Nir Comforty is the Assistant Principal Bass Player of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and an active solo and chamber musician. He collaborated with artists such as Tabea Zimmermann, Sergio Azzolini, Chen Halevy, Aviv Quartet, and Jerusalem Quartet.

Born in 1976 in Haifa, Israel, Nir began his music studies with piano at age six and bass at age fourteen. He studied with Eduard Zlatkin and Peter Marck, receiving the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships throughout his years of study.

Nir studied orchestral conducting under Prof. Mendi Rodan at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he earned a bachelor’s degree with honors. He continued bass studies in Germany with Günter Klaus and Stephan Petzold and graduated the H. Eisler Music Academy in Berlin. During his studies there, he played with three of the most important symphony orchestras in Germany: The Berliner Sinfonie Orchester, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester- Berlin, and the Staatskapelle Berlin, under the baton of Maestro Daniel Barenboim.

He attended master classes with Franco Petracchi (Italy, summer 2000), Jane Saksala and Esko Laine (Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra), Boguslaw Furtok (Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt), and Barbara Sanderling (H. Eisler Music Academy-Berlin).

Nir has participated in music festivals (Verbier Festival and Academy in Switzerland, Voice of Music chamber music festival in the upper Galilee) and tours to Europe, the US, South America, and Asia with different orchestras.

He has been a member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra since 2004.

In 2005, he founded along with colleagues from the IPO, the New Israeli Ensemble. The New Israeli Ensemble specializes in combining string and wind instruments and performs extensively at Israel’s most important concert series: Tel Aviv Museum, Jerusalem music center, the Israel broadcasting authority’s Etnachta program, the Brigham Young University in Jerusalem, and others.

Nir also teaches double bass. He joined the faculty of Tel Aviv University in 2005.