Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Praised for his exhilarating approach and energetic leadership by musicians and audiences alike, Dima Slobodeniouk has become one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation.

Slobodeniouk works with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Concertgebouworkest and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Last season, he was praised for giving “one of the most auspicious New York Philharmonic debuts of recent years” by the New York Times.

In the 2022/23 season, Dima Slobodeniouk has been invited to make his debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker and Danish National Symphony Orchestra. This season also sees him return to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, SWR Symphonieorchester, Minnesota Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Further highlights of the current season include re-invitations to the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester and special returns to the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, whose Music Director he was until 2022.  

Soloists Slobodeniouk has worked with include Leif Ove Andsnes, Khatia Buniatishvili, Seong-Jin Cho, Isabelle Faust, Kirill Gerstein, Barbara Hannigan, Håkan Hardenberger, Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Beatrice Rana, Baiba Skride, Yuja Wang and Frank Peter Zimmermann. 

Known for his musical expertise and interpretive depth, Slobodeniouk is also an acclaimed recording artist, with recent notable recordings of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Nicolas Altstaedt on Alpha, and an album of music inspired by the Finnish folk epic, the Kalevala, on BIS. Other releases on the BIS label include the works of Kalevi Aho with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, which won the 2018 BBC Music Magazine Award, a later disc of Aho's "Sieidi" and his Fifth Symphony as well as concert suites of Sergei Prokofiev's opera "The Gambler" and the ballet "The Tale of the Stone Flower" with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. For the Ondine label, Dima Slobodeniouk recorded works by Perttu Haapanen and Lotta Wennäkoski with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Moscow, Dima Slobodeniouk studied violin at the Moscow Central Music School with Zinaida Gilels and Jevgenuia Chugajev. He continued his studies with the Ukrainian violinist Olga Parkhomenko at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, where he graduated in 2001. It was there that he also took up his conducting studies with Leif Segerstam, Jorma Panula, Atso Almila, Ilya Musin and Esa-Pekka Salonen. A passionate believer in widening opportunity, he started a conducting initiative whilst at the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, giving aspiring conductors podium time with a professional orchestra and the opportunity to work with Slobodeniouk on selected repertoire.

Slobodeniouk was Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia from 2013 to 2022, Principal Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra from 2016 to 2021, as well as the Artistic Director of the Sibelius Festival.

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 J.S. 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 orchestra regularly include the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and San Francisco Symphony as well as multi-year residencies with the Orchestras of Montreal, Stuttgart and Singapore. With orchestra, Mr. Shaham continues his exploration of “Violin Concertos of the 1930s,” including the works of Barber, Bartok, 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 Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2, was nominated for a Grammy Award. He will release a new recording of Beethoven and Brahms Concertos with The Knights in 2020.

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 the Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic, 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 lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Adele Anthony, and their three children.