Giora Feidman is an Israeli clarinetist and performer of klezmer music. Born in Buenos Aires on March 25, 1936, he grew up in a family of klezmer musicians whose members had emigrated from Chișinău. He studied at the Buenos Aires Conservatory and, as a student, played in the orchestra of the Teatro Colón.
In 1956, Feidman moved to Israel and joined the Israel Symphony Orchestra. His repertoire ranges from his own arrangements to works by George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein. He has taught at the S. Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem and Bar-Ilan University. From 1976, he toured as a clarinetist.
Feidman has researched the roots of Jewish music and collected melodies from Jewish communities around the world. Works written for him include “Royal Fanfare” by A. Hajdu, “Golem” by B. Oliviero, “Reward to the Righteous” by N. Sheriff, and “Jewish Wedding” by B. Pigovat. He performs music by Astor Piazzolla, much of which he arranged for clarinet, and has written klezmer compositions and arrangements of classical music.
He has performed with ensembles including the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Camerata, the Gershwin, Arditti, and Kronos quartets, the Kremlin Chamber Ensemble, and the New York and Berlin Symphony Orchestras. At Steven Spielberg’s invitation, he played the clarinet solo for the soundtrack of Schindler’s List, which received seven Academy Awards. Feidman received the ECHO Klassik “Classics Without Borders” award in 1997 and 2003.
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