Edi Kotlyar grew up in Tel Aviv and has lived in Berlin since 2015. He began his studies at the Buchmann–Mehta School of Music and continued at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin with Prof. Stephan Picard. He then completed a master’s degree at the Carl Maria von Weber College of Music in Dresden under Prof. Natalia Prishepenko.

Edi Kotlyar is a versatile musician with a wide artistic range. As a member of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, he maintains an active international concert career. He also appears regularly in Germany and abroad as a member of the Protean Quartet. With these ensembles, he has recorded CDs for labels such as harmonia mundi, Pentatone, Linn Records, Naxos, and Eudora.

In addition, he performs regularly as concertmaster with the Barocksolisten München, Musica Sequanza, and Capella Memoria, and appears with the Geneva Camerata, ensemble reflektor, and the Berlin-based Lautten Compagney.

He is the recipient of numerous competition awards, including the first prize at the York Early Music Competition, second prize at the Berlin Bach Competition, and the audience prize at the Aviv Competition. He has also won several first prizes at national violin competitions in Israel.