Taum Karni

Israeli conductor Taum Karni is active in the fields of opera and contemporary music, with an emphasis on a cappella contemporary choral repertoire, performance and improvisation. Taum is artistic director of Carmina: Israeli Singers Ensemble, which she founded in 2012 with the aim of creating artistic, thought-provoking, humorous and multidisciplinary performances of choral music in Israel. Taum is also the founder and co-conductor of REVOICE! International Vocal Ensemble, and was the conductor of Tel Aviv University's Student Chamber Orchestra in 2012-2017, as well as resident conductor of the Israel Women Composers Forum and artistic director of Vox Feminae Festival 2019.

Taum has studied conducting and musicology in Tel Aviv University, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Royal College of Music, as well as opera conducting studies with Aharon Harlap. In the past year, she has been furthering her orchestral conducting specialization according to the school of Kenneth Kiesler. As a musicologist, she has researched extended vocal techniques in 20th-century choral music. She has worked with dozens of professional and amateur choirs and orchestras in Europe, Israel and Japan, as conductor, jurist and workshop leader over the past 15 years. In addition, Taum is trained in mediation and circle processes and is active in educational, social justice and conflict transformation projects such as Palestinian-Israeli choral project Common Ground Voices.

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 directed new music/performance ensemble Wild Blossom Amsterdam. Taum has been supported by the Elton John Scholarship, the Erasmus scholarship and the America-Israel Cultural Fund scholarships in choral conducting. 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.