Hillel Zori has distinguished himself as the gold medal winner of the 1986 Maria Canals International cello competition in Barcelona, and by winning top prizes at the Whitaker competition in St. Louis, the Premio–Stradivari in Italy, the Geneva CIEM, the Dutilleux prize at the Rostropovich competition in Paris and the Tanglewood Music Center Jackson award. Since his debut in 1984 with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta, Zori has been featured as soloist both in Israel and abroad, performing with the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra IBA and the Israel Chamber Orchestra among many others, performing with eminent conductors including Rodan, Mandeal, Volkov, Fisch, Brabins, Brotons and Biron. A member of the Israel Piano Trio, he has toured extensively, and has been a frequent guest at many festivals including Marlboro, Tanglewood, Dartington, Berlin, Israel, and Athens. Of special importance was Zori’s participation as a soloist at the UN assembly in New York, as part of the international Holocaust Memorial Day, performing Bruch’s Kol Nidrei under the baton of Zubin Mehta.
A winner of the AICF annual awards for cello, piano and chamber music, Zori completed his studies with Prof. Uzi Wiesel at the Israel Rubin Music Academy and continued at the New England Conservatory with Bernard Greenhouse.
Zori’s passion to pursue other musical interests has resulted in him composing his own work Carmeniana – Suite Brillante, for cello and orchestra, as well as a string trio and a song cycle for voice and chamber ensemble.
Since 2012 Hillel Zori plays on a Vincenzo Postiglione cello, loaned to him courtesy of the America Israel Cultural Foundation; he is currently cello professor at the Tel Aviv University`s Buchmann–Mehta School of Music where he serves as head of the string faculty.