Omer

Omer Rizi was born on the 27th of May, 1982 in Beer-Sheva, Israel. At the age of 5 he discovered the keyboards. Following his older brothers, he started taking private lessons until he was 14.During his high school period, Omer started studying classical piano with the highly respected Fania Izenberg. During summer breaks, he attended "Rimon school of contemporary and jazz music" summer workshops. By the age of 18 he had private jazz piano lessons with Leonid Ptashka and Slava Ganelin, and then he was recruited to the IDF artillery force, and served for 3 years. After the military service he registered to the "Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance" and graduated with a B.MUS. diploma in the cross-disciplinary jazz performance department. At the music academy, Omer studied piano with Slava Ganelin, Dr. Zecharia Plavin and Nahum Perferkovich, and also took numerous theory and arrangements lessons.Omer's influences ranges from classical and jazz to progressive rock and fusion. At high school he had a rock band, and from there he switched to play in young local fusion bands. Since then, Omer played with a lot of different musical groups in many various styles: • "Jazz N' Roll" – a jazz quartet (vocal, piano, bass and drums) which gives jazz interpretations to well known pop and rock classics by new arrangements. Omer is the main arranger and pianist. "Jazz N' Roll" performed in the "Tel Aviv Jazz Festival 2008", "Jerusalem Beer Festival 2007", "Jerusalem Jazz Globus Festival 2006" and also in many performance clubs in Israel. In 2008 "Jazz N' Roll" members recorded an album by the name of "Blame it on the Bebop" which was released in Israel, and is gaining recognition, both on TV and Radio. (www.jazznroll.com) • As a keyboard player, Omer played with the "P. Project", a groovy fusion sextet with 3 horns, guitar, keyboard and drums. • "Uga Buga Trio" (guitar, organ & drums) - an original and unique trio that combines jewish songs with jazz. The "Uga Buga Trio" performed in "Euroiudaica 2007" in Sibiu, Romania (2007 European Capital of Culture). • In 2007 Omer joined the "Roy Young Band" and toured in Italy's blues festivals for several times ("Arezzo Wave Love Festival" 2007, "Lodi Blues Festival" 2008, "Liri Blues" 2008, "Allesandria Blues Festival" 2008, "Narcao Blues" 2008). • "Barak Hanoch", an Israel Indie Rock & Fusion musician, took Omer as his synthesizer keyboard player. Omer recorded the main keyboard tracks in Barak's 2nd album. • In 2008/9 Omer played with "I/O Trio" with Itay Weissman(Ten Sax) and Itay Hibsher(Dr) with original compositions. (www.myspace.com/itaiweissman) • Omer also played with different bands and musicians like "Chen Zimbalista" (famous marimba & percussion player), "Hatavlinim" (famous Israeli rock band), "Eitan Shapira" (pop/rock singer/songwriter), "Malkata" (oriental progressive rock), and many more. • Omer wrote some major symphonic arrangements, which made their debut performance on the "Sounds in the Desert 2007" festival.Omer is currently in New York City, expanding his career, and is seeking new directions and new experiences in his music creations.

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