Lahav Shani

Lahav Shani took over from Yannick Nézet-Séguin as chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2018/19 season, becoming the youngest conductor to hold the position in the Orchestra’s history. During his first season, Lahav Shani conducted the Orchestra throughout Europe, as well as in China and Taiwan. Together, they have an exclusive contract with Warner Classics.

During the 2020/21 season he became music director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, taking over from Zubin Mehta. From 2017 until the summer of 2020, Lahav Shani was also principal guest conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1989, Lahav Shani began studying the piano aged six with Hannah Shalgi, before continuing his studies with Arie Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music. He went on to study conducting under Christian Ehwald and piano with Fabio Bidini at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and was mentored by Daniel Barenboim.

His relationship with the Israel Philharmonic began when he made his debut aged 16. Two years later, he performed Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto under Zubin Mehta. He went on to play regularly with the Orchestra as a double bassist. In 2013, having won the Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition in Bamberg, the Israel Philharmonic invited him to conduct the opening concert of its season and he has since returned every year as both conductor and pianist.

Lahav Shani works regularly with the Staatskapelle Berlin in concert and at the Berlin State Opera. Other recent and forthcoming engagements include the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio, London and Boston Symphony Orchestras, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

His solo piano appearances during the 2019/20 season include the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Valery Gergiev and the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim. He has play-directed piano concertos with many orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He is also an experienced chamber musician and recitalist and performs regularly at the Verbier Festival, as well as appearing at the Easter Festival in Aix and the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival.