerous productions.

Daniel Cohen is  also music director of the Eden Sinfonia in London, with which he has made his Queen Elizabeth Hall debut, and since 2007 he is also chief conductor of the Jersey Chamber Orchestra.  In April 2010 Daniel was appointed associate conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra.

Following his graduation from the postgraduate conducting program at London's Royal Academy of Music, Daniel won first prizes at the Admont International Conducting Competition and the Aviv
Competitions. Daniel also received the third prize of the Evgeny Svetlanov Conducting Competition.
 
Daniel assistant Maestro Daniel Barenboim at the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra were he was involved in the preparation of the Beethoven symphonies cycle as well as major works by 20th century composers such as Schoenberg and Boulez. Daniel also assisted maestro Pierre Boulez at the 2011 Lucerne Festival Academy.
 
Daniel conducted such orchestras as the Israel Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Montpellier, the Kammerphilharmonie Graz, the Kiev Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.

Daniel made his Israeli Opera debut conducting Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame and has since been invited to conduct Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mzensk and Verdi's La Traviata. At the same house Daniel conducted the with Israeli Opera Studio productions of Rossini's La Cenerentola and Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.

Daniel was supported by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation throughout his studies.

A native of Israel, Jonathan Keren is a composer, arranger and violinist, currently living in New York. A recent award winner from the Koussevitzky Foundation (2007), Keren is also a recipient of ASCAP’s Young Composers’ Award prize and Scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation in violin and composition between 1997-2003. Jonathan is a recent graduate with a Master’s degree in composition from The Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Mr. Milton Babbit. Mr. Keren's works have been widely performed in Europe, the US and the far east; at Carnegie’s Weill Hall; Alice Tully Hall and the Rose Theatre at Jazz in Lincoln Center in New York; the Louvre Museum in Paris; The Berlin Philharmony hall; The Juilliard School and New England Conservatory; The Tel-Aviv Museum and opera house, Jerusalem Music Center and Henry Crown Hall in Israel.
Jonathan Keren: Composer
His music has been performed by such artists as cellists Lynn Harrell and Yehuda Hanani; The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra; pianists James Tocco, Steven Beck, Matan Porat and David Greilsammer; Percadu; the Tel-Aviv Trio; Mandolinist Avi Avital; String Orchestra of New York City and The Tel-Aviv Soloists; The New Juilliard Ensemble, Kaprizma Ensemble, The Israeli Chamber Project, and the Fountain Chamber Music Society, of which he was the Composer in Residence (2001-2007). Jonathan is a winner of the New Juilliard Ensemble competition (2003) and he represented Israel in the ACL (Asian Composers League) young composers’ competition in Tokyo, Japan, 2004. Other commissions have included The Fountain Ensemble, the 92nd Street Y in New York, the Jerusalem Music Center, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, pianist David Greilsammer, the Israeli embassy in Denmark and the prestigious Keshet-Eilon violin mastrercourse. Upcoming performances include Tanglewood 2011.

Jonathan began his studies as a violinist with Mr. Chaim Taub (1993-1998). During the course of his military service (1996-1999) as a member of the “outstanding musicians” unit he arranged more than 50 pieces for chamber and vocal ensembles, all of which were performed by military bands and the Israel Defense Force Education Corps Orchestra, as well as in concert halls. Following his service he studied composition with Mr. Reuben Serroussi (1999-2000), and with Dr. Samuel Adler at the Juilliard School (2000-2004).

Keren's latest piano piece, "Fantaisie, mais 2 Fantastrophes" was recently released on pianist David Greilsammer's new CD with the European lable Naïve.
'Diary of a Madman' - by Jonathan Keren A musical drama, libertto after Nicolai Gogol
Fri. 18.1112:00  &  21:00Cameri Theater, Tel Aviv
Fri. 19.1118:30  &  21:00Cameri Theater, Tel Aviv
The Gropius Ensemble
Itay Tiran, Actor | Daniel Cohen, Conductor
Tickets at the Cameri Box Office 03-6060960 
The Gropius Ensemble
Israel's Interdiciplinary Group

Artistic director: Daniel Cohen