Oren Gross-Thaler
Oren Gross-Thaler
The young conductor Oren Gross-Thaler was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel. He conducted Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Regensburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Festival Strings Lucerne, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Israel Sinfonietta Beer-Sheva, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Raanana Symphonette, and others. Recently he became the Music Director of the Bnei haKibbutzim Orchestra.
Gross-Thaler began at the age of ten to study saxophone at the Israel Conservatory with Gan Lev. In 2015 he won First Prize in the Israel Conservatory Competition. As a saxophone virtuoso, Gross-Thaler performed as a soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra as well as with other Israeli orchestras and performed around Israel and Europe.
He began his conducting studies with George Pehlivanian in Valencia at the age of fifteen. During his studies at Thelma Yellin School of Arts, Gross-Thaler became a student of the Top Israeli composer and conductor Noam Sheriff and musically assisted him during his final years. He also studied and specialized in Music Theory with Prof. Yitzhak Sadai, and in 2020 graduated with honors from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music of Tel-Aviv University. Recently, he completed a professional program for conductors at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Gross-Thaler was the youngest conductor to participate in several top music festivals: Aspen Music Festival in 2017, Lucerne Festival Conducting Masterclass with Bernard Haitink in 2018, and Tanglewood Music Festival in 2022.
In 2018 Gross-Thaler was chosen by Noam Sheriff to conduct the world premiere of his musical piece “Lenny”, which was written in honor of Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birth centennial. The piece was commissioned by Regensburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and was given among other compositions of Bernstein in a subscriber’s concert, which received rather positive reviews:
“And whoever didn’t believe a 21-years old rookie would be able to control the big symphonic machine were harshly wrong. The young thin man blossomed from the first bar by full usage of his body language in the music of Bernstein.” “Conducted with passion and big gestures”. “The powerful, always demanding conducting drew everyone’s attention”. “The very fact that he conducted the entire program from memory showed all the professionalism and passion he put into the concert”. “The Philharmonic Orchestra was blooming under this enormous challenge, developing a joyful playing through all its sections, and giving Bernstein’s music that pinch of lightness, which captivates and simply inspires”. (Andreas Meixner, “Mittelbayerische Zeitung”)
“Despite his young age, he proves to be a savvy orchestra leader, who always keeps the intricate rhythms in Bernstein’s scores under control”. “Despite the limited rehearsal time, the evening worked out wonderfully, and the Philharmonic Orchestra became ecstatic from Bernstein’s rhythmically electrifying sounds”.
(Gerhard Dietel, “das Orchester”)
“Oren has a tremendous talent, he was born with the dust of the stars. I have seen all of these features already when he was a teenager. I predicted his future capabilities and I am sure that he will be a very big conductor and without a doubt will break into the international consciousness at some point. — What does he have that others don’t have? — He is a performer. He plays saxophone virtuosically. When he is on the stage he doesn’t run away, and it’s not easy to open your mouth when a huge public is in front of you. When he was conducting in Germany, where he received international exposure, his success was phenomenal, and this was the proof that he “has it”. He conducted a perfect concert. Oren is a very dramatic conductor, spicy and accurate. With great talent, he manages to understand a piece in depth, its rhythms and meters”.
(Noam Sheriff, “Yedioth Aharonoth Newspaper”)
In addition to his wide varied symphonic repertoire, in 2021 Gross-Thaler conducted the Israel Sinfonietta Beer-Sheva, in a Baroque and romantic string music program. The concert was held in St. Peter’s Church in Jaffa, as part of the Terra Sancta Organ Festival, on behalf of the Custody of the Holy Land.
During his career, Gross-Thaler received scholarships of excellence in the fields of conducting and saxophone from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Thelma Yellin High School of Arts, Polonsky Foundation, and the Perles Foundation.
