Music Director of the IPO Since 2020, Lahav Shani was born 1989 in Tel Aviv. He studied piano with Hannah Shalgi and Arie Vardi, continuing in Berlin where he studied conducting with Christian Ehwald and piano with Fabio Bidini. Lahav has performed as a soloist with many orchestras including the IPO with whom he has also played double bass. In 2018 he gave a solo piano recital in the Boulez Hall, Berlin. He is also a keen chamber music performer. Shani’s conducting career was launched in 2013 when he won First Prize at the Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg, followed by conducting appearances at short notice at both the Berlin Staatskapelle and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2017-2020 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and in 2018 was appointed the youngest ever Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Photo Marco Borggreve