Beginnings
early years… first piano… Chopin watching…
Born in Tel-Aviv, Israel, Ramon began studying classical piano, harmony and counterpoint at a very young age with his parents, both music teachers. Intertwined with a fascination for the art of improvisation, Dor followed more advanced classical piano, classical composition and orchestration studies with other renowned teachers.
By that time, Dor had already been writing, performing and recording with Israel’s most renowned artists. Popular music artists include Matti Caspi, Meir Banai, Shoshana Damari, Yehoram Gaon, contemporary composers such as Yossi Mar Chaim and Israel’s top classical and jazz musicians.
It was time to move on
Further Studies
Before Recital, with piano professor Nelleke Geesink
By the age of 23, Ramon had felt the need to connect with the European classical tradition at the roots and had moved to Amsterdam following a stint tour of popular music performances across the USA and Canada.
Taking up classical piano with pianist Nelleke Geesink, contemporary classical composition with Daan Manneke, and Jazz piano and orchestration with Henk Meutgeert at both the Amsterdam Conservatorium and the Messiaen Academy, had resulted in masters in both classical and jazz piano. During the later phases of his studies, Dor was also teaching at Messiaen Academy a course in Composition techniques for contemporary electronic music at the request of composer Alex Manassen.
In parallel, and purely for the satisfaction of his intellectual appetite, Dor was reading electrical engineering at the TU Delft culminating in PhD research in AI.
Searching
Prelude & Fugue for Alto Sax, tape and animation
Composing, orchestrating, performing and recording with renowned artists followed. A short list of some projects would include orchestrations for ensembles and orchestras such as the work for Bobby McFerrin with Amsterdam Sinfonietta (later commissioned for other orchestras); performances on Dutch radio, and TV, at such venues as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw aan het ij, the Bimhuis, and the famous Amsterdam Prinsengracht concerts, such as performing Detlev Glanert’s ‘Geheimer Raum’ with members of the Concertgebouw orchestra, as part of orchestra’s ‘AAA’ series and Ij salon's ‘All that Jazz’ program; Dor’s compositions as such ‘Prelude and Fugue for Saxophone and Shadow’, commissioned by saxophonist Hubert Jan Hubeek for solo alto saxophone, tape (with collaboration of Leo van Oostrom) and animation (by N. Zohar) performed multiple times by various soloists, at various venues, including the Holland Animation Film festival; and various recordings like the unique release of Raymond Scott's 'Suite for violin and piano' from the hand-written manuscript with violinist Davide Rossi
Yet something was not right. Dor was unable to fully commit himself to any single path. Somehow, it felt like all streams — composing and performing, composed and improvised music, the old and contemporary masters — had to fuse into a single stream. And for several years, Dor has been searching for such a language. Very slowly, experimentation led to fragments that seemed to bridge the gap between the different traditions — fragments residing in a confluent world of their own — Confluentials.
Confluentials
Composing in confluential space
Dor has coined the term 'confluentials' to denote those compositions, which are deeply and equally rooted in two or more musical traditions. Rather than superficially borrowing stylistic features from different musical languages, Dor aims at the confluence of musical dialects, in the same way that once two rivers have merged, the water can no longer be disentangled. These confluentials live in a world composed of the classical and Jazz genres, among others. A world in which the structure and development are as important as the spontaneous; improvisations are constrained by composed emotional content; and classical pianistic techniques and instrumentation set the tone.
The aim is to avoid any on-the-surface artifact blending — no ‘jazzing up Bach’, ‘Rocking up Jazz’, ‘Jazz with strings’ — one seeks the natural space where the composed meets the improvised; the planned melts with the free, and complexity celebrates expressive simplicity. Nothing more than that.
Injury
In April 2016, while working on the concept of Confluentials, a careless moment with a circular saw has severed Dor’s right hand ring finger. Building oak-wood gifts for his kids lead to the hospital’s hand surgeon recommending immediate amputation. Ramon, under the influence of a generous amount of morphine, refused amputation, and opting for patience, following regular surgical procedures and hoping for the body will heal naturally. Dor’s parallel work in computer science has proved to be a life savior. It enabled him to take his time — not to push things —while trying to heal his identity as a pianist.
It took several months to conclude that Dor would keep his finger. Another year of rehabilitation to regain basic movement. Then work at the piano started — an ongoing process to regain as much as possible of the technical skills required for the performance of classical masterpieces and the new confluentials.
Back on track
Post injury preparations at the Jeruzalemkerk, Amsterdam
Which brings us here. As the COVID-19 epidemic slowly subsides, Dor is making an effort to make up for all the lost time and bring his confluentials closer to the public. These plans include the release of existing and new recordings, as well as performing live — as solo pianist, or with the collaboration of musicians skilled in the various traditions from which confluentials draw their vocabulary. Every small step in this direction feels like being able to breath again.