Lior Shambadal
Israeli conductor Lior Shambadal maintains an active career as both an artistic leader and guest artist throughout Europe, Asia, Israel, and South America. He currently serves as the Chief Conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra (Berliner Symphoniker), a post he has held since 1997. During his tenure, Maestro Shambadal has led more than 150 concerts at the famed Berlin Philharmonie as well as many open-air concerts at the Gendarmenmarkt and the Kulturbrauerei. He has also conducted the orchestra in hundreds of performances on tour in Japan, China, Korea, Italy, Spain, Ireland, England, France, and Germany. In 2009, he was named Music Director of the Orchestre Filarmonica de Bogota (OFB), Colombia, with whom he toured China and Italy in 2009/10.
Since 2008 Maestro Shambadal has been the Principal Guest Conductor of the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra in Latvia as well as Principal Guest Conductor of the Chengdu Symphony Orchestra of the Central Music Conservatory in the Sichuan province of China. In addition, he works regularly with the Festival of San Gemini in Italy, where he serves as permanent member of the artistic committee and leads masterclasses for conductors and orchestra training sessions and, since 2007, he has appeared annually as a guest artist for the orchestra training program at The Banff Centre in Canada.
Maestro Shambadal has appeared with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, WDR Cologne Radio Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, NDR Radio Symphony Orchestra Hannover, Brandenburg Staats Philharmonie, Frankfurt/Oder, Augsburg Symphony Orchestra, Aachen Symphony Orchestra DR Danish Radio Chamber Orchestra, Dutch Radio Symphony
Orchestra, Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, Royal Flandern Philharmonic, Antwerpen, Oulu Symphony Orchestra, Finland. Orchestre Philharmonic of Montpellier, France, Orchestre Philharmonic du Strasburgh, Arts Academy-Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma and Lazio, Orchestra Sinfonica di San Remo, Orchestra Sinfonica di Lecce, San Marco Symphony Orchestra, Veneto, NÖ Tonkünstler Orchestra, Vienna, Wiener Konzert Verein, Innsbruck Symphony Orchestra, Baden Chamber Orchestra. Orchesre de la Suisse Romande Bucharest Radio Orchestra, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Serbia,Cracow Philharmonic, Poland, Lisbon, Metropolitan Orchestra, Ermitage Chamber Orchestra, St. Petersburg, Irkutsk Symphony Orchestra, Russia. Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Shen Zhen Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra, Macao Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Korea, UNAM Symphony Orchestra, Mexico City, National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Symphony Orchestra of Teatro Cologne, Buenos Aires, Mendoza UNCYU Symphony Orchestra, Brasil Philharmonic, Rio de Janeiro, Orchestra Sinfonica Brasilera, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia Symphony Orchestra, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Ankara, Turkey. Bursa Symphony Orchestra Turkey. Orchestra of the Denver festival, Boulder, USA, Orchestra of Monadnock festival, Maine, USA, and many others.
From 2000-2003, Maestro Shambadal served as the Chief Conductor of the RTV Symphony Orchestra in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and toured with them Germany, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. In 1980, Maestro Shambadal was nominated Chief Conductor of the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, and from 1986-1993, he led the Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra in Tel Aviv, with whom he regularly toured Europe. He was the founder of the ensemble Musica Nova in Tel Aviv, and led the Mendelssohn Players in Berlin, comprised of principal players of the city's most renowned orchestras.
Maestro Shambadal's opera repertoire includes over 40 works of the German, Italian, French, Russian and English literature as well as several world premieres, including Franz Hummel's "Gesualdo" and Magret Wolf's "Kirisk," after a libretto by D. Aitmatow. From 1993-2000, he served as Music Director of the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern, Germany, where he led more than 600 performances, including the inaugural concerts of the new theater. He has also appeared with Ontario Opera in Canada and led opera productions in Israel (New Israeli Opera and Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra opera productions). He has undertaken several special opera projects as well, including Glinka's "Life for the Tzar," in collaboration with Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, and a new version of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Mozart and Salieri" (with added works of the two title composers) that he constructed, conducted, staged, and designed (set and costumes).
Maestro Shambadal regularly gives master classes throughout the world in conducting as well as in lieder interpretation for singers and orchestra. Committed to the support of young artists, he also funds annual scholarships in honor of his late relatives, violist Daniel Benyamini (former Principal Violist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and member of the Tel Aviv Quartet) and Mishel Piastro (former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic and assistant conductor to Arturo Toscanini) and is responsible for the selection of the annual IBM Foundation-sponsored scholarship prize every year in San Gemini.
Shambadal was born in Tel Aviv where he studied viola, trombone, composition (with Sergiu Natra) and conducting. His studies took him to the Mozarteum in Salzburg where he worked with Carl Melles. After moving to Vienna, Shambadal was tutored by acclaimed conductors, such as Hans Swarowsky, Carlo Mario Giulini, Igor Merkevitch, Sergiu Celibidache and Franco Ferrara. He later expanded his studies in other areas, such as electronic music and composition, under the tutelage of Witold Lutoslawski and Henri Dutilleaux (in France), and Musical Phenomenology at the Faculty of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. A prolific composer whose musical range includes chamber music, song writing, and symphonic orchestra pieces, his works have been commissioned by several orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic. An extensive list of Maestro Shambadal's recordings and television appearances can be found on his website.
