Cellist Gal Nyska recently tied for first place in the 2006 Aviv Competition, Israel's most important contest for young artists. As member of the recently formed NEW trio with pianist Julio Elizalde and violinist Andrew Wan, he won second prize at the first Elizabeth Plowman national chamber music competition in 2006. Currently a student of Mr. Joel Krosnick at the Juilliard School, Gal has performed in Israel and in the United States in venues such as the Tel Aviv Museum, Alice Tully Hall, Paul and Morse Recital Halls, the World Financial Center, and the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC. His performances have been broadcast on the radio, on WQXR (NY) and Kol-Hamusica (Israel’s national classical music station). He participated in master classes with Lynn Harrel, Yo Yo Ma, Gary Hoffman, Philippe Muller, Timothy Eddy, Janos Starker and Bernard Greenhouse. As an orchestral musician he has been a member of the Young Israel Philharmonic, the Aspen Music Festival, the Shepherd School Symphony, and the Juilliard Symphony. This year he also served as the principal cellist of the Juilliard Symphony. As a soloist, he has performed concertos with various orchestras, including the Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and North Carolina symphonies and is scheduled to solo with the Bangor Symphony in January 2007. His chamber music festival experience includes the Innsbrook Institute, the Quartet Program, Music in the Valley, Yellow Barn,"The Perlman Music Program" and the Kneisel Hall Festival in Maine. He has also been invited to participate in the Kronberg Cello Festival and the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove.