MICHAL TAL- PIANIST Standing at the top of the Israeli piano scene, Michal Tal enjoys a versatile and intensive international career and presents at her concerts "A breathtaking performance"(Tel Aviv), "Esplendido... magnifica" (Spain) and "Imaginative fingers" (London) Her huge repertoire expands from Haydn to Ligeti and Berio, along with numerous premieres  by israeli composers. This season she is performs with three leading orchestras, and travels  for  recitals, chamber music concerts  and masterclasses in the USA, the far east and Europe. Michal Tal was born in Tel Aviv and started her piano lessons when she was five years old. At the age of sixteen she  performed as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then she played with all the  leading orchestras in Israel, Europe and the U.S. such as the Virginia and Dallas Symphonies, the Strasbourg Philharmonic, the Munster Symphony and the Dutch Radio Orchestra. She played under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, Eduardo Mata and Luciano Berio. Michal Tal participated in numerous concerts and special festivals such as Carnegie Recital Hall, the Tel Aviv Museum, the Tanglewood festival, Lincoln Center "Focus" Festival, the festival for Israeli Music in KÖLN, the Israel Festival and the Kefar Blum Chamber Music Festival. She has been recording live and studio more than 60 recordings at the  Israel Broadcasting Authorities. She has released 6 CDs , the recent one is on ROMEO label. Michal Tal is the prize winner of many competitions such as the first prize at the international competition in Dallas, the Jerusalem Symphony Competition first prize, and the ministry of education and culture prize in 2000 and 2005, and won scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.   Michal Tal studied at The Tel Aviv Academy of music,  Indiana University, The Juilliard School and State University of New York in Stony Brook . She studied with Prof. Arie Vardi, Richard Goode, and Gilbert Kalish. Among her coaches  were Leon Fleischer, Peter Serkin, Julius Levinne, Janos Starker, James Buswell and Joel Krosnick. She received her PHD  at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem under the supervision of Prof. Jehoash Hirshberg.  Dr. Michal  Tal is on the faculty of the Buchmann-Mehta School of music, and the Givatayim Conservatory, in which she served as a pedagogic director. She teaches, coaches and gives masterclasses in Israel ,Europe, the far east and  the USA. Dr. Tal  is the artisitic director of  The Young Piano Course at the Jerusalem Music Center.