Gil Shaham

Gil Shaham (born February 19, 1971) is an award-winning violinist of Israeli descent. Born in Urbana, Illinois, he moved to Israel at the age of 2 with his parents, both scientists, Jacob Shaham^[1] and Meira Diskin. At age 10, he made debuts with the Jerusalem Symphony and Israel Philharmonic orchestras, and was admitted to Juilliard, where he studied with the famed Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. Both he and his sister, the pianist Orli Shaham, attended Columbia University.

Shaham's career took off in 1989 when he was called to replace an ailing Itzhak Perlman for a series of concerts with Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra. Flying to London on a day's notice, he played both the Bruch and the Sibelius Concertos to glowing reviews.

Since then Shaham has established himself as a leading virtuoso. He has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras, among them are the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. He has recorded more than 20 CDs on Deutsche Grammophon label, as well as two albums of Prokoviev and Faure for the Vanguard Label, also a record of Beethoven's Triple Concerto and Septet with David Zinman, Truls Mørk and Yefim Bronfman for Arte Nova. His recent recording with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra playing the Chen Gang & He Zhanhao's "Butterfly Lovers Concerto" and Tchaikovsky's Concerto in D will be released in the near future. In 1990 he received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Shaham plays a Stradivarius violin from the "long pattern" period, the "Comtesse de Polignac" of 1699.

Shaham is married to the violinist Adele Anthony. They have two children, Elijah (born 2002) and Ella Mei (born 2005).

Avery Fisher Career Grant (1990)

Andre Previn & Gil Shaham for American Scenes (Works of Copland, Previn, Barber, Gershwin) (1999)

Searching reference...