Biography
"Elad Navon is a superb artist with a velvety tone and a stylistic understanding that belies his youth." (Gramophone)
Israeli clarinetist Elad Navon has established himself as one of the most promising young voices in Israel, actively performing across Europe and the United States.
Recent First Prize winner of the ARD International Clarinet Competition in Munich, he achieved a rare distinction by winning all three top prizes, including the Audience Prize and the Special Prize for the interpretation of the commissioned composition, alongside 5 special awards. Elad is a prize winner of the Vandoren Emerging Artist competition, the Aviv Competitions, the Kfar-Saba Winds competition and was awarded the Laureate Prize by the Young Concert Artist management.
Navon has performed as a soloist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Badische Philharmonie Pforzheim and the Haifa Symphony Orchestra. In 2026, Elad will be performing with the Collegium Musicum Basel, as well as at the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Spannungen and the ARD chamber festivals in Germany, and will give recitals in Italy, France, Germany and the USA.
As an orchestral musician, Navon has performed with many of Israel’s leading ensembles, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Israel Contemporary Players, and the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In the United States, he has collaborated with the San Diego Symphony, American Contemporary Ballet, American Youth Symphony, and the Colburn Orchestra. His performances have brought him under the baton of eminent conductors such as Sir András Schiff, Zubin Mehta, Lahav Shani, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vasily Petrenko and more.
Navon has participated in masterclasses with many of today’s foremost clarinetists and musicians, including Murray Perahia, Sharon Kam, Martin Fröst, François Benda, Kilian Herold, Chen Halevi, Nick Deutsch and Lorenzo Coppola, among others.
Navon is currently pursuing the Artist Diploma at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles under Prof. Yehuda Gilad. After studying with Ilya Shwarts in Jerusalem, Elad earned his B.M. at the Buchmann–Mehta School of Music in the class of Tibi Cziger, and a M.M. at the University of Southern California with Prof. Gilad.
Since 2017, he has been a continuous recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Excellence Scholarship.