MORDECHAI RECHTMAN: Bassoon/Conductor

Principal bassoonist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (1946-1991), Mr. Rechtman has won international acclaim as bassoonist, arranger and conductor.  He started his musical career at the age of 15 playing principal bassoon with the Palestine Opera (now Israel), and was awarded first prize at the youth festival competition in Prague.  He appeared as soloist frequently with the IPO and many other orchestras abroad, and at such prestigious festivals as Tanglewood, Spoleto, Marlboro, and the Puerto Rico Casals Festival.  His arrangements for wind quintet, wind instruments and large wind ensembles are performed throughout the world, published, and recorded in the United States, England, Denmark, Germany, and Austria.  In 1963 he founded the Israel Woodwind Quintet, and the Israel Philharmonic Wind Ensemble, of which he is music director and conductor since 1976.  Since 1985 he is also the music director and conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra Wind Ensemble. From 1977-78 he was a guest professor at the famed Indiana University Music School, and from 1969 to the present he is professor of music at the Rubin Academy of Tel-Aviv University.  As guest professor he teaches bassoon, coaches chamber music, and conducts large wind ensembles and orchestras at the New England Conservatory, The Juilliard School of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, as well as other locations in Canada, Mexico, Australia and throughout Europe.  In August 1994, Mordechai Rechtman was unanimously elected Honorary Membership of the IDRS.