Omer Klein
“Omer Klein shows with his speed, touch, refinement and creativity, that he belongs to the small group of master pianists” Süddeutsche Zeitung
Pianist and Composer Omer Klein’s music is “borderless” (New York Times) in its organic assimilation of widely diverse sources of inspiration, as he continuously “pushes mainstream Jazz concepts into the future” (Time Out New York). A prolific performer and composer, Klein has released 10 albums as a soloist, and published over 100 original compositions.
As a soloist and band leader, he has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Nice Jazz Festival, the Jazz at Lincoln Center concert series, London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Swing Hall Tokyo, the Elbphilharmonie, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Bremen Music Festival, the Dresden Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Berlin Philharmonic, and many other renowned concert halls.
Klein founded the Omer Klein Trio in 2013 with bassist Haggai Cohen Milo and drummer Amir Bresler. The three musicians record Klein's compositions and tour extensively. Their debut album, Fearless Friday (2015), was hailed as “one of the most rewarding piano trio releases of recent years” (All About Jazz).
Klein produced five albums with Warner Music: Sleepwalkers (2017) is a trio exploration of social issues in the information age, for which the Omer Klein Trio received an ECHO Award in 2018. This was followed in 2019 by the album Radio Mediteran. Analog synthesizers and percussion expanded the classic trio format, creating “a very contemporary, progressive album full of fine grooves and strong melodies” (Hamburger Abendblatt). “Personal Belongings” (2021), Klein's third album for Warner Music, is an interwoven and touching solo piano/trio program.
In 2023, Klein experienced one of his creative highlights: he released his fourth album on Warner, “Life & Fire,” on the occasion of his trio's 10th anniversary; composed and performed the highly acclaimed score for the dance/theater piece 10 Odd Emotions at Schauspiel Frankfurt; premiered his first symphonic project with the Babelsberg Film Orchestra—a full-length program of his compositions arranged for trio and orchestra; and released his fifth album for Warner, the intimate solo piano set Season Bright, at the end of the year.
Klein's collaboration with mandolin star Avi Avital has been praised as a creative meeting of two inspired minds. Part of the collaboration initially consisted of improvised new movements for J. S. Bach; pieces by Klein that Avital performed. Klein's other collaborations include his projects with the NDR and HR Big Bands, which premiered in 2019 and 2024, and his duo project with classical percussionist Alexej Gerassimez, which followed their joint artist residency at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival in 2017.
In the fall of 2022, Omer Klein took to the stage of the Dortmund Concert Hall for the first time with the Aris Quartet, performing pieces he had arranged and newly composed for piano and string quartet. Omer Klein has been nominated for the German Jazz Award countless times, including in 2025 with his trio as Best Live Act of the Year. Klein, “one of the most fascinating artists this country has produced in the last decade” (City Mouse Tel Aviv), clearly and distinctly showcases his Israeli musical roots. He has
composed songs for iconic singers such as Arik Einstein, Gidi Gov, Yehudit Ravitz, and Rons Kenan, with whom he has also performed on occasion. He is a regular presence at the Red Sea Jazz Festival and the Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, “expanding the musical horizons of this country” (Haaretz).
Omer Klein was born in Israel in 1982 and grew up in Netanya. He is the son of Israeli parents and the grandchild of Tunisian-Libyan-Hungarian immigrants. Klein began playing keyboard instruments at the age of five. At the age of 13, he focused on the piano, while he had already been composing and improvising before that. He studied at the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts Givatayim before moving to the U.S. on a scholarship to study at the New England Conservatory in Boston. There he studied jazz piano with Danilo Perez and Ran Blake, while learning classical piano with Alexander Korsantia. In 2005, Klein moved to New York, where he continued his studies privately under the guidance of Fred Hersch.
He has been living in Germany since 2009. The Alte Oper Frankfurt invited him as Artist in Residence for the 2024/2025 season. There he presented his new sextet, Omer Klein & The Poetics, among other projects, and was enthusiastically celebrated by audiences and the media alike.
In March 2026, he will release his first album with “Omer Klein & the Poetics” and present it in the Grand Hall of the Elbphilharmonie, the Konzerthaus Dortmund, Porgy & Bess in Vienna, Forum Ludwigshafen, and the Bergson in Munich. Since October 25, he has held a professorship for jazz piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.
He is a Steinway artist.
