Conductor, Bar Avni is the First Prize winner of the 2024 La Maestra competition in Paris, a Prize awarded to her by an illustrious jury chaired by Natalie Stutzmann. Avni was the clear winner and swept the board at the competition, also winning The Orchestra Prize, the ‘Arte Prize’, the ‘Echo Award’ and the ‘Prize of the French Concert Halls and Orchestras’. For the next two years, she is a scholarship holder of the La Maestra Academy. There has subsequently been great interest in her work with invitations coming immediately from a number of major international orchestras. Avni’s astute and creative programming coupled with her clear, yet elegant conducting style is making a strong impression on all who encounter her.
Bar Avni is currently Chief Conductor of the Bayer Philharmoniker, a position she has held since 2021. She is the first female conductor to hold this position in the orchestra’s 120 year history. She is strongly committed to the promotion of new, young talent and has worked closely with the team in Bayer to devise a number of exciting music education projects, a topic she feels very strongly about.
A trained classical percussionist, the Israeli conductor initially performed in her country’s leading orchestras, after which her desire to conduct took her to Tel Aviv where she studied with Yoav Talmi, later becoming the assistant conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra under Talmi’s direction. She continued her studies with Martin Sieghart in Graz and Ulrich Windfuhr in Hamburg. In 2017/18, Avni was assistant to General Music Director, Peter Kuhn, at the Bergischer Symphoniker and in 2021, she became the youngest prize-winner and Scholarship holder of the International Kurt Masur Institute.
