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reviews
Jerusalem Post
+"Tel-Aviv Performing Art Centre……Totally charismatic he was able to ignite everybody around him and makes every percussion instrument he touched sing…
…Rich acoustic experience that celebrated
artistic freedom and open sound of life."
L.A. Magazine
+"Israeli drummer shines with L.A. Jewish Symphony…...All of the works were U.S. premiers. None of the composers was anywhere close to being a household name in this country. But there was one performer who ought to be: a provocative percussionist from Tel Aviv, Chen Zimbalista.
zimbalista is a young, muscular, intense dynamo with charisma to burn and a precise technique that knows no stylistic bounds. He's also a showman who knows how to make an entrance.
Zimbalista...then reeled off an extraordinary solo, one with kinetic impact, a sense of direction and melodic logic - and it also swung like mad.
Zimbalista made easy work of Hadas Goldschmidt-Halfon's fascinating new percussion concerto, "Knock on Wood", with its difficult two-handed polyrhythms on marimba, bongos, temple blocks and tom-toms and its gently synchopated slow movement on triangles and glockenspiel.
And with conductor Noreen Green and orchestra scrambling to keep pace, Zimbalista impishly led everyone, including us, in a frantic Shlomo Gronich scherzo called "Go"..."
By Richard S. Ginell
Jewish chronicle London
+"Led by frontman Chen Zimbalista, the group gripped the audience…with its theatrical playing.
With African drumbeats played by Chen, it worked brilliantly. Chen's dramatic drumming was interspersed with a charming modestry as he Introduced each piece.
He even got the audience to play during 'go'!"
Ha'aretz
Chen Zimbalista
Israeli percussionist Chen Zimbalista has dazzled audiences around the world with an enchanting array of rhythmic sounds that he cajoles from more than forty instruments, played with his lightening quick hands, some of them at the same time. His music - a euphonious blend of pulses and beats - defies classification. A true feast for the senses, his programs are taken from the classical, jazz and ethnic repertoire. Chen developed his skills in Tel Aviv after he was inspired by a drummer at a wedding when he was just five. By twelve, he knew he wanted to be a professional musician. Among his teachers are Alon Bor of the Israel Philharmonic, Morris Lang of the New York Philharmonic, and Bent Lillof of Copenhagen.
A winner of several international competitions, including the Francois Shapira Prize, Chen has performed at the Kennedy Center, at the Schleswig Holstein and Stresa music festivals. Chen has played with Detroit Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York on, the spirit of Europe chamber orchstra, and other major orchestras in Israel, to name just a few. Chen was taking part in "The Laya Project”, peace concerts in Angola and more. Chen served as the Artistic Director and Conductor of I.A.C Orchestra. The Science and Music Festival at Weizmann Institute of Science and the Artistic Director of TAM TAM International Percussion Festival and the Vocals & Beats concerts sears Zimbalista’s CDs are Desert Beat, Music for Marimba & Piano and marimba Spiritual. Chen has been performing throughout the world - U.S.A., Canada, Italy, Germany, England, France, Portugal, Spain, Russia, China, Taiwan, India, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Israel.
Mysticism or happenstance, Chen Zimbalista traces his name to an Eastern European ancestor who played the cimbalom.