Biography

 
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Lihay

Yoav

Iftah

Lihay Bendayan
Lihay Bendayan, born in 1975, is a Professor for violin at the 'Haute Ecole de Musique Tibor Varga' in Sion, Switzerland He was a pupil of some of the most distinguished maestros of his generation. At the young age of nine, he performed for Isaac Stern. Stern had recognised his talent and had referred him to Ilona Feher, who taught Shlomo Mintz, Pinchas Zukerman and Schmuel Ashkenazi. Lihay became the youngest, and the last pupil of Ilona Feher. Thereafter, Lihay studied with Professor Yair Kless, former President of the Tel Aviv Music Academy. At the same time he attended the School of distinguished arts “Telma Yalin”.

At the age of sixteen, Lihay came to Switzerland where he was accepted, despite his young age, to be part of the 'Classe de Perfectionement' and 'Classe de Virtuosité' at the Conservatoire Supérieure de Musique of Geneva. This brought him to the attention of the late Virtuoso Tibor Varga, who invited him to join his class at the Tibor Varga Academy in Sion. Over a period of several years, Lihay also studied with Miriam Solovieff, a pupil of Louis Persinger and Karl Flesch, in Paris.

Lihay has won the 'America-Israel' Cultural Foundation Award for more than 10 consecutive years. He has performed
in many recitals and concerts as a soloist in Israel, France, Great-Britain, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.
His performances were broadcasted on TV and radio in Israel, France, Germany and Switzerland.

Yoav Bendayan
Born in 1978, Yoav Bendayan started to the play the piano at the age seven. Initially he studied with Marina Bondarenko in Tel Aviv. In 1992 he moved to Switzerland where he continued his development with Mayumi Kameda and Edith Murano. Five years later, Yoav moved to London where he studied with the well known Maria Curcio, former pupil of the legendary Artur Schnabel and teacher of some of the leading pianists today. During his studies in London, he gained a 'Bachelor of Music degree' (with honours) at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, followed by a 'Master in Music degree' and the 'LRAM Teaching Diploma' from The Royal Academy of Music in London. The Academy awarded him the 'Grover Benett scholarship' as well as the 'Kennedy Leigh Award'.

Yoav has also won the 'America-Israel Cultural Foundation' Award. At the age of fifteen, he won the 'Concours Suisse de Musique pour la Jeunesse' in Bern. Since then, he played in concerts and recitals as a soloist, as well as accompanied by diverse orchestras in Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Spain, France and Great Britain. Some of his performances were broadcasted in the Swiss media as well as Japanese and Israeli TV and radio.

Iftah Bendayan
Iftah Bendayan, the youngest of the three brothers, was born in 1981. He started to play the cello at the age of eight, learning from the distinguished professor Zvi Harell in Israel. After moving to Switzerland, Iftah was accepted at a very young age into the ‘Classe Supérieure’ at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, where he was the youngest pupil of Professor Daniel Grosgurin. In 2005, Iftah obtained a Bachelor of Music Degree with honours from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Following this he studied with the renowned English cellists Colin Carr, Philip Sheppard and Felix Schmidt at the Royal Academy of Music.

In June 2007, he obtained his postgraduate diploma with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music as well as the prestigious ‘LRAM teaching diploma’. Iftah has also won the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Award. In 2005 he won first prize in the Wilfred Parry Competition held at the Royal Academy of Music in London for the best interpretation of works by Johannes Brahms. In addition to numerous recitals he has played several times as a soloist under the baton of conductor Philippe Béran.