Lior

Personal life and education

Lior was born in Rishon LeZion, Israel and he and his family moved to Sydney when he was 10. They made their first Australian home in Lane Cove, and Lior studied at Killara High School and the University of New South Wales.

Lior moved to Melbourne from Sydney in 2007,

Career

In early 2005, Lior self-released his debut album Autumn Flow, certified gold by ARIA. It also garnered three ARIA Award nominations in the 2005 ARIA Music Awards: Best Breakthrough Artist, Best Male Artist, and Best Independent Release. The album was also nominated for the J Award, presented by Australian radio station Triple J, for the Australian Album of the Year. Autumn Flow has since gone on to become one of the most successful independent debut releases in Australian music history. In June 2015, Autumn Flow was re-released as a tenth anniversary edition.

Lior released his second album in February 2008, Corner of an Endless Road; again an independent release. The album debuted at number 2 on the ARIA Australian albums chart and was nominated for the Best Independent Release in the 2008 ARIA Music Awards. His third studio album Tumbling into the Dawn was released in 2010; the European compilation album 3-2-1 followed in 2011. Lior released his fourth studio album Scattered Reflections in 2014. He featured on Passenger's 2010 album, 'Flight of the Crow', on the track 'Rivers'.

In 2013, together with Nigel Westlake, Lior wrote "Compassion" - an orchestral song cycle for voice and orchestra consisting of ancient Hebrew and Arabic texts centred around the idea of compassion. "Compassion" premiered with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House in September 2013. This performance was recorded and the album of "Compassion" went to #1 on the ARIA Classical and Classical Crossover chart and won the 2014 ARIA award for 'Best Classical Album'.

Lior also composed and recorded a song, entitled "Hoot's Lullaby", commissioned for the ABC children's television show, Giggle and Hoot. In 2012 his song Hey Hootabelle, written and recorded for Giggle & Hoot, won the APRA|AGSC Screen Music Award for Best Original Song Composed for Screen.

Live performances

Lior has toured with the WOMAD festival in 2005 to the UK, Singapore and Korea. Lior also performed at the Spiegeltent throughout the world, and the Make Poverty History concerts in Australia.

In February 2006, Lior released a live album, Doorways of My Mind – Live at the NSC. This recording consisted mostly of versions of tracks from Autumn Flow as well as some new material such as 'Diego and the Village Girl', a traditional prayer (Avinu Malkeinu) and 'Burying Chances'. The album ends with a singalong version of crowd favourite 'This Old Love'. Autumn Flow was also nominated for two other ARIA awards at the 2006 ARIA Music Awards: Best Independent release and Best Blues and Roots Album.

In 2008, Lior toured extensively, both in his home country of Australia and abroad including feature performances at the Edinburgh Festival. In early 2009, he performed with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra for a series of outdoor concerts.

In 2009, Lior launched the Shadows and Light tour, a collaboration with renowned shadow artists Stephen Mushin and Anna Parry. The Shadows and Light concerts are an interactive performance combining Lior's music with live shadow art performance and featured a season at the Sydney Opera House.

In September 2013, Lior premiered Compassion at the Sydney Opera House. "Compassion" is an orchestral song cycle for voice and orchestra consisting of original melodies and orchestration set to ancient texts in Hebrew and Arabic, all centred around the wisdom of compassion. Lior co wrote and performed "Compassion" in collaboration with composer / conductor Nigel Westlake.

In 2014, Lior and Nigel Westlake performed "Compassion" with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra as well as the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, Lior premiered "Compassion" in the US with the Austin Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Bay. The performance went on to win the Austin Table Critics' Award for 'Best Symphonic Performance of 2015-16'. In 2016 Lior also won the Melbourne Music Prize Civic Choice Award for "Compassion".

In 2016 Lior played the part of Motel Kamzoil in Fiddler on the Roof at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre, which premiered in December 2015. In 2016, Lior worked with producer Tony Buchen to write an orchestral score for The Wider Earth, a Queensland theatre production based on Charles Darwin's journey on the HMS Beagle. The score won the debute Matilda Theatre Award for 'Best Original Theatre Score' in 2016.

Philanthropy

In 2012, Lior was listed as a supporter of the Oscar's Law campaign which protests against the factory farming of companion animals. He also works with the Cambodian Children's Trust and the Global Poverty Project.

Discography