2023-2024 Season Biography
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Orli Shaham
Photo by Karjaka Studio

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, in demand for her prodigious skills and admired for her interpretations of both standard and modern repertoire. The New York Times called her a "brilliant pianist" and The Chicago Tribune referred to her as “a first-rate Mozartean.” She has performed with most of the major orchestras in the United States and with many ensembles across five continents, given recitals on stages from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House and appeared at music festivals around the world.

Highlights of Ms. Shaham’s 2023-2024 concert season include the West Coast premiere of Light Forming, a concerto written for her by David Robertson, with the Seattle Symphony; a German tour with Brandenburg State Orchestra, appearances with Virginia Symphony, Monterey Symphony, and Rhode Island Philharmonic, and chamber music performances in Naples and in Vancouver (WA), where she is Artist-in-Residence with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA.

Ms. Shaham continues to serve as the Artistic Director, host and featured performer for Pacific Symphony’s chamber music series in Costa Mesa, California, a position she has held since 2007. She is also Artistic Director for the interactive children's concert series, Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010.

In 2024, Orli Shaham released the final two volumes of the complete piano sonatas by Mozart. The entire sonata cycle, as well as a recording of Mozart’s Piano Concertos K.453 and K.491 with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra received high critical acclaim. Her discography also includes a dozen titles on Deutsche Gramophone, Sony, Canary Classics and other labels. In 2023, she gave a master class on the digital platform Tonebase centered around the Mozart sonatas, and a live online discussion and demonstration about Clara Schumann.

Ms. Shaham is on faculty at The Juilliard School, and served on the juries of both the Cliburn and Honens International Piano Competitions in 2022. She is a major presence on public radio coast to coast: she is Co-Host and Creative for NPR’s “From the Top”, and was host of “America’s Music Festivals,” and "Dial-a-Musician," a radio feature series she created, all of which were broadcast nationally.

In addition to her musical education at the Juilliard School, Orli Shaham holds a bachelor's degree in history from Columbia University and pursued a master's degree in musicology from Columbia. She is winner of the Gilmore Young Artist Award and the Avery Fisher Career Grant, and is a member of the board of trustees of Kaufman Music Center, serving as chair of the board through 2023.

Orli Shaham has been a Steinway Artist since 2003.

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