Biography

From Classical Music to Pop and Rock through Folk and Metal - Shir-Ran Yinon is a versatile and multifaceted musician. As performer on violin, electric violin and viola, singer, as well as composer and arranger - she doesn't set any musical boundaries.

On the violin Shir-Ran is known for her expressive and virtuoso playing along with her wide stylistic range and improvisation skills. She performs internationally with well-known rock and metal acts, including legendary British rock band New Model Army since 2014 and Swiss folk-metal band Eluveitie during 2015-2016. As a guest-violinist and singer she has shared the stage with artists like Schandmaul, Haggard, Epica, Calexico, The Eden House, Söhne Mannheims, Letzte Instanz, Die Zöllner, Engerling and Krayenzeit. She has also accompanied Evanescence, 2Cellos, Gregory Porter and Santiano's MTV Unplugged at orchestral shows and appeared on TV with Johnny Logan, Herbert Grönemeyer, Revolverheld and the band of The Voice of Israel. Shir-Ran has performed in over 30 countries on 5 continents, including shows at major festivals like the famous Wacken Open Air. She is also an experienced studio musician and has recorded for Delain, Cellar Darling, Leah, Suidakra, Ingrimm and many others, often writing the solo-parts and string arrangements herself.

Shir-Ran also plays in several ensembles - in 2018 she co-founded mondëna quartet, a multi-genre string quartet that performs her own compositions and collaborates with artists like Polarkreis 18 singer Felix Räuber. Furthermore, she is a cast member of Le Pustra's Kabarett der Namenlosen and Ensemble Cannelle, both performing music of the 1920s. Despite her extensive work in other genres, Shir-Ran comes originally from the world of classical music. She started playing the violin at age 9 and later studied viola with Avshalom Sarid at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Occasionally she still plays in orchestras, at times as concertmaster or section leader. 

Moreover, Shir-Ran is a composer and arranger. Like her performances, also her works reach across a broad musical spectrum and are inspired by various genres. Selected highlights are the composition "Present", a commission for the 50th anniversary of the Dresden Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra premiered 2019 at the Kulturpalast Dresden; the CD "Alma!" (Genuin Classics) which features the recording of her composition "Vivid" with the German String Philharmonic; and the four-movement "Headbanging Symphony" for the Studentenorchester Münster and the band Words of Farewell, a fusion of classical music and metal performed to great acclaim in 2018. Further compositions and arrangements written by Shir-Ran were performed by the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the KammerAkademie Halle, Boho Strings as well as ensembles of the Leipziger Symphonieorchester, the young academy Rostock, the Music School Leipzig and others. In 2019 she took part in the Saxon Music Council's project "Composers write for the competition Jugend musiziert" and was also a patroness of the "Score" composition competition held by the Rheingauer Film-Symphoniker. She studied composition with Prof. Oded Zehavi and Prof. Eitan Steinberg at the University of Haifa, at which she has received several awards.

Shir-Ran grew up in Mannheim, Germany and resided later in Israel. She returned to Germany in 2013 and lives nowadays in Leipzig. She is the daughter of the internationally renowned conductor Israel Yinon (1956-2015), who loved music above all.