©Photo: Chris Lee

Gil Shaham

Violin

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“Gil Shaham’s performance of the Bach Partita No. 2 may have brought his audience to its feet roaring with pleasure, but it was the subtlety of the rest of the program that spoke most eloquently.”
(Washington Post)

Gil Shaham is one of the foremost violinists of our time; his flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master. The Grammy Award-winner, also named Musical America’s ‘Instrumentalist of the Year,’ is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with ensembles on the world’s great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals.

Highlights of recent years include the acclaimed recording and performances of Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin. In the coming seasons, in addition to championing these solo works, he will join his long time duo partner pianist Akira Eguchi in recitals throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

Appearances with orchestras regularly include Berliner Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and San Francisco Symphony, as well as multi-year residencies with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and Singapore Symphony Orchestra. With orchestras, Mr. Shaham continues his exploration of Violin Concertos of the 1930s, including the works of Barber, Bartók, Berg, Korngold, Prokofiev, among many others.

Mr. Shaham has more than two dozen concerto and solo CDs to his name, earning multiple Grammys, a Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Many of these recordings appear on Canary Classics, the label he founded in 2004. His CDs include 1930s Violin Concertos, Virtuoso Violin Works, Elgar’s Violin Concerto, Hebrew Melodies, The Butterfly Lovers and many more. His most recent recording in the series 1930s Violin Concertos Vol.2, including Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto and Bartók’s Violin Concerto No.2, was nominated for a Grammy Award. His latest recording of Beethoven and Brahms Concertos with The Knights was released in 2021 also nominated for a Grammy.

Mr. Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1971. He moved with his parents to Israel, where he began violin studies with Samuel Bernstein of the Rubin Academy of Music at the age of 7, receiving annual scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In 1981, he made debuts with Jerusalem Symphony and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras, and the following year, took the first prize in Israel’s Claremont Competition. He then became a scholarship student at Juilliard and also studied at Columbia University.

Gil Shaham was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990, and in 2008 he received the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. In 2012, he was named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America. He plays the 1699 ‘Countess Polignac’ Stradivarius and performs on an Antonio Stradivari violin, Cremona c1719, with the assistance of Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative. He lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Adele Anthony, and their three children.

HarrisonParrott represents Gil Shaham in the UK

Gallery

“Gil Shaham drew on a range of colour, from lustrous to sweet-toned to fashion a first movement of aristocratic poise, balanced by an abundance of orchestral sensitivity”

(Classical Source, April 18)

“The Finale kicked off like a fire-cracker and Shaham demonstrated effortless impeccability – double-stops, pizzicati, trills, whatever Tchaikovsky throws at the soloist was despatched with nimbleness and mellifluousness. No wonder, with so many obvious aficionados present, that this performance was greeted with a standing ovation.”

(Seen and Heard International, June 2016)

“The [Britten] Concerto’s disturbingly ambiguous last minutes are played with great intensity both by Shaham and a notably refined Boston Symphony under Juanjo Mena. This should be considered one of the finest versions currently available.”

(Rob Cowan, Gramophone, April 2014)

“His virtuosity is breathtaking and he has the fiery temperament that gives Sarasate’s music an authentic Spanish zing.”

(The Telegraph, January 2010)

“Shaham’s playing is impeccable – every attack is perfectly clean, the articulation crystal clear.”

(The Guardian, January 2010)

“The hallmark of this performance became that breathtaking depth of tone which Shaham seems alone in being able to generate. Rarely have I heard the fugue in this Sonata sound so solemn as it did here.”

(Musicweb-international, November 2009)