About Us

Nari is an Israeli ensemble active since 2019, specialized in the performance of baroque music on period instruments. Inspired by historical practices, the ensemble maintains a fresh and unique approach to the music, creating an immediate connection with the contemporary listener. By highlighting the drama and emotion of the texts and music, Nari aims at drawing the audience into the story, and inspiring emotional empathy with the protagonists of the music they perform.

Nari's concerts are structured as a continuous and coherent performance, interweaving vocal and instrumental pieces with spoken text and quasi-theater. Each program becomes a whole that is larger than the sum of its parts, presenting a central theme from varying points of view. This approach has won Nari first prize in the TARF international recorder competition 2021, where they presented an innovative program combining contemporary and baroque repertoire.

Nari has performed in major Israeli chamber music series, including “Youth at the Center” at the Jerusalem Music Center, and “Philharmonia” in Kfar-Vradim. The ensemble has also performed in major festivals, including the “Felicja Blumental International Music Festival”, “The Holiday of Holidays” festival in Haifa, “Monday Afternoon Concerts” in Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, and the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra's “Witches” festival.

Faces Behind the Music

Liron Givoni

Liron graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in 2020. She participates both as a soloist and as an ensemble singer in productions of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, Barrocade Ensemble, The Israeli Vocal Ensemble and more.

Liron's operatic repertoire includes Rachel and Rivka (Imahot/D. Sebba), Clorinda (Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda), Serpetta (La Finta Giardiniera) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni). She is a recipient of the Ronen Foundation scholarship (2022).

As an entrepreneur, Liron collaborates with young artists such as herself to take part and create original performances. In 2019-2021 she created an educational children's play “Voice & Strings” and performed it alongside the mandolin player Roi Dayan for all elementary schools in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel.

Liron participated in master classes with Chen Reiss, Yuval Zorn, Brian Zeger, Corina Marti, Ammiel Bushakevitz and David Shemer. In the 2022-23 season she performs in the original production “The Origin of the World”, which enables an interactive experience that combines different artistic mediums. She will also perform the role of Morgana in Handel's Alcina with the Jerusalem Lyric Opera Studio in addition to regularly performing with Nari Baroque Ensemble.

Naomi Hassoun

Born in Jerusalem. In 2017, Naomi won first place in the international recorder competition in Nordhorn, Germany, and in the same year she performed as a soloist with the "Tel Aviv Soloists Orchestra". In 2018 she won first place in the first international recorder competition in Tel Aviv, in 2019 she won a special prize in the same competition and in 2021 Naomi again won first place in the TARF competition as a soloist and together with the Nari Baroque Ensemble. Naomi performs together with the Barocada Orchestra and the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra. Naomi has received scholarships from the Sharett Foundation scholarship, the Ronan Foundation and the Nazarian scholarship. Naomi is the winner of the Paul Ben Haim competitions and the wind competition of the Music Academy in Jerusalem. Naomi holds a bachelor's degree in performance from the Jerusalem Academy of Music under Ms. Drora Bruk and is a graduate of the "Formation Continuada" course at the "ESMUC" Music School in Barcelona under the class of Professor Pedro Memelsdorf.

Yotam Haran

Specializing in historically informed performance of music from the 18th and 19th centuries, Yotam has a special preference for the French repertoire. He began his baroque cello studies with the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra’s principal cellist, Orit Messer, and has been performing with the orchestra as second cellist since 2010. Yotam studied with Zvi Plesser and Michal Korman at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, where he completed his bachelor's studies, and later completed his master’s at the Conservatory of Amsterdam under the instruction of Viola de Hoog. He studied historical acting with Prof. Jed Wentz during his time in Amsterdam, and after finishing his studies specialized in 19th performance practice under the instruction of cellist Job ter Haar. Yotam is also a member of Nymphes et Monstres - an ensemble focused on French repertoire from the first part of the 18th century.

Guy Pardo

Physicist and harpsichord player, a graduate (magna cum laude) of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in a unique program that included music (harpsichord), physics, and musicology, Pardo is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in quantum physics while enjoying a rewarding musical career. As a pianist, Guy participated in several international music seminars and performed as a soloist with orchestras. As a harpsichord player, he was awarded the 2020-21 Sharett Grant for Creative Excellence in early music performance, participated in masterclass sessions with notable international harpsichordists (Corina Morti, Kenneth Weiss, Eilam Rotem), and produced Italian baroque concerts in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura. In 2019 he co-founded the Nari Baroque Ensemble (first prize in TARF 2021), with which he regularly performs in major Israeli chamber-music concert series and festivals. Pardo is also a member of Ensemble PHOENIX (direction: Myrna Herzog), with which he usually plays organ in concert series of liturgical/choral works, and of Ensemble Tutti (a young chamber string orchestra).