ABOUT
Israeli conductor Taum Karni has wanted to be a conductor since her very first choir rehearsal at the age of 12. She is active in the field of Baroque music, opera and contemporary music, with an emphasis on a cappella contemporary choral repertoire and improvisation. Taum is artistic director of Carmina – Israeli Singers Ensemble, which she founded in 2011 with the aim of creating artistic, thought-provoking, humorous and multidisciplinary performances of choral music in Israel. Taum is founder and co-conductor of REVOICE International Vocal Ensemble and artistic director of Vox Feminae Festival for Women Composers. From 2012 to 2017, Taum has served as conductor of Tel Aviv University's Student Chamber Orchestra. As a founding member of Israeli-Palestinian choral project Common Ground Voices (artistic director Prof. Andre de Quadros), Taum has been active in peacebuilding and mediation activities in the Jerusalem region.
Taum has conducted the Latvian Radio Choir, the Danish Radio Vokalensemble, KMH Vokalensemble - made up of members of the Swedish Radio Choir, Stuttgart Kammerchor, Gaechinger Kantorei, Voces Nordicae, Manado State University Choir of Indonesia, the Stuttgart Baroque Orchestra, Stuttgart Kammerchor, and the Sweelink Baroque Orchestra. She has attended masterclasses with Eric Ericson, Grete Pedersen, Gunnar Eriksson and Tõnu Kaljuste. In the field of contemporary instrumental music, Taum was a mentee in Meitar Ensemble’s Tedarim Project, and conducts Wild Blossom Amsterdam, which presents new music in theatrical and surprising ways. Taum has been supported by the Elton John Scholarship, the Erasmus scholarship and the America-Israel Cultural Fund scholarships in choral conducting.
Taum is a doctoral candidate in artistic research at Orpheus Institute, Belgium in conjunction with Leiden University, the Netherlands. Her research subject is shared leadership in conducting, combining her intersts in music and peacebuilding. Taum has graduated magna cum laude from Tel Aviv University with a BA in Choral Conducting and Musicology and continued her studies privately, with a focus on opera repertoire, with Aharon Harlap. Upon moving to Europe, Taum studied choral and orchestral conducting at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Lucas Vis, Jos Vermunt and Jos van Veldhoven, as well as at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. She has worked with dozens of amateur choirs and orchestras over the past 12 years.
In 2013-2014 Taum won the Gary Bertini Scholarship, awarded every two years by the Bertini Family and the Israeli Ministry of Culture to one promising Israeli choral conductor. She has also been supported by the America-Israel Cultural Fund.