Yotam Ishay is a Grammy-nominated composer, pianist, bandleader, and educator whose work moves fluidly between jazz, classical, and global traditions. Born in Israel and based in Brooklyn, NY, his music is shaped by impressionistic harmony, Mediterranean rhythm, and a deep commitment to improvisation as a way of listening, thinking, and composing.

Yotam grew up in Afula, a small town in northern Israel. One of his earliest musical memories is hearing a Naomi Shemer song in school at the age of five. The sound of the trumpets - simple mediant thirds - triggered an intense, almost mystical response. That moment sparked a lifelong fascination with harmony and the way music carries memory, place, and emotion.

Before the age of ten, he began classical piano studies and soon gravitated toward composition, drawn especially to the music of Claude Debussy. He studied for six years with his first mentor, composer Gideon Hazor, at the Jezreel Valley Center for the Arts. Under Hazor's guidance, Yotam later expanded into jazz piano - a shift that deeply reshaped his musical language and sense of form.

Yotam continued his studies at the Rimon School of Music and later at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he received a full-tuition scholarship. At Berklee, he studied with pianist and composer Alla Cohen, whose influence was formative in his development.