If someone is good enough, then he is also old enough. This motto could easily apply to the meteoric success of 27-year old conductor, Lahav Shani - who was recently chosen to become chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra beginning in 2018. He will succeed no less than Yannick Nezet-Seguin, who will leave the position for the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Lahav Shani began his musical studies with piano at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv. In 2009, he took up conducting studies with Christian Ehwald at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin. Daniel Barenboim has recently taken him under his wing, and Shani must have picked up some of his famous mentor’s self-confidence in the process. Lahav Shani quickly made a name for himself as an extremely talented substitute with nerves of steel. In June 2014 Shani made a sensational debut with the Berliner Staatskapelle, when he replaced conductor Michael Gielen in concerts at the Berliner Konzerthaus and at the Philharmonie. And he replaced the indisposed Franz Welser-Most at short notice for concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the Musikverein in December 2015. Among other things, he conducted Bach’s Piano Concerto in D minor from the piano. Invitations from leading international orchestras rained down on him in the wake of that event. During the 2016–2017 season, Shani led numerous major orchestras, including the Dresden Staatskapelle, Zurich Tonhalle Orchester, Philharmonia Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

Shani`s relationship with the Wiener Symphoniker also began when he stepped in for Santtu-Matias Rouvali during a brief 2015 summer tour with star violinist, David Garrett. It became clear at this point that the famous “chemistry” was right. Naming him Principal Guest Conductor was the logical next step - even if the decision raised a few eyebrows because of his age. Any holdouts will have plenty of time to change their minds over the course of ten concerts with the Wiener Symphoniker in the coming season.