Israeli-born, Vancouver-based Erez, a world-class guitarist, pianist, composer and educator, his music blends the delicateness of Middle Eastern music with jazz and flamenco, creating a unique sound all his own, accompanied by drummer, composer Kevin Romain.

It blends the delicateness of Middle Eastern music, the freedom found in jazz and the passion of flamenco, creating a unique sound all his own.

Recipient of the 2014 ACUM Prize for Special Achievement in Jazz and the prestigious 2014 Landau Prize, Itamar Erez is an internationally renowned composer and guitarist who has shared the stage with such musicians as Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Tomatito, Avishai Cohen, Jean-Louis Matinier, Zohar Fresco, and others. In recent years, Itamar performed in Canada, USA, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Cyprus, Israel, India, Tunisia, Colombia & Surinam. Itamar made his Carnegie Hall (NY) debut Apr 2018 performing with the Omar Faruk Tekbilek Ensemble with Ara Dinjkian & Brian Keane as special guests.

Among the venues and festivals that Itamar played throughout his career were: Barbican Hall (London UK), Sydney Opera (Sydney, Australia), the Jerusalem Jazz Festival (Israel), Oman Opera House, The Megaron (Athens, Greece), Schauspielhaus Leipzig (Germany), Amsterdam Jewish Music Festival (Holland), the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, and others.

Kevin Romain, drummer and composer, has established himself as one of the most in-demand drummers in Vancouver’s creative music scene. After relocating from Windsor, ON in 2007, Romain studied jazz and contemporary music at Vancouver Community College. Since then he has toured regularly across North America as well as Europe and West Africa. He has studied with Mark Guiliana, Tomas Fujiwara, Bernie Arai and Dylan Van Der Schyff, and has shared the stage with notable musicians such as new music luminary Anthony Braxton and the late legendary Senegalese percussionist Doudou N’Diaye Rose.

Since the summer of 2015, Romain has travelled to Dakar, Senegal to study Sabar music and perform in the Deggi Daaj Festival of Drumsets and Dance, completed a solo residency at the prestigious Banff Center in Alberta, received a professional development grant from the BC Arts Council to study in New York City for six months, and played two full scale tours in the USA. Romain is now based in East Vancouver and maintains a presence in Brooklyn’s creative music scene.

He can be heard performing regularly with art pop ensemble Only A Visitor, new music iconoclasts We Just Stole A Car, and indie rock group Mega Bog among many others, and also leads three jazz ensembles. Romain has garnered acclaim as a unique voice on the drum set and is currently interested in exploring the application of polyrhythmic vocabulary in improvisation.