Israel Phil

[johntpt]

The website for the Israel Phil lists Yigal Melzer as their new Principal Trumpeter. Does anyone know where he's from, who he studied with, and with what other orchestras he has played?

John Urness

[PC]

Yigal is a good friend of mine who got into the IPO as 4th trumpet a few years ago. I guess he has moved up in the years since. He was a student of Ken Cox, a phenomenal trumpeter who played 1st in the IPO in the early 80s. I was also studying with Kox, and we would have our lessons in the basement of the IPO concert hall, where we remained until the evening concert to sneak ourselves into the hall. Yigal has a very sweet sound and superb technique, so I'm not surprised if things go well for him. Incidentally, I also auditioned for 4th in the IPO in front of Zubin Mehta. He liked my Mahler 5 but got annoyed at my rhythmical inconsistency in Goldenberg in Pictures on picc, so I didn't get the job and ended up into a non-musical career afterwards. It is good to see though that many close friends of mine have made it into top orchestral positions in Israel: an oboist, french horn and trombone into the IPO, a trumpeter who studied with a guy from the Berlin Phil is now principal in the Jerusalem Symphony, trumpet, trombone and tuba players from quintets in which I used to play are now in the Haifa Symphony.
Regards,
Pierre.