Shai Wosner

Pianist Shai Wosner has attracted international recognition for his exceptional artistry, musical integrity, and creative insight. His performances of a broad range of repertoire—from Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert to Ligeti and the music of today—reflect a degree of virtuosity and intellectual curiosity that has made him a favorite among audiences and critics, who note his “keen musical mind and deep musical soul” (NPR’s All Things Considered).

Recent and upcoming highlights include recitals and chamber music in Japan; a return to the Utah Symphony; performances of Mason Bates ’s Piano Concerto in Italy and of Vijay Iyer ’s Piano Concerto ‘Handmade Universe,’ written for Shai and ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra), with whom he has enjoyed a longstanding relationship. The concerto also marks his ongoing collaboration with Iyer, whose piece, Plinth, was part of Shai ’s multi-composer commissioning project ‘Variations on a Theme of FDR.’ Other performances of note include a program with the JACK Quartet at the newly-reopened Frick Collection in New York; the 3 Brahms Sonatas in Philadelphia and San Francisco, as well as a China tour, with Pinchas Zukerman; a U.S. tour with Joshua Bell; and chamber music with the Zukerman Trio.

In recent years, Shai ’s arrangements have gained widespread recognition. His chamber versions of various Beethoven Symphonies have been premiered and toured in the U.S. and Europe by Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos and Yo-Yo Ma and are available in GRAMMY-nominated recordings released by Sony Classical. Shai also recently toured the U.S. with Martin Fröst and Antoine Tamestit in a program that included many of his own arrangements made especially for the group.

Wosner has appeared with the major North American orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Berkeley, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, San Francisco, and Toronto, among others. He has performed abroad with the BBC orchestras, the Barcelona, Bournemouth, and Gothenburg Symphonies, LSO St. Luke ’s, Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Vienna Philharmonic, among others. His acclaimed recordings for Onyx Classics range from Schubert sonatas, to chamber works by Bartók and Kurtág, to concerti by Haydn and Ligeti.

Born in Israel, Shai studied piano with Opher Brayer and Emanuel Krasovsky, as well as composition, theory, and improvisation with André Hajdu. He later studied with Emanuel Ax at The Juilliard School, where he is now on the piano faculty. He is a recipient of Lincoln Center ’s Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.

For more information on Mr. Wosner, please visit his Facebook fan page, follow him on Instagram (@shaiwosner), and go to shaiwosner.com.