Lahav Shani

Lahav Shani (; born 7 January 1989) is an Israeli conductor and pianist. Biography Shani was born in Tel Aviv, the son of Michael Shani, a choral conductor. He began piano lessons at age 6 with Hannah Shalgi. He continued his piano studies from Arie Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv. He subsequently studied double bass with Teddy Kling, the former principal bassist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Shani continued further music studies at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin, where his teachers included Christian Ehwald (orchestral conducting) and Fabio Bidini (piano). Daniel Barenboim has served as a conducting mentor for Shani. Shani first appeared as a guest pianist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007. In 2010, Zubin Mehta engaged Shani as pianist and assistant conductor for a tour with the Israel Philharmonic. With the Israel Philharmonic, Shani conducted the Israel Philharmonic's opening season concerts in 2013. He has returned each year subsequently as a guest conductor with the orchestra. Shani won first prize at the 2013 International Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition. In May 2015, he first guest-conducted the Vienna Symphony. In November 2015, he made his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic, as both conductor and pianist, as an emergency substitute for Franz Welser-Möst. In January 2016, the Vienna Symphony announced the appointment of Shani as its next principal guest conductor, as of the 2017–2018 season.