About Maestro Brand
At only 17, Brand amazed Jazz legend Chick Corea by playing side by side with him on stage in front of a 3,000-person audience in Jerusalem.
The audience was blown away by the young man's 'Hutzpah' (brashness).That might have been the first time Brand realized he had something special to offer while performing to an audience. When asked later where did he get the courage to get up and play for Corea, Brand simply responded "I had nothing to lose...".
Growing up in Be'er Sheva, a city in the heart of the Israeli desert, Brand started playing the piano when he was eight years old. It was his grandmother's love and devotion (she wanted to be a pianist herself...) which led Nir to spend hours and hours practicing Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and Chopin on the piano instead of joining his friends to play football.
Over the years, his talent and extremely hard work won him his neighborhood's appreciation, but also led to more performances, and scholarships he was granted until completing his musical training and formal education. In time, Nir started feeling that he could offer audiences something special that is rarely seen in the strict world of classical music. He wished to excite, create fun, cajole, engage with and teach his listeners in a more interactive way.
Upon completing his army service as both a musician and a medic, Brand studied at Tel Aviv University. He is the proud pupil of Professor Mendi Rodan, Professor Noam Sherif, Professor Itzhak Sada’I and Maestro Laszlo Rooth.
Brand has since conducted countless orchestras in front of thousands of children and families, fulfilling his life's mission of bringing the joy of classical music into their lives, and to make it approachable in his unique and amusing way.
While encountering pop, rock, jazz and comedy along the way, Brand realized that the struggle he had experienced while trying to choose the exact type of performer he wanted to become has come to an end! He no longer needed to limit himself to one genre but could finally enjoy combining being funny, serious, musical, interactive and whatnot.
Brand created his one-man show "Life as a Concert", an entertaining musical journey which he performed over 2,500 times. His audiences loved it. It was described by critics as a ״journey through life and music, the secrets in the melodies around us, the harmonies we create and the humor that lies in the rhythms of our smallest everyday actions".
A few years later, Brand began presenting a new radio show, 'Israclassi'. The show ran for over 8 years and consisted of 350 episodes. It featured guests the likes of Michel Legrand, Ian Anderson, The Manhattan Transfer, Valerie Gergiev's and even Chick Corea himself, among other international and Israeli stars, and won him the prestigious 2012 Galatz Award, given out by Israel’s most popular radio station.
Following this was the 'One Man One Piano' show which was performed in the United Kingdom, theNetherlands, Nigeria, Kenya, Myanmar, Angola, Peru, India and more. In this show, Brand conveys his passion and devotion by bringing together the music and charm of Mozart and Bruno Mars, Chopin and Bill Clinton, Beethoven and The Beach Boys alongside Sting and "Jerusalem of Gold". These are accompanied by funny and moving stories and anecdotes from his years of experience performing for diverse audiences.
Brand is based in Tel Aviv. He is married to Iland Brand, a successful international consultant, and is a devoted father of three.