About
"Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art."
Claude Debussy
Yotam Ishay is a Grammy-nominated composer, pianist, bandleader, and educator known for blending Jazz, Classical, and global influences into a distinctive musical voice. Born in Israel and currently based in Brooklyn, NY, Yotam's music is deeply rooted in impressionistic harmony, Mediterranean grooves, and improvisation.
Yotam grew up in Afula, a small town in Israel, where his first musical memory was hearing a Naomi Shemer song in class at age five. The sound of the trumpets playing mediant thirds sparked a mystical, emotional reaction—an experience that ignited his lifelong exploration of harmony and musical storytelling.
Before his 10th birthday, he began formal classical piano lessons and quickly developed a passion for composition, inspired by the music of Claude Debussy. His first mentor, Gideon Hazor, guided him at the pastoral Jezreel Valley Center for the Arts for six years. With Hazor’s advice, Yotam expanded his studies to jazz piano, which profoundly shaped his musical language.
After finishing his service duty, Yotam continued his education at the Rimon School of Music in Israel and Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA, where he was a full-tuition scholar. At Berklee, he studied with professors Alla Cohen, Alain Mallet, and Stephany Tiernan.
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Since then, Yotam has released three albums - "Opus 1", "SEED", and 'SPROUT' and participated as a finalist in three editions of the International Antonin Dvorak Composition Competition, Won the "Beyond Music" competition, where he collaborated with multi-Grammy winners Michael League & Bill Laurance, and received a Grammy nomination on his work for the Berklee Indian Ensemble album - "Shuruaat".