The late pianist Prof. Yonatan Zak/screenshot, Yonatan Zak's Facebook page
Pianist and music teacher Prof. Yonatan Zak, a member of the Yuval Trio, passed away at the age of 91, his wife Adi Etzioni Zak shared.
Zak is the father of actress Alma Zak and TV director Yoram Zak.
The funeral will take place tomorrow (Sunday) at 13:00 at Right Rest Cemetery in Kfar Saba.
Zeke was born in July 1932 in Tel Aviv.
He studied piano with the composer and pianist Yosef Tal in Jerusalem and with Alfred Schroeder.
He later studied at the Academy in Jerusalem, and then at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
He won first prize in an American competition for young musicians.
He returned to Israel in 1969 and that year founded the chamber ensemble Yuval Trio with the violinist Uri Pianka and the cellist Simcha Haled and served as pianist.
The trio was active for about 25 years, recorded albums for Deutsche Grammophon and Centaur and is considered one of the most successful Israeli chamber trios in the world.
Zeke performed as a soloist with leading Israeli orchestras and also performed in recitals in Israel and around the world and recorded concerts on radio stations in Israel and France.
In addition, he accompanied many soloists including the cellist Paul Tourtellier, the flutist Jean-Pierre Rempel, the violinists Yitzhak Perlman, Pierre Amoyel and Midori, and the singers Maureen Forster, Mira Zakai, Sharon Rostorf-Zamir and others.
In 1992 he founded a piano duo with the pianist Irena Friedland.
Zeke taught at the Buchman-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University.
More on the same topic:
Alma Zak
Yoram Zak
Adi Etzion Zech