GUR LIRAZ QUINTET

Gur Liraz was born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1988 and was accepted to the prestigious Thelma Yellin High School as a Jazz major. He spent 4 years studying with jazz guitar master Ofer Ganor. After an eight-month stay in New York, where he took lessons with guitar legend Peter Bernstein, Gur moved to Berlin in 2013 and soon became involved in the city's rapidly developing jazz scene. With his quartet, he accompanied singer Amanda Becker on her debut album, "You're Looking at Me." The two also recorded a duet album - "Ask Me Now" in 2023. His debut album 'Squiggles' appeared May 19, 2023 on the London-based music label UBUNTU Music.

Tel Aviv born and Berlin based, Ori Jacobson has played alongside Esperanza Spalding (Four Grammy Awards winner), Terri Lyne Carrington (Two Grammy Awards winner), Susana Baca (Latin Grammy winner) and performed on world renown stages such as North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Beacon Theater and Agganis Arena to name a few. Ori is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Berklee College of Music for Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Global Jazz Institute lead by Danilo Perez, awarded a full tuition scholarship for both degrees for outstanding jazz and saxophone performance. During his time in Berklee he studied closely with some of the most dominant saxophone voices of today's jazz scene: Joe Lovano, George Garzone and David Liebman. Ori is currently the saxophone player of the Doug Weiss Quartet and Louis Bonilla Quintet.

Hila Kulik is also the absolute opposite of the blank slate: Hila Kulik began studying piano at the age of 8 and graduated from the Jerusalem Academy in 2010. After playing with many of Israel's finest musicians, Hila came to New York in January 2014 and earned a Master's degree from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College in January 2016. Over the past decade, Hila has performed with leading jazz musicians in Israel and abroad, includingAchinoam Nini (Noa), Antonio Hart, Donald Harrison, Michael Varekamp, Bria Skonberg, Pauline Jean (NYC), Shirzette Tinnin and many more. She has performed in countless venues and festivals from Israel to Europe to the USA. In addition to her pianistic activities, she works as a consultant and coordinator for the jazz program at the Aaron Copland School of Music.

Yonatan Levi was born in 1986 in Tel-Aviv, Israel, where he displayed musical tendencies since infancy. He began classical guitar training at age 7 and finished his studies as a music major. At age 13 he was awarded a scholarship for classical stand up bass studies from the Israeli Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv. By age 16, after turning his attention to Jazz, Levi was playing with some of Israel's Jazz greatest; Amos Hoffman, Amit Golan, Avishai Cohen and others. He was honored a full scholarship to the prestigious Berkeley College of Music. In 2006 he moved to New York City and immersed himself in the New York Jazz world, playing alongside numerous celebrated musicians including Frank Wess, Ben Dixon, Eddie Henderson, Harry Whitaker, Killer (Ray Appleton), and Donald Harrison.

Ivars Arutyunyan is a musical, energetic, dynamic musician and drummer from Latvia. He has studied music all his life spent several years in Copenhagen and Paris, now lives in Berlin. He is an active member of the European jazz and improvised music scene and has played with artists such as Seamus Blake, Greg Osby, Logan Richardson, Jerry Bergonzi, Jesse van Ruller and Carsten Dahl, to name a few. He has performed in more than 30 countries and has been awarded the Latvian Music Grand Prize 2022, Best Jazz Record of the Year in Latvia (2019), Grand Prix in Jazz Hoeilaart (BE), Almeria Jazz (ESP) and Yamaha Drum Day (LV) ) etc.