Yonatan Kretzmer was born in Jerusalem in 1982.
He began playing the saxophone at age 14.
Yonatan studied in Israel with Erez Barnoi and Stephen Horenstein. He subsequently moved to Paris where he studies at the American School of Modern Music with Peter Giron and Rick Margitza and performed in various clubs including the well-known Sunset Jazz Club.
Upon his return to Israel, Yonatan joined the Rats Quartet, which toured throughout the country. He composed much of their music and released an album called Afternoon High.
Yonatan's main interests are synthesizing free improvised music and written chamber music. The latter led him to found the New Dilemma chamber group comprised of strings, tenor saxophone, and drums. The first concert of New Dilemma was described by one of Israel's foremost jazz critic's as the "borderline between modern classical music, composed until the last note, and the highly emotional free jazz of Kretzmer."

Contact:
yonikretz@gmail.com