Born in Israel, grew up in the USA. Began performing music professionally in the late 80s in a vocal quintet led by composer Yoni Rechter and pianist/conductor Ori Leshman. Since then, Oded has participated as vocalist, composer, lyricist, producer and arranger in a wide variety of projects ranging from jazz, contemporary, pop and acapella.

After receiving a Bachelors of Arts degree in Musicology and Business Adminstration from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Oded moved to Europe to continue developing musically. He first moved to Holland, where he studied at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, then Switzerland where he completed his Masters Degree in Vocal Jazz Performance with Professor Lauren Newton while performing up to 100 concerts a year as an acapella bass singer. It was at Lucerne University where he first became acquainted with Mark Murphy, a lasting relationship which inspired Ben-Horin’s specialization in the Vocalese and Spoken Word genres.

Oded’s ensemble, The Science Fair, turns to science and technology as the inspiration for its lyrics. Debut CD “Welcome To The Science Fair” was recorded by the Swiss Radio DRS and released on jazz label Altrisuoni (2007). The Science Fair’s second release, “Underwater”, is a collaboration with The Census Of Marine Life’s Mar-Eco project, a winner of the EU’s Descartes prize. Biology findings are displayed in the traveling exhibition “Deeper Than Light”, which includes The Science Fair’s music, and which has appeared on Norway’s NRK television, UNESCO science exhibition in Paris, “The Happening” art exhibition in London, Norway’s Avgarde festival and featured in The Census Of Marine Life’s Highlights Program. Concerts have been performed at Smalls Jazz Club (New York City, USA), International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois (Urbana, USA), NevroNor Neuroscience convention i(Bergen, Norway), the Norwegian Sea Travel Museum (Oslo, Norway), The GMO Guidelines Conference (Zurich, Switzerland) among other venues.

Some additional projects:

• A-live: *The a-live Music Company: Acapella group in which Oded sings the bass voice, and with which he has had several hundred performances, radio broadcasts, television appearances (Big Brother, etc.), and a performance in the Swiss Eurosong competition 2002.

Oded has participated in recordings with Lauren Newton, Ernst Reijseger, Bettina Smith, Adrian Pflugshaupt, Franz Hellmüller, Peter Gossweiler, Stein Inge Brækhus, Martin Baumgartner, Thomas Dahl, Magne Thormodsæter, Yoni Rechter and Susanne Abbuehl, among others. He has performed with Mark Murphy, Anat Fort, Andy Hamill, Mattias Zindel, Ori Leshman, Andreas Hausammann, Fredy Studer, and a-live.

Oded Ben-Horin is Associate Professor of Music at the Stord/Haugesund University College Music Department. He teaches vocal jazz, improvisation, chamber music, and music theory at the University of Bergen’s Grieg Academy, the University of Stavanger, and has also taught jazz vocals at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Holland.