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Orli Shaham

About this Artist

A consummate musician recognized for her grace, subtlety, and brilliance, Orli Shaham has established an impressive international reputation as one of today’s most gifted pianists. Hailed by critics on four continents, the artist is in demand for her prodigious skills and admired for her interpretations of both standard and modern piano repertoire. The New York Times called her a “brilliant pianist,” The Chicago Tribune recently referred to her as “a first-rate Mozartean” in a performance with the Chicago Symphony, and The Guardian described her playing at the Proms as “perfection.”

Orli Shaham has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, and Utah symphony orchestras; and internationally with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bilbao Symphony, Filarmonica della Scala, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra della Toscana, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Stockholm Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Taiwan Philharmonic. A frequent guest at summer festivals, she has performed at Aspen, Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Bravo! Vail, Caramoor, La Jolla, Mostly Mozart, Music Academy of the West, Ravinia, Spoleto, Sun Valley, Tanglewood, and Verbier music festivals.

Shaham has given recitals at renowned concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Chicago’s Symphony Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, and the Sydney Opera House, and has worked with many eminent conductors including Neville Marriner, Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood, David Robertson, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, Hans Graf, and Jacques Lacombe, among others. In performance, she has collaborated with the pianists Emanuel Ax, Joseph Kalichstein, Jon Kimura Parker, and Marc-Andre Hamelin, the cellist Lynn Harrell, the violinists Gil Shaham (her brother) and Phillip Setzer, and the sopranos Christine Brewer and Michelle DeYoung, among many others.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth over the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, Shaham joins the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic, China NCPA Orchestra, Bochumer Symphoniker, Dallas Symphony, and San Diego Symphony for performances of Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety. Other concerto highlights of the 2018/19 season include performances with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, and John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (conducted by the composer). She continues to serve as the Artistic Director for Pacific Symphony’s chamber music series in Costa Mesa, a position she has held since 2007.

In addition to her activities on stage, Shaham gives frequent master classes and has served on the jury of numerous piano competitions, including the Cliburn International Junior, New York International, Sydney International, and Virginia Waring International piano competitions. Baby Got Bach, the interactive concert series for young children which Shaham launched in 2010 to immediate acclaim, is recognized by parents, media, and the music community as a significant force in music education and entertainment for preschoolers.