Yotam Ben-Or

Yotam Ben-Or
Brooklyn, NY
Grant amount: $9,280

About the Artist

The Yotam Ben-Or Quartet came together in 2015 in Brooklyn, New York. Since moving to NYC, Ben-Or has been performing with the quartet at the most prestigious venues and festivals in town such as: Jazz at Lincoln Center (Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola), Carnegie Hall, Bric JazzFest, The 55 Bar, and toured Europe, the Americas and Israel.

Driven to continue spreading his compositions as far and wide as possible, Ben-Or spearheaded several tours between 2018 and 2022. In the spring of 2018, the Yotam Ben-Or Quartet graced several stages throughout Israel, Italy, New York, Baltimore, and Washington DC. The positive reception of Ben-Or's compositions prompted the quartet to return to the East Coast (U.S.) for another tour that Fall.

In 2019, the quartet expanded their coverage to new audiences in Israel, Belgium and Mexico, playing a stream of shows in March (Israel/Belgium), September (Belgium), November (Israel), and December (Mexico).

Due to the pandemic, which caused many tour cancellations, the quartet did not tour again until November 2021 in Israel and then again in January 2022 in Mexico.

Gabriel Chakarji (Piano) and Alon Near (Bass) are Yotam's longtime collaborators and have been playing in the quartet since its formation. Throughout the ensemble's history, the drummer has swapped a couple times according to Ben-Or's vision at the time. Since 2021, the drummer of the ensemble is Franco Pinna. This will be the first tour of the ensemble in its current configuration.