Lahav Shani

Born in Tel Aviv in 1989, Lahav Shani began piano lessons at 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 at 16 as a member of the Israel Phil­harmonic Orchestra. He completed his studies at the Hanns Eisler School 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, heralding the start of his international career. He served as Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 2018 to the summer of 2026. He has also been Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra since 2020 — the first native-born Israeli to hold this position. At the start of the ­2026-27 season, he will take over leadership of the Munich Philharmonic. 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 performing under conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, and Gianandrea Noseda, as well as directing ensembles from the keyboard including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Filarmonica della Scala. A keen chamber musician, he has appeared at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, in Verbier, and at the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival; he has also performed in a piano duo with Martha Argerich. Shani’s discography reflects his work both as a conductor and as a pianist; his most recent ­release, issued in May 2026, features Dvořák’s Symphony From the New World with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Lucerne Festival debut on 7 September 2019 with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in a program of works by Bruch and Bruckner; last appearance here was on 11 September 2025, when he led the Munich Philharmonic in music by Beethoven, Schubert, and Wagner.

August 2026