Lahav Shani

Born in Tel Aviv in 1989, Lahav Shani began piano lessons at the age of six. He later studied with Arie Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in his hometown and also trained as a double bassist; it was on this instrument that he gained his first professional experience, starting at the age of 16, as a member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He completed his studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, where he focused on 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. He has served since 2018 as Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, which he will lead until 2026. Since 2020, he has also been Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra — the first native-born Israeli to hold this position. Starting in 2026, he will take over as Principal 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 continues to be active as a pianist, giving recitals and conducting from the piano, including with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Filarmonica della Scala. Shani is also a keen chamber musician and has performed at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, in Verbier, and at the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival; he has performed in a piano duo with Martha Argerich. Shani’s discography documents his artistry as a conductor and a piano soloist. His most recent release, which appeared in spring 2025, features Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony and orchestral versions of his Songs Without Words 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.

April 2025