Henri Oppenheim

Henri Oppenheim is an composer originally from Paris who has made Montreal his home for the past 17 years. A former researcher in mathematics, Henri studied composition and orchestration at McGill University (Montreal). He was the accordionist and director of the Montreal klezmer ensemble Kleztory for many years, producing between 2002 and 2012 over 300 concerts in Canada, the United States, South-America, China and Europe. Notable concerts include performances with les Orchestres Symphoniques de Montréal et de Québec and I Musici de Montréal. With I Musici de Montreal he recorded a CD in 2004 for the prestigious classical British label Chandos. A Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist, he has done many artistic collaborations, as composer, arranger, musical director, accordionist, percussionist and producer, primarily in the fields of Jewish music. He regularly gives conferences about Klezmer and Yiddish music. He has arranged and produced the 2007 CD with Kleztory, which earned the Canadian Opus Prize in 2007. Fotografie, his 2013 recording, was finalist of the Canadian 2014 Opus Prize.

Co-produced in 2015 with Howard Bilerman, the album «Tur Malka: New songs of Yiddish Montreal» is a musical setting of works by leading figures of Canadian Yiddish literature of the 20th century. It was performed as an orchestral suite in 2014 and 2016 in Montreal’s principal concert hall, la Maison Symphonique.

Henri Oppenheim is an associate composer at the Canadian music centre, and has been a member of the music committee of the Conseil des Arts de Montreal from 2014 to 2017. Since 2016, he has been working as a music-therapist for the Montreal Jewish General Hospital.