Jacob Reuven

Jacob Reuven is a leading mandolinist with a long list of collaborations with top orchestras in Israel and beyond. He is also a founding member of the Kerman Mandolin Quartet. Reuven was born in 1976 in Zikhron Yaa'kov, Israel. He took up the mandolin at age eight, studying at the Beersheba (Beer Sheva) Music Conservatory with Simha Nathanson and Dora Bartik and later with Lev Haimovitch. Reuven moved on to the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, studying with Motti Schmidt. During his student years, he began to perform violin music transcribed for mandolin; he was apparently the first Israeli player to do so, and this developed into a specialty. Reuven twice won the Jerusalem Academy's concerto competition, and he took a step toward international recognition with a first-place showing at the Plectro de la Rioja competition in La Rioja, Spain. In the year 2000, at the suggestion of conductor and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, he formed the Kerman Mandolin Quartet, named for the maker of his own mandolin, luthier Arik Kerman. After being re-formed by Reuven in 2012 and marketing itself to international venues, that group continues to perform. Reuven also formed two other chamber groups, IMS, 16 Strings, and, with guitarist Adam Levin, Duo Mantar. He made several recordings in Israel, including Hebrew Mandolin with the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra. Reuven has performed with major orchestras both in Israel and beyond. At home, he has appeared with the Israel Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony, and the Israel Chamber Orchestra, while in Europe, he has been heard with the BBC Symphony, the Radio Sweden Symphony Orchestra, and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. In 2021, Duo Mantar released the album Music from the Promised Land, and the following year, Reuven returned as a soloist with members of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig on the album Vivaldi & Piazzolla: The Mandolin Seasons. He teaches mandolin at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. ~ James Manheim, Rovi