Orli Shaham

Praise for Orli Shaham's Complete Mozart Piano Sonatas

The internationally renowned concert pianist Orli Shaham released the final two volumes of her multi-year endeavor of recording all of Mozart’s piano sonatas in February 2024. Volumes 5 & 6 of "Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas" (Canary Classics CC24) is available on CD and on digital streaming and download platforms. The complete box set with all six volumes will be released in spring 2024. 

The set has been incredibly well received across North America, Europe and the United Kingdom. Here’s what the critics are saying:  

“A top-tier and consistently satisfying Mozart cycle.” – International Piano  

“a significant recording achievement for Mozarteans ... brilliantly handled ... it is time to mark this as one of the significant releases in the Mozart discography and now one can even listen through all the sonatas in chronological order, though the pairings throughout the series have been intelligently determined and help each sonata stand on its own well. Highly Recommended!" – Cinemusical 

"Shaham’s artistry... easily holds its own alongside some of my favourite modern-day Mozart sonata cycles" - Gramophone 

“Shaham avoids the common pitfall of painting Mozart's portrait as a dainty child prodigy, and instead brings out his free and youthful spirit, an essential feature of his melodic lines. ... Under her hands, this is not simply the music of cute little powdered-wig Wolfgang, but the music of a master of the keyboard who knew exactly how to make the piano sing and dance.” – Classical Music Sentinel 

"a remarkable set" - Classical Candor 

Visit OrliShaham-Mozart.com for streaming audio, liner notes, purchase links and critical acclaim.  

Orli Shaham interview on WWFM's "A Tempo"

Pianist Orli Shaham released the final volumes of her 6-disc recording cycle of Mozart’s complete piano sonatas in February 2024. In a recent interview with WWFM’s Rachel Katz, Shaham speaks about the recording project, Mozart’s longevity, championing women composers, and commissioning new works. Below are some excerpts from the interview.  

To listen to the full 30-minute interview “Finding Tradition and Cutting Edge in Mozart,” stream the program at WWFM.org 

On Mozart:  

I spent a lot of time in my formative years studying historical musicology, especially with the wonderful Mozart scholar Elaine Sisman at Columbia University. It's something that one talks about with music of the Enlightenment and the logical distinctions between ideas that was so important at the time. Mozart’s sonatas were used as teaching tools to show not only how to play a sonata, but also how to decorate and embellish a sonata, as any good pianist was expected to be able to do on the spot.  

They really span his adult life, the piano sonatas. It's a wonderful way to look at Mozart’s entire development as a mature composer. He also had the incredible experience of living in a time that was the most exciting moment for keyboard instruments. The instruments couldn't possibly have been changing more. The invention of a pedal that you don't have to whack with your knees completely changed how he could sit at the keyboard, the kinds of sounds he could make, and the imagination that he could pour into it. He was clearly so inspired by these changes.  

On commissioning new works:  

I'm always thinking about the next project I'm doing with a living composer, and the next project I'm doing with a no longer living composer. This season I'm playing a new piano concerto which my husband, conductor David Robertson, wrote for me. I've also been working a lot with the composer Karen Tanaka. We premiered a piece of hers at Juilliard Pre-College last year, and I'm premiering another work of hers in April 2024.  

I really think the composers should be as free as possible to be creative and come up with whatever makes their heart excited. It's very important for a composer to write what they love, and so you get to know their writing. Once that happens, you have some idea that you can trust them, but you never know what's going to come out. 

On Clara Schumann and other overlooked composers:  

In the last couple of years, I've become obsessed with Clara Schumann, a woman not only worthy of our admiration, but also worthy of great study. She is a special, influential person in the whole of music history. She shaped at least two generations of pianists, and had a teaching legacy that lasted into a very, very long old age. As many as a third of Europe's pianists came to study with her. It's an enormous legacy for piano and pianism and how to interpret music at the instrument.  

In conjunction with these Clara Schumann-based programs, over the pandemic I discovered Amanda Röntgen-Maier. She composed a number of incredible chamber works, including a violin sonata, which I just think is the cat's pajamas. I'm thrilled that every violinist I have played it with says, “Where has this piece been all my life?” They're all putting it into their repertoire permanently. How wonderful for us that we live in a time when we can discover these overlooked composers. 

Listen to the full interview at wwfm.org 

Pianist Orli Shaham: "insightful and perspicacious"

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Pianist Orli Shaham releases final volumes of
"Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas"

Volumes 5 & 6 include Sonatas K.309, K.311, K.330, K.457 and K.533/494

Digital release: February 9, 2024
Physical release: February 23, 2024
on Canary Classics

"insightful and perspicacious playing" 
— Classical Music Sentinel

The internationally-renowned concert pianist Orli Shaham is wrapping up her multi-year endeavor of recording all of Mozart’s piano sonatas. Volumes 5/6 of Orli Shaham's "Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas" (Canary Classics CC24) is released on CD February 23, 2024. The digital album is currently available for download and streaming. The complete box set with all six volumes will be released this spring.

Preparing to record the sonatas inspired Shaham to keep in mind where Mozart was when he wrote each of them. Whether it was Munich or Paris or Salzburg, she said in the album's liner notes written by Donald Rosenberg, “Was he trying out that piano? Was he writing for someone’s daughters? I want that something from every single one of them.”

"Mozart is both subtle and daring in his distinctive handling of materials," writes Rosenberg. "And to Shaham, there’s more. 'He’s also experimenting with audience manipulation—with the things he sets up beautifully and fulfills, how he thwarts your expectations. I do see through these sonatas that you the listener or amateur pianist—you were on his mind. In his letters, ‘you’ means whatever your level of musical training.'"

Critics call Shaham "an intelligent and sensitive guide" for this music. For a digital or physical copy of Volumes 5/6 or any of the previously released discs, contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com.

“A top-tier and consistently satisfying Mozart cycle.”
International Piano


Pianist Orli Shaham
Mozart Piano Sonatas
Volumes 5 & 6

K.309 ● K.311 ● K.330
K.457 ● K.533/494

Canary Classics CC24
Digital release: February 9, 2024
Physical release: February 23, 2024
UPC: 5 060133 300144

TRACK LIST

Volume 5 (Total time 65:11)
1–3 Piano Sonata in C Major, No. 7, K.309
4–6 Piano Sonata in D Major, No. 8, K.311
7–9 Piano Sonata in C Major, No. 10, K.330

Volume 6 (Total time 53:05)
1–3 Piano Sonata in C minor, No. 14, K.457
4–6 Piano Sonata in F Major, No. 15, K.533/494


Hailed as “a first-rate Mozartean” by Chicago Tribune, Orli Shaham has established an international reputation as one of today's most gifted pianists.

Orli Shaham has performed with many of the major orchestras around the world, and has appeared in recital from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. She is Artistic Director of Pacific Symphony’s chamber series Café Ludwig in Costa Mesa, California and Artistic Director of the interactive children's concert series, Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010. She has served on the juries of both the Cliburn and Honens International Piano Competitions.

In 2024, Ms. Shaham releases Volumes 5 and 6, the final volumes of "Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas". Her Mozart recording project also includes Piano Concertos with St. Louis Symphony, all of which are part of her discography of over a dozen titles on Canary Classics, Deutsche Gramophone, Albany Records, SFS Media and more.

Orli Shaham is a Co-Host and Creative for the national radio program From the Top. She is on the piano and chamber music faculty at The Juilliard School and is chair of the board of trustees at Kaufman Music Center in New York. 

The timely significance of Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2

On Wednesday, December 13, 2023, the pianist Orli Shaham joins members of the Vancouver Symphony (USA) for a concert of chamber music at the First Presbyterian Church in Vancouver, WA. Ms. Shaham, the Artist-in-Residence at the VSO has programmed works by Mozart and Poulenc alongside the Piano Trio No. 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Orli Shaham tells us how this program is especially relevant as awareness of anti-Semitism around the globe is acutely heightened. She writes:

In Shostakovich’s memoir, Testimony, the composer condemned anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union and said this about Jewish music:

I think, if we speak of musical impressions, that Jewish folk music has made a most powerful impression on me. I never tire of delighting in it; it’s multifaceted; it can appear to be happy, while it is tragic. It’s almost always laughter through tears. This quality of Jewish music is close to my ideas of what music should be. There should always be two layers in music. Jews were tormented for so long that they learned to hide their despair. They expressed despair in dance music. All folk music is lovely, but I can say that Jewish folk music is unique.

Ian MacDonald, in his biography The New Shostakovich, wrote: “Horrified by stories that SS guards had made their victims dance beside their own graves, Shostakovich created a directly programmatic image of it in the Trio's final movement.”

“I can't think of a more appropriate work for the current moment,” says Orli Shaham. “Please join us for a performance of Shostakovich's Second Trio, Poulenc's remarkable Sextet and Mozart's breathtaking and tragic Sonata in E minor for violin and piano this Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church in Vancouver, WA with the wonderful members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.” Details and tickets

Out now: Orli Shaham's Mozart Sonatas Vol. 4

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Pianist Orli Shaham releases volume 4 of the Complete Mozart Piano Sonatas

Sonatas K.279, K.280 & K.284 are out June 2, 2023 on Canary Classics

“One can now only wait with bated breath as Miss Shaham works her way towards completing her extraordinary exposition of Mozart’s piano sonatas.” — World Music Report

The internationally-renowned concert pianist Orli Shaham is deep into a multi-year endeavor of recording all of Mozart’s piano sonatas. On Friday, June 2, 2023, Shaham releases Volume 4 of "Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas" on Canary Classics (CC23) on CD and via all major streaming and download services. The remaining volumes of the six-disc set are due to be released next season.

"As a young musician, Mozart traveled widely and — like any good traveling salesman — needed samples to show off to prospective patrons. So, during a journey to Munich in 1774–1775, he wrote six “calling cards” to play at the homes of potential benefactors," writes Orli Shaham with Peter Dahm Robertson in the liner notes.

Three of these calling cards — the sonatas K.280, K.279, and K.284 — are on Volume 4 of Orli Shaham's Complete Piano Sonatas by Mozart. These works also demonstrate Mozart's exploration of new technology. "He would often write for new instruments, and on a standard keyboard expand the range of sounds he could create," continues Ms. Shaham. "On Sonata in F, K.280 he explores drawing people in with pauses; in Sonata in C, K.279 he writes a theme that isn't really a melody; and in K.284 “Dürnitz” he tries a final movement of variations, instead of a traditional rondo."

Critics call Shaham "an intelligent and sensitive guide" for this music. For a digital or physical copy of Volume 4 or any of the previously released discs, contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com.

“The stylish intelligence and pianistic refinement distinguishing the first volume ... continues" — Gramophone

Pianist Orli Shaham
Mozart Piano Sonatas Vol.4
K.279 ● K.280 ● K.284

Canary Classics CC23
Release date: June 2, 2023

TRACK LIST

Piano Sonata in F Major, No. 2, K.280 19:20
[01] I. Allegro assai 06:41
[02] II. Adagio 08:06
[03] III. Presto 04:25

Piano Sonata in C Major, No. 1, K.279 20:26
[04] I. Allegro 07:13
[05] II. Andante 08:04
[06] III. Allegro 05:03

Piano Sonata in D Major, No. 6, K.284, “Dürnitz” 30:13
[07] I. Allegro 08:03
[08] II. Rondeau en Polonaise: Andante 04:50
[09] III. Tema con variazone 17:14

Hailed as “a first-rate Mozartean” by Chicago Tribune, Orli Shaham has established an international reputation as one of today's most gifted pianists.

Orli Shaham has performed with many of the major orchestras around the world, and has appeared in recital from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. She is Artistic Director of Pacific Symphony’s chamber series Café Ludwig in Costa Mesa, California and Artistic Director of the interactive children's concert series, Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010.

In 2023, Ms. Shaham releases Volume 4 of the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas. Her Mozart recording project also includes Volumes 1, 2 and 3 of the Piano Sonatas and her album of Piano Concertos with St. Louis Symphony, all of which are part of her discography of a over a dozen titles on Canary Classics, Deutsche Gramophone, Albany Records, SFS Media and more.

Orli Shaham is a Co-Host and Creative for the national radio program From the Top. She is on the piano and chamber music faculty at The Juilliard School and is chair of the board of trustees at Kaufman Music Center in New York. In 2022, Orli Shaham served on the juries of both the Cliburn and Honens International Piano Competitions.

May 26: Pianist Orli Shaham and Violinist Deborah Buck at Bargemusic

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Pianist Orli Shaham and violinist Deborah Buck bring Clara Schumann's legacy to Bargemusic

Concert on May 26 includes music by Clara and Robert Schumann, Amanda Maier, Jessie Montgomery, Johannes Brahms, and Avner Dorman

On May 26 at 7 pm pianist Orli Shaham joins violinist Deborah Buck to celebrate Clara Schumann's legacy at Bargemusic in Brooklyn (1 Water Street). In addition to works by Clara and Robert Schumann, the program extends to the couple's circle of friends, with music by Amanda Maier and Johannes Brahms featured alongside contemporary works from Jessie Montgomery and Avner Dorman.

Clara Schumann was an inspiration to generations of composers and performers for her artistry and fierce personal perseverance. Celebrating her legacy, Buck and Shaham perform works by Schumann and her contemporaries, including violin sonatas by her husband Robert and friend Amanda Maier, alongside Brahms' Intermezzo No. 1 for piano solo. The duo rounds out the program with Avner Dorman's Intermezzo No. 2 for piano solo "After Brahms", and Jessie Montgomery's Rhapsody No. 1 for solo violin.

Tickets for the May 26 concert at Bargemusic are $35 and available online at Bargemusic.org or at the door.

Calendar Listing

Friday, May 26, 2023 at 7 pm

Pianist Orli Shaham and Violinist Deborah Buck
at Bargemusic (1 Water St, Brooklyn, NY 11201)

Tickets $35 available here

Amanda Maier Sonata for Violin and Piano
Jessie Montgomery Rhapsody No. 1 for Solo Violin
Clara Schumann Three Romances Op. 22 for Violin and Piano
Johannes Brahms Intermezzo Op. 119, No. 1 for piano solo
Avner Dorman After Brahms, Intermezzo No. 2 for piano solo
Robert Schumann Sonata No.1 for Violin and Piano, Op. 105

Biographies

Hailed as “a first-rate Mozartean” by Chicago Tribune, Orli Shaham has established an international reputation as one of today's most gifted pianists.

Orli Shaham has performed with many of the major orchestras around the world, and has appeared in recital from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. She is Artistic Director of Pacific Symphony’s chamber series Café Ludwig in Costa Mesa, California and Artistic Director of the interactive children's concert series, Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010.

In 2022, Ms. Shaham releases the second and third volumes of the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas. Her Mozart recording project also includes Volume 1 of the Piano Sonatas and her album of Piano Concertos with St. Louis Symphony, all of which are part of her discography of a over a dozen titles on Canary Classics, Deutsche Gramophone, Albany Records, SFS Media and more.

Orli Shaham is a Co-Host and Creative for the national radio program From the Top. She is on the piano and chamber music faculty at The Juilliard School and is chair of the board of trustees at Kaufman Music Center in New York. In 2022, Orli Shaham serves on the juries of both the Cliburn and Honens International Piano Competitions. 

Deborah Buck has built a rich and varied musical career as a chamber musician, concertmaster, soloist, professor, and artistic leader. Ms. Buck made her Lincoln Center concerto debut in 1997 with the Little Orchestra Society. For seventeen years, Ms. Buck was a member of the Lark Quartet where she concertized, commissioned, and recorded works by many of America’s most celebrated composers. As a recitalist, she has performed at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.; the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago for WFMT; the Brooklyn Museum of Art; and over the airways via “Sunday’s Live” on Los Angeles’s KKGO.

In 2022, Ms. Buck was appointed Concertmaster of Orchestra Lumos (formerly Stamford Symphony) and has been guest concertmaster of the Phoenix and West Virginia Symphonies. Ms. Buck is Assistant Professor of Violin and Head of Strings and Chamber Music at SUNY Purchase, and Co-Executive Director and curator of the Faculty Concert Series at the Kinhaven Music School in Vermont. 

Insider Interview with Pianist Orli Shaham

On January 27, 2023 Orli Shaham makes her Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra debut performing John Adams’ piano concerto “Why Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?” with David Robertson conducting. In this Insider Interview with Classical Music Communications, Shaham talks about the “gnarly,” aspects of the work, Martin Luther, working with the FRSO for the first time and more.

Please give us some insight into the composer John Adams, and this piece, “Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?”

The style of “Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?” is classic Adams. It has a great deal of rhythmic drive and intensity, and thick and rich harmonies that are quite gnarly. In fact, he uses the word “gritty” to describe the sound of the first movement. There are some beautiful moments of repose where he sets the scene for lovely reflection, almost meditative kinds of sounds. The piano becomes part of the orchestra in those moments, for example, in the second movement. In the third movement, the overflowing rhythmic joy is similar to the qualities in "Hallelujah Junction," (one of my favorites of John Adams’, which I recorded with Jon Kimura Parker on my album “American Grace”).

Can you explain the title of the piece? 

The phrase has been attributed to Martin Luther, the 16th century theologian. This was one of those situations like "Hallelujah Junction" - John Adams thought that it was a title just waiting for a piece. He had the line first, and then conceived of the composition. There's a lot of devilish influences, just like in Lizst’s Totentanz, or the devilishly difficult writing of Paganini, who was himself considered a devilish virtuoso. And there are references to gospel, which are also related to the theme.

This is your debut performance in Finland. You're familiar with the composer John Adams, and the conductor, David Robertson, of course. What about the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra?

I've heard so many great recordings from this orchestra, and I've known many wonderful Finnish musicians. I'm very excited to actually go to Finland to work with some of those same musicians.

Gramophone Review: Mozart Piano Sonatas Vol. 2 & 3

GRAMOPHONE Review

MOZART Piano Sonatas Vols 2 & 3 (Orli Shaham)
By Jed Distler

The following is an excerpt. To read the full review, visit Gramophone.co.uk

The stylish intelligence and pianistic refinement distinguishing the first volume in Orli Shaham’s Mozart piano sonata cycle (released in 2020) continues into Vols 2 and 3. She rightly brings out the operatic subtext of the A minor Sonata, K310, probing the Allegro maestoso’s gnawing dissonances and generating tension through dynamic understatement in the Presto finale. Her beautifully sung-out Andante cantabile manages to be expansive and flexible without losing shape or continuity. In the opening Allegro of the F major Sonata, K332, Shaham gives distinct character and breathing room to each theme, and astutely brings out the composer’s cross-rhythmic phrase groupings. The Allegro assai’s vertiginous runs truly scintillate yet never lapse into square regularity; sophisticated accent placement and subtle elongations keep the listener guessing, so to speak.

Aug. 26: Pianist Orli Shaham's Mozart Vols 2 & 3

Volumes 2 and 3 of Orli Shaham's Complete Piano Sonatas by Mozart

2-disc set released August 26 on Canary Classics

Singles released August 12 & 19

“a first-rate Mozartean” — The Chicago Tribune

The internationally-renowned concert pianist Orli Shaham is deep into a multi-year endeavor of recording all of Mozart’s piano sonatas. Volumes 2 and 3 of "Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas" is released on Canary Classics (CC21) on August 26, 2022. Singles will be released on August 12 (Rondo All Turca: Allegretto from K.331) and August 19 (Allegretto from K.576).

In this two CD set, Orli Shaham performs the ever-popular Sonata K.331, including the Rondo Alla Turca; one of the most technically demanding piano works by Mozart - the Sonata in D major, K.576; and the Sonata in A minor, K.310, a work with enormous emotional depth. Says Ms. Shaham, “These sonatas give so many insights into Mozart’s mind, his personality, and his soul, and reveal fresh ideas about the music and its meaning with every hearing.” The complete list of sonatas on Volumes 2 and 3 is below.

Improvisation is a big part of Orli Shaham’s approach to this music. For months leading up to the recording sessions, she worked on sections that she felt Mozart left open to improvisation, experimenting with all kinds of ideas. The result is a great sense of spontaneity in each of the sonatas she recorded. "The act of improvisation allows you to feel some sense of what Mozart would have felt. He was a real flesh-and-bone human being, for all his genius, just like us,” said Ms. Shaham.

Critics call Shaham "an intelligent and sensitive guide" for this music. For a digital or physical copy of Volumes 2 and 3 (Canary Classics CC21, released August 26), contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com. Volume 1 (Canary Classics CC19) is also available.

"Her playing is defined by expressive and varied phrasing, always convinced of where it's leading" — Classical Musical Sentinel

Orli Shaham, piano

Mozart Piano Sonatas Vol. 2 and 3

K.282 ● K.283 ● K.310 ● K.331 ● K. 332

K.545 ● K.576

Canary Classics CC21
Release date: August 26, 2022*

*Singles released on August 12 (Rondo All Turca: Allegretto from K.331)
and August 19 (Allegretto from K.576)

Volume 2 (Total Time = 61:11)
[01-03] Piano Sonata in A Minor, No. 9, K. 310
[04-06] Piano Sonata in F Major, No. 12, K. 332
[07-09] Piano Sonata in D Major, No. 18, K. 576

Volume 3 (Total Time = 69:34)
[01-03] Piano Sonata in C Major, "für Anfänger", No. 16, K. 545
[04-06] Piano Sonata in E-flat Major, No. 4, K. 282
[07-09] Piano Sonata in G Major, No. 5, K. 283
[10-12] Piano Sonata in A Major, "Alla turca", No. 11, K. 331


Hailed as “a first-rate Mozartean” by Chicago Tribune, Orli Shaham has established an international reputation as one of today's most gifted pianists.

Orli Shaham has performed with many of the major orchestras around the world, and has appeared in recital from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. She is Artistic Director of Pacific Symphony’s chamber series Café Ludwig in Costa Mesa, California and Artistic Director of the interactive children's concert series, Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010.

In 2022, Ms. Shaham releases the second and third volumes of the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas. Her Mozart recording project also includes Volume 1 of the Piano Sonatas and her album of Piano Concertos with St. Louis Symphony, all of which are part of her discography of a over a dozen titles on Canary Classics, Deutsche Gramophone, Albany Records, SFS Media and more.

Orli Shaham is a Co-Host and Creative for the national radio program From the Top. She is on the piano and chamber music faculty at The Juilliard School and is chair of the board of trustees at Kaufman Music Center in New York. In 2022, Orli Shaham serves on the juries of both the Cliburn and Honens International Piano Competitions.

Pianist Orli Shaham joins Juilliard piano faculty

Pianist Orli Shaham joins
Juilliard piano faculty

This week, the Juilliard School announced that Orli Shaham is joining the prestigious school's piano faculty in the 2022-23 academic year. Ms. Shaham is an alumna of the school (Pre-College '93; and the cross-registration program with Columbia University '97), and for the past two years has taught at Juilliard as an interim faculty member. Pianists Soyeon Kate Lee and Shai Wosner also join the faculty.

Ms. Shaham says "I am honored and humbled to join the stellar faculty at The Juilliard School. In my years as interim faculty, I've seen firsthand how brilliant and inspiring these students are, and I'm thrilled to continue to dig into it all with them! Congratulations too to my fellow new faculty members, pianists Shai Wosner and Soyeon Kate Lee, I can’t wait to work alongside you and the rest of the Juilliard faculty and staff."

In a statement, department chair Veda Kaplinsky says that Shaham, Lee, and Wosner each "embody the ideals that are so fundamental to our mission: a passion for teaching, a keen intellect, and superb artistry. We look forward to having them join our exceptional faculty and to working alongside them." Dean David Serkin Ludwig adds that they also each "possess the rare combination of great artistry and outstanding teaching ability that defines the Juilliard faculty."

Orli Shaham, who was born in Israel and grew up in New York, is the artistic director of both the Pacific Symphony’s chamber series Café Ludwig in Costa Mesa, California, and the interactive children’s concert series Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010. Also a regular guest host on National Public Radio’s From the Top, she’s chair of the board of trustees at Kaufman Music Center in New York City.

This season, Shaham is releasing the second and third volumes of the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas. Her Mozart recording project also includes volume 1 of the Piano Sonatas and her album of Piano Concertos with St. Louis Symphony, all of which are part of her discography of a dozen titles on Canary Classics. After receiving her bachelor’s degree at Columbia University, where she participated in the Barnard-Columbia-Juilliard exchange, she pursued graduate studies in historical musicology at Columbia. She is a winner of the Gilmore Young Artist Award and the Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Limelight Magazine reviews Orli Shaham's "Mozart Piano Sonatas"

Three years ago, when her husband David Robertson was Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s chief conductor, US pianist Orli Shaham gave a beautifully nuanced recital linking Brahms backwards to Bach and forwards to Brett Dean and Israeli composer Avner Dorman. Not only was the programming inventive and well thought out, but also the execution was immaculate.

That program can be found on disc on Canary Classics, a label established by her violinist brother Gil, and now she is turning her keenly intelligent attention to Mozart’s 18 piano sonatas, starting the cycle in an interesting way with the three works in B Flat – Nos 3, 13 and 17. “They are all so different, yet the B Flats combine to create a perfect mirror of Mozart’s development from his late teens to full maturity,” Shaham says.

A noted broadcaster, educator and writer in America, Shaham challenges Artur Schnabel’s famous remark that the sonatas are “too easy for children and too difficult for adults”. The key to them is that they are vocal in nature: “Everything is singable; it’s rare to find intervals in Mozart’s music which are not,” she says.

In the K281, written when Mozart was 19, Shaham captures the freshness and Haydnesque airiness of the opening movement. By the time he wrote K333, in 1783, Mozart was in Vienna performing concerts for connoisseurs and the K570, from 1789, was published posthumously.

Like the man, Mozart’s 18 sonatas contain multitudes, and with Shaham we have an intelligent and sensitive guide.

TransCentury Media reviews Orli Shaham's "Mozart Piano Sonatas Vol.1"

“There are many ways to arrange and release such a cycle – simply going through the numbered sonatas from one through 18 is the most straightforward – so it is interesting that the sequencing of Shaham’s cycle, or at least its first volume, is not numerical but strictly musical. This Canary Classics CD includes the three Mozart sonatas written in, yes, B-flat: K. 281, 333 and 570. The first of these dates to 1774, the second most likely to 1784, and the third to 1789; they thus span a considerable portion of Mozart’s compositional life. Interestingly, it is K. 281 that is in many respects the most virtuosic: it packs a great deal of display into its outer movements and considerable operatic emotionalism into its central Andante amoroso. Shaham is not a historic-performance pianist, and she does not hesitate to delve into the warmth and sustained beauty of which modern pianos are more capable than were the instruments of Mozart’s time. Yet she knows when to keep her touch light, as in the outer movements of this sonata, and she certainly knows how to handle ornamentation, which proliferates under her hands in this sonata and throughout the CD. There is perhaps a bit too much sustaining pedal in the finale of K. 281, but the overall lightness is there – despite being harder to achieve on a modern piano than on an instrument of Mozart’s time. In K. 333, the longest of these three sonatas, the operatic elements are most prominent in the opening movement, which glides along like a sweet little cabaletta until Mozart makes it something more pianistic. The second movement also has a singing quality – it is actually marked Andante cantabile – and Shaham makes the most of this element, just as she pays close attention to the gracefulness of a finale marked Allegretto grazioso. In K. 570, Shaham elegantly and warmly accentuates the gentle rocking motion underlying the first movement; presents the central Adagio in slow, lullaby-like manner, slightly lengthening the pauses between phrases; and brightens matters up significantly in a sprightly final Allegretto. These are very fine modern-piano performances, generally on the slow side compared with other readings of these works: Shaham enjoys exploring the emotional impact of the music and does not hesitate to select tempos and pianistic effects that enable her to do so. There is something charmingly old-fashioned about the result – which, among other things, shows quite neatly the many ways in which Mozart used the key of B-flat to bring out different feelings and emotions in these three sonatas.”

Take Effect reviews Orli Shaham's "Mozart Piano Sonatas, Vol.1"

The piano extraordinaire Orli Shaham has taken on an impressive project here, where she interprets the works of Mozart. On this first disc in a series of five, she offers us “K.281”, “K.333” and “K.570” in B-flat major, where each sonata unfolds with its own distinct voice amid much attention to detail.

“Piano Sonata In B-Flat Major No. 3, K.281” starts the listen with sublime piano acrobatics that often move at a furious pace, but also retreat to calmer ebbs, too, and “Piano Sonata In B-Flat Major No. 13, K.333” follows and leads as if it’s one of Mozart’s operas, where a highly melodic presence weaves in and out of gorgeous song craft that’s as stirring as it is fascinating.

“Piano Sonata In B-Flat Major No. 17, K.570” finishes the listen strong, where Shaham’s skills are nothing short of awe inspiring, often playing so meticulously, you’d think there were multiple pianos playing simultaneously.

Shaham certainly retains the artistic spirit of these classics, and injects plenty of drama, humor and adventurousness that will certainly keep us anticipating the next 15 sonatas of the this series.

The Rehearsal Studio reviews Orli Shaham on PacSym Summer Replay

A Mozart “Bonus” from Pianist Orli Shaham

By: STEPHEN SMOLIAR

Not long after the imposition of shelter-in-place, I discovered that I was receiving regular press releases from Classical Music Communications involving the activities of pianist Orli Shaham. These seemed to be part of a MidWeek Mozart series that was providing audio previews of Shaham’s current project to record the piano sonatas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Every now and then, however, video content would be introduced; and, at the beginning of April, I discussed a video of a recital presented by students in the Conservatory of Music division of the Colburn School in Los Angeles. Shaham not only coached the students but also contributed her piano work to their chamber music selections. A couple of weeks later I reported on Shaham participating in Music Never Sleeps NYC with her husband, conductor David Robertson. Their contribution to this 24-hour marathon was a performance of Steve Reich’s “Clapping Music,” subsequently posted as a YouTube file.

As of last night, there is now a video account of Shaham playing Mozart. This is not a sonata recital. Rather, it is a recording of a performance by the Pacific Symphony, based in Orange County, of Mozart’s K. 453 concerto in G major. Shaham is the soloist under the baton of Carl St. Clair. The performance took place on May 20, 2017 in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. The Web page for this concert excerpt will be available for viewing through September 26.

We are used to thinking of Mozart’s piano concertos as platforms from which Mozart could show off his many talents. However, after Mozart moved to Vienna, he realized that taking on students would provide a useful revenue source; and one of those students, Barbara Ployer, was the soloist when K. 453 was performed. Most likely, Mozart conducted; and, at that same concert, the two of them played his K. 448 sonata for two pianos in D major. There is no doubt that Mozart had more than his fair share of the spotlight at this particular performance.

When we listen to a Mozart piano concerto, we tend to focus on the many technical hoops through which the soloist is obliged to jump. While there is no doubt that technical display was a primary “show-off” factor in any of those concertos, there are many other factors that contribute to the overall rhetorical tone. The selection of the key is one of those factors, and it is worth noting how few of those concertos are written in a minor key. Having now had a generous share of opportunities to listen to these concertos in performance, I have to say that one of the strongest rhetorical indicators is instrumentation: What instruments contribute to the ensemble beyond the “usual suspects” in the string section; and what are their respective dispositions?

The instrumentation is relatively familiar where K. 453 is concerned. There are pairs of oboes, bassoons, and horns, along with a single flute. The very sonorities of these instruments embody any number of rhetorical connotations, and there was much to admire in how St. Clair scaled down his string section to allow those connotations to flourish. My only regret was that the video crew tended to undermine those connotations due to a failure to plan in advance for which winds would be playing when. Indeed, while St. Clair and Shaham collaborated brilliantly in the tightly-knit fabric of this concerto, the video direction dropped too many stitches for that fabric to cohere sufficiently. As a result, one could probably come away with a better appreciation of the relationship between soloist and conductor by concentrating only on the audio.

On the other hand, there was much to enjoy when the camera turned to Shaham. When I watched her working with the Colburn students, I was particularly impressed by the physical cues she delivered to pull her students together as a coordinated team. Where K. 453 was concerned, those cues had less to do with teamwork with the orchestra and more as signs of when Mozart probably took particular delight in several of the inventive passages in his score. There was a prevailing sense that personality signified as much as technical skill, leaving me to wonder whether or not such personal traits ever figured in how Mozart had coached Ployer for her performance of this concerto.

The video also included Shaham’s encore following the conclusion of the concerto. She decided to go with Alexander Siloti’s richly pianistic arrangement of BWV 855a, the prelude from the E minor prelude-fugue coupling in the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier (BWV 855). Siloti transposed the key to B minor and introduced a generous share of highly pianistic techniques that would not have been suitable for any instrument at Bach’s disposal. As a result, what began as yet another vehicle for Bach’s approach to pedagogy was transformed into a “meditation” couched in the rich rhetorical techniques of the late nineteenth century. (For the record, Siloti first performed this arrangement in 1912, but it is clear where his heart was!)

Classical Classroom, Episode 213: Orli Shaham Talks Piano (Man)

How and why the piano came to be, what it is, and how to learn it.

TODD HULSLANDER | POSTED ONJULY 20, 2020

The piano. A seemingly normal instrument. But where did it come from, and how did it get here? Is it a percussion or a string instrument? Is it safe for young people, or will it influence your child to become interested in (gasp!) music, like it did one Orli Shaham? In this episode, Shaham describes how she was helplessly lured by the piano, as well as how this instrument wound up in peoples’ homes. She also talks about its repertoire, and how your child can start playing. Listen at your own peril at this link.

Orli Shaham launches MidWeek Mozart

PIANIST ORLI SHAHAM'S
MIDWEEK MOZART

Each Wednesday, Ms. Shaham brings you an exclusive: a movement of a Mozart sonata from her forthcoming recording 

As many of us are spending a lot of time at home, pianist Orli Shaham shares a special treat: a sneak preview of a track from her forthcoming album of Mozart piano sonatas. Orli Shaham's "MidWeek Mozart" gives you exclusive access to a different movement of a Mozart piano sonata, available for one week, FREE! Beginning April 1, get your weekly dose of Mozart each Wednesday, at OrliShahamMozart.com.

In the words of Ms. Shaham, "Last summer, I began recording the complete Mozart Sonatas. Although we weren’t slated to release them just yet, it is our hope that this music helps restore your soul in the current moment. Here’s a special preview just for you: MidWeek Mozart.

Every Wednesday, I’ll bring you a movement of a Mozart piano sonata, available through OrliShahamMozart.com that you can enjoy all week long!"

– Orli Shaham

Hear Ms. Shaham discuss her Mozart recording project on KWMR's "Arts Desire".

Classics Today reviews Orli Shaham "Mozart Concertos"

Marvelous Mozart From Orli Shaham and David Robertson

Review by: Jed Distler

Just about everything in this husband-and-wife Mozart concerto collaboration is ideal. For starters, the microphone placement captures Orli Shaham’s beautifully regulated Steinway and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in perfect balance, where both full-bodied tuttis and fleeting solo-instrument details clearly emerge. Secondly, and more importantly, the chamber-like sonic perspective extends to the music making.

Shaham’s enlivening inflections in the G major K. 453 concerto’s first movement interact with the woodwinds with fetching conversational flow. While Robertson minimizes string vibrato in the Andante, he avoids eliciting the kind of threadbare tone and mincing dynamic exaggerations that are stock-in-trade mannerisms of the period performance movement. Both conductor and pianist happily render the finale variations in a fluid alla breve tempo, as opposed to the relatively regimented four-beats-to-a-bar feeling evoked in the Robert Casadesus/George Szell stereo traversal.

Like Casadesus, Shaham favors Saint-Säens’ flashy yet effective cadenza for the C minor K. 491’s first movement, but plays it with more authority and force. The Larghetto conveys an appropriately tender and lyrical mood while showcasing Shaham’s masterful finger legato. Here one might argue that her phrasing is controlled and calibrated to the point of being foursquare, in contrast to the shapely variety that Alfred Brendel brought to his reference recording with Charles Mackerras. Yet Shaham more than compensates in the finale, where variety of tone and expression most definitely characterizes her detaché articulation: For example, note the uncommon urgency of the first variation’s descending chromatic patterns, or the tension informing Shaham’s ever-so-slight elongations in the coda.

The booklet contains an extensive discussion with Shaham, Robertson, and scholar Elaine Sisman that delves into fascinating performance-related issues and historical perspectives. Strongly recommended.

Orli Shaham hosts From the Top in a live radio taping in Portland, Maine

In other radio news, on November 20 in Portland, Maine Ms. Shaham hosts a live taping of From the Top, the long-running NPR program featuring performances of talented young musicians. These episodes of From the Top will be broadcast nationally on select NPR stations across the United States during the weeks of December 16 and January 6. This marks Ms. Shaham's second appearance on From the Top, having previously guest hosted in October 2018. You can listen to the archived audio of show 361 at this link.

New! Pianist Orli Shaham's Bach Yard airs on WQXR-FM, Saturday mornings, November 30 - December 21, 2019

As Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard prepares for its 10th season of live interactive concerts in New York and Princeton, we’re proud to announce WQXR radio as a new platform for Bach Yard.

Orli Shaham’s stories illustrated by classical music are one of the most popular components of Bach Yard interactive concerts for young children. WQXR-FM has invited Ms. Shaham to create and host a series of these original stories with classical music designed especially for radio.

Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard for radio will air on WQXR, 105.9 FM and WQXR.org Saturday mornings at 8:00 am EST, November 30 through December 21, 2019. A different five-minute episode airs each week.  You and your children will be entertained by The Trout Family's New Friend, Belinda and Charlie's Big Day and other tales written by Orli, along with music by Handel, Schubert and more.

Orli Shaham's Bach Yard, the live interactive concert series of the same name will be performed at Merkin Hall in New York on February 23 and April 26, 2020, and at Princeton University on March 14, 2020, with Orli as host and pianist. Check out BachYard.org for details about these and other performances, as well as fun activities to do at home with your little Maestro.

MusicWeb International Review: Mozart Piano Concertos

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K453 (1784) [30:01]
Piano Concerto No.24 in C minor, K491 (1786) [29:04]
Orli Shaham (piano)
St Louis Symphony Orchestra/David Robertson
rec. 2017/18, Powell Hall, St Louis, Missouri
CANARY CLASSICS CC18 [59:10]

Coupling two such theatrical concertos as these, and ones that sport theme and variations in their finales, makes good sense. It also marks the first commercial recording in 16 years for the St Louis Symphony under David Robertson, then nearing the end of his 13-year stint as music director. Who better to accompany, then, than his wife, Orli Shaham playing on a New York Steinway.

Clearly there was perceptive microphone placements in Powell Hall, as the balances are finely judged, and things emerge naturally and not spotlit. In the Concerto in G the opening orchestral introduction is genially characterised and there is a chamber-like colloquium between soloist and wind principals. The violins sound divided too, and the consequent performance marries elegance, precision in voicings and secure ensemble. Similarly, there’s a touching intimacy in the slow movement and Shaham’s cadenza here has a quality of veiled melancholy. Cannily judged, the variations in the finale are both engaging and full of bubbling wit.

The companion concerto in C minor is the moodier and more introspective work but it too receives a buoyant and winning reading. The horns make their presence felt and the St Louis strings sound lithe but full toned and mercifully free of period desiccation. To enliven the first movement Shaham plays the Saint-Saëns cadenza with fiery intensity and commanding bravura – Robert Casadesus did the same in his old recording with Szell. The slow movement is fluency itself, in a clarity-conscious landscape, and the finale reprises the virtues, of line, definition and characterisation, that imbued the G major work.

Working hand in glove ensures a particularly simpatico reading of this brace of concertos. The booklet is a symposium between Shaham, Robertson and writer and academic Elaine Sisman that goes into some interesting musical detail about the works and is well worth reading. And as for this disc – it’s well worth hearing.

Jonathan Woolf