Soprano Yeela Avital is considered the leading specialist for baroque vocal music in Israel. She performed as a soloist in all major music festivals in Israel, and regularly with Barrocade, Israel’s leading early music group, as well as the Early Music festival in York and Cambridge in England, The festival for Early Music in Croatia, and the Mozart Festival in Germany where she won the acclaim of the critics. Her Performance with “Nobile” ensemble in Varazdin, Croatia in 2008 won wide acclaim and received the prize for the best concert performed. Her performance of Purcell’s “Fairy Queen” in 2010 at the Wigmore hall in London was especially noted in the reviews of the performances.
She frequently performs alongside well known European artists and conductors such as Andrew Parrot, Mathew Halls, Tim Brown, Rene Jacobs, Philipp Picket and more, in concerts and recitals around Israel and abroad.
Beyond her rich voice, Yeela is gifted with an outstanding musical talent which brings out the “heart of hearts” of the piece she is performing. Her singing creates a stir in the audience while an “outer being experience” is felt – the true meaning of art at its best.
Violin and lute player Eitan Hoffer started playing the violin and classic guitar in his youth in Haifa, Israel, and later studied baroque violin and lute at the Conservatory in Amsterdam.
He played with various groups in Israel and in Holland, and Since 2006 he plays with Barrocade, Israel’s leading early music group, as one its founding members, and has been part of the the artistic management team of the orchestra from its inception.
Besides his activities as a musician he specializes in making bows for baroque string instruments based on historical examples.
Alon Portal (Tel Aviv, 1990) started his music education at the Jerusalem Music Academy. He then moved to The Netherlands and continued his viola da gamba and double bass studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Mieneke van der Velden, Margaret Urquhart and Philippe Pierlot, as well as with Joshua Cheatham at the Utrecht Conservatory.
Alon frequently performs across Europe with groups such as PRJCT Amsterdam, Ensemble Odyssee, Luthers Bach Ensemble, Zefiro Torna and Kölner Akademie. He is also a founding member of Le Concert d’Apollon, an ensemble dedicated to French Baroque music.
He has participated in many festivals, including Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Brighton Early Music Festival, MA Festival Brugge, AMUZ, Muzyka w Raju, Music Festival Potsdam Sanssouci and others.
Alon also recorded CD’s under Sony, Etcetera, Pan Classics, Berlin Classics and Challenge Records labels.
Baroque Harp virtuoso Sarah Ridy has been playing with leading groups such as L’arpeggiatta, Vox Luminis, Scherzi Musicali, Ensemble Responsorium of Craotia, as well as solo recitals, and is currently teaching at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, Netherlands.
Read Sarah Ridy’s bio on her website
Watch Sarah Ridy Performing Handel’s Harp Concerto with Barrocade