A consummate musician recognized for her grace, subtlety and vitality, Orli Shaham has established an impressive international reputation as one of today’s most gifted pianists. Hailed by critics on four continents, Ms. Shaham is in demand for her prodigious skills and admired for her interpretations of both standard and modern repertoire. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently praised her “wit, passion, delicacy and humor” in a performance with the St. Louis Symphony, and London’s Guardian said Ms. Shaham’s playing was “perfection” during her recent Proms debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Orli Shaham has performed with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, St. Louis and San Francisco Symphonies, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic, Bilbao Symphony, Orchestra della Toscana, Orchestre National de Lyon, Taiwan Philharmonic, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. A frequent guest at summer festivals, she has performed at Ravinia, Verbier, Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Caramoor, and Spoleto.
Ms. Shaham has given recitals in North America, Europe and Asia at such renowned concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, and the Herkulessaal in Munich, and has worked with many eminent conductors including Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood, David Robertson, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leonard Slatkin, and Robert Spano, among others.
During the 2008-2009 season, Orli Shaham debuts with the Malaysian Philharmonic led by Claus Petr Flor and returns to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia. In the US, she performs with the St. Louis, San Antonio and Akron symphonies. Her recital schedule features visits to Cincinnati, St. Louis, and a special appearance at New York’s Carnegie Hall where she performs Brahms F minor piano sonata and the F-A-E Sonata with violinist Gil Shaham. In addition, Ms. Shaham serves as the 2008-2009 Chamber Music Essentials lecturer for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and curates and performs in the Pacific Symphony’s chamber music series in Costa Mesa, California.
Ms. Shaham’s recent highlights include her Proms debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall featuring Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety, and a performance of John Adams’ Century Rolls at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West, following successful performances in Saint Louis and Carnegie Hall. Ms. Shaham also appeared with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony under Robert Spano and gave a five-city tour with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. In early 2007, she made her Baltimore Symphony Orchestra debut under Jun Märkl in Olivier Messiaen’s avian fantasy Oiseaux exotiques reviewed by The Baltimore Sun: “Orli Shaham leapt fearlessly and brilliantly into the complex work, finding […] the stuff of rare, startling poetry.” She also performed Oiseaux exotiques at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, about which The New York Times said “the brilliant pianist Orli Shaham [played] the wildly difficult solo part.” Ms. Shaham also performed at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall with Gil Shaham as part of The Intimate Brahms, and played a six-concert series with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Driven by a passion to bring classical music to new audiences, Orli Shaham maintains an active parallel career as a respected broadcaster, music writer and lecturer. In 2005, she began a collaboration with Classical Public Radio Network as the host of “Dial-a-Musician,” a feature she created especially for the radio network. The concept of the program was to enhance listeners’ experiences of music and musicians. During the feature she directed listeners’ questions about classical music to fellow musicians –by literally dialing them up for the correct answer. Her program hosted over 60 guests including composer John Adams, pianists Emanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman, Emerson String Quartet violinist Philip Setzer and cellist David Finckel, and sopranos Natalie Dessay and Christine Brewer. Orli Shaham has taught music literature at Columbia University, and contributed articles to Piano Today, Symphony, and Playbill magazines.
In October 2002, Ms. Shaham was an artist-in-residence on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” where she participated in numerous interviews and solo performances. She has appeared on Robert Kapilow’s “What Makes it Great?” series in New York and Boston.
Orli Shaham and her older brother Gil have collaborated on several recordings including a Deutsche Grammophon recording entitled Dvorák for Two, and an all-Prokofiev disc The Prokofiev Album on Canary Classics, (“As fine a recording of the violin and piano music of Prokofiev as has ever been made by one of the finest violinist and pianist teams of the last ten years.” Barnes&Noble.com). Their most recent recording, Mozart in Paris, features Mozart Violin Sonatas, Opus 1 and is available on CD from Canary Classics and as a Euroarts DVD. When performing this recorded repertoire live, critics have praised the glorious “sibling revelry” (The Plain Dealer)—musical chemistry, nourished by shared family history and a comfortable give-and-take.
Orli Shaham was recognized early for her prodigious talents. She received her first scholarship for musical study from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation at age five to study with Luisa Yoffe at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. By age seven, she traveled to New York with her family to begin study with Nancy Stessin, and became a scholarship student of Herbert Stessin at The Juilliard School a year later. She has also won the Gilmore Young Artist Award and the Avery Fisher Career Grant, two prestigious prizes given to further the development of outstanding talent. In addition to her musical education, Orli Shaham holds a degree in history from Columbia University. Orli Shaham lives in New York and St. Louis with her husband, conductor David Robertson, stepsons Peter and Jonathan, and newborn twin sons Nathan and Alex.
