Lahav Shani is the new chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic

Lahav Shani is the new chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic.

He will take office in 2026.

The Munich city council decided unanimously this Wednesday.

This makes the Israeli successor to Valery Gergiev.

Lahav Shani was born in Tel Aviv-Jaffa in January 1989 to a choral conductor's son.

As a guest of the Munich Philharmonic, he last stood at the podium in the Isarphilharmonie last September.

Now the 34-year-old will be the new chief conductor of the city orchestra and thus successor to Valery Gergiev.

As is well known, the contract of the 69-year-old Russian was terminated in March 2022, a few weeks after Russia attacked Ukraine.

Lahav Shani succeeds Valery Gergiev in the Philharmoniker

"Münchner Merkur" had already reported in its January 16 issue that the search for a successor was heading towards Lahav Shani.

(Read our report on Lahav Shani and the Munich Philharmonic here.) Last week it was announced that the city council would deal with the personnel issue at its meeting on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.

The search for a new head of the Philharmonic is now officially over: Munich's mayor Dieter Reiter, cultural advisor Anton Biebl, Philharmonic director Paul Müller and Alexandra Gruber, spokeswoman for the orchestra board of the Philharmonic, together with Shani, gave a press conference in the after the city council meeting City Hall Gallery.

Shani will take office in Munich in 2026;

the contract will initially run for five years.

Lahav Shani made his debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in 2016 as a conductor and solo pianist.

Almost two months later, he was appointed chief conductor from 2018 - at the age of 29, he was the youngest in this position in the history of the orchestra.

In the 2020/21 season he became chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, succeeding Zubin Mehta.

The close relationship between Shani and the legendary orchestra had developed over many years, since he made his debut there at the age of 16 - and has continued to play with the Israel Philharmonic ever since.

With the decision for Lahav Shani as the new chief conductor, the Munich Philharmonic is continuing its reinvention.

(Read the commentary by Markus Thiel, music editor of "Münchner Merkur", on Lahav Shani and the Munich Philharmonic here.)