Biography
2017 marked the release of "Air For More Years", Eldad Zitrin's debut solo project. The album consists of two parts. The first has 11 songs written, performed and arranged by Eldad and co-produced with Nir Maimon (Dudu Tasa, Hayehudim). The second part has 12 instrumental piano compositions accompanied by a score book. Zitrin's " One Man Band" concept, which is featured on his video releases on social media networks such as Facebook and YouTube, gained him more than half a million views and shares in the first few months.
Transferring this concept to his live show, Eldad has surrounded himself with an array of pianos, keyboards, acoustic instruments such as saxophone, accordion and mandolin (to name just a few), and electronic instruments, samplers and drum machines. The audience gets to see and hear Eldad layer his musical tracks live, giving a mesmerizing performance of skill and creativity.
The album release party was held at the Zappa Tel Aviv venue and included a guest appearance by Avraham Tal. Shortly after, Zitrin performed to a sold out crowd at the annual Piano Festival in Tel Aviv and received critical acclaim. Zitrin has been collaborating with many of Israel's leading artists, such as Rita, Shlomi Shaban, Guy and Yahel, and has been working with artists from diverse genres like Adam Ben Ezra, Mark Eliyahu and Yishai Ribo.
Eldad was born on 20/11/1980 and has always lived in Tel Aviv. He is partner to Avivit and father to Daria and Lee
His first musical steps were taken at the age of five and he started classical piano lessons with Chava Armon at the Israeli Conservatory Of Music Tel Aviv (Shtriker). By the age of 15 he had won the Sharett Scholarships Program (known also as "Keren Sharett") twice, as a pianist and as a part of a classical trio. He furthered his musical education in junior high school in a music department and started studying saxophone with Ziv Ben. He was accepted to the acclaimed Thelma Yellin High school for the arts. During his high school years he furthered his musical education by adding lessons with Erez Bar Noy and Stu Hacohen on saxophone.
After his high school graduation in 1999 Eldad appeared in the "Eilat Red Sea Jazz Festival" in a Brass Big Band ensemble of 18 musicians, performing music he had written, produced and arranged. This performance, in which he also acted as lead saxophone player, saw the collaboration with his former high school teacher, musician and conductor Eli Benakot.
During this festival he also performed with a modern Jazz Fusion band, this time taking the role of piano and keys player, together with Roy Kariok ( Tony Braxton, Backstreet Boys and Paula Abdul),Yossi Hamami and Eran Asias.
In 1999 Eldad enlisted to the Israeli Air Force Orchestra as a saxophone player under the musical direction of Arie Volnitz, and for the next three years he played, arranged and produced music for several ensembles within the orchestra.
After his release from the army in 2002 he continued his musical education with piano lessons with Ofer Brier, arranging and conducting with Ilan Mociach, and spent six months studying piano with Gary Dale, one of New York's leading piano instructors.
For the past 15 years Eldad's career has taken him around the world and he has been prolific as a writer, performer, arranger and producer. Eldad has worked with Israeli artist, Rita and was her musical director and live show producer from 2008 till 2017. His work with Rita brought him to perform at the United Nations in NY and at the Babel Med Music Festival.
He has worked with Idan Raichel, writing string arrangements for the album Reva Le' Shesh (Quarter to Six ), produced and arranged Natan Gosh's debut album, and has been offering his many skills to artists such as: Arik Einshtein, Ehud Banai, Amir Dadon, Ninet, Dudu Tasa, Arkadi Duchin, Gali Atari and many more.
In 2015 Zitrin scored music for a TV series "Eifo Ata Chai" (Where Do you Live) which was broadcasted on the IBA channel 1.
Eldad also took part in a project called "Last of Songs", a collaboration with singer and actress, Irit Dekel. Zitrin and Dekel took jazz music from the era of the 30's to 50's and re-arranged the songs with new colors, borrowing elements from different styles such as world music, classical and electronic music. The project took to the stage between 2015-2016 and consistently toured festivals and venues around Europe, mainly in Germany, Spain and Italy, and received rave reviews from the European Press and media.
Eldad is currently touring his current release and continues writing and collaborating in many projects.
