Lahav Shani

Born in Tel Aviv in 1989, Lahav Shani received his first piano lessons at the age of six. He later studied with Arie Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in his native city and also trained as a double bass player; it was on this instrument that he gained his first professional experience with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 16. He completed his training at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, where he studied conducting with Christian Ehwald and piano with Fabio Bidini. During this time, Daniel Barenboim became his mentor. In 2013, Shani won the Mahler Competition in Bamberg, which launched his international career. Since 2018 he has been Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, which he will lead until 2026. He has been Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra since 2020 and is the first native Israeli to hold this position. Starting in 2026, he will take over as Chief Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Shani has conducted the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras; the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; the Staatskapelle Dresden; the London, Boston, and Chicago Symphony Orchestras; the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; the Orchestre de Paris; and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is also still active as a pianist, giving recitals and conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Filarmonica della Scala from the keyboard. Lahav Shani is moreover a passionate chamber musician and has performed at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, in Verbier, and at the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival; he has also performed as a piano duo with Martha Argerich. He has released a recording of piano trios by Tchaikovsky and Dvořák with Renaud Capuçon and Kian Soltani. His most recent recording, which appeared in May 2024, is of Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Lucerne Festival debut on 7 September 2019 conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic in Bruch’s First Violin Concerto and Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony.

July 2024