Israeli conductor Lior Shambadal maintains an active career as both an artistic leader and guest artist throughout Europe, Asia, Israel, and South America. He currently serves as the Chief Conductor of the Berliner Symphoniker, a post he has held since 1997.
Maestro Shambadal has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras. From 2000-2003, Maestro Shambadal served as the Chief Conductor of the RTV Symphony Orchestra in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and toured with them Germany, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. In 1980, Maestro Shambadal was nominated Chief Conductor of the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, and from 1986-1993, he led the Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra in Tel Aviv, with whom he regularly toured Europe. He was the founder of the ensemble Musica Nova in Tel Aviv, and led the Mendelssohn Players in Berlin, comprised of principal players of the city’s most renowned orchestras.
Maestro Shambadal’s opera repertoire includes over 40 works of the German, Italian, French, Russian and English literature as well as several world premieres, including Franz Hummel’s Gesualdo and Magret Wolf’sKirisk, after a libretto by D.Aitmatow. From 1993-2000 he served as Music Director of the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern, Germany, where he led more than 600 performances, including the inaugural concerts of the new theater. He has also appeared with Ontario Opera in Canada and led opera productions in Israel (New Israeli Opera and Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra opera productions). He has undertaken several special opera projects as well, including Glinka’s Life for the Tzar, in collaboration with Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, and a new version of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri (with added works of the two title composers) that he constructed, conducted, staged, and designed (set and costumes).
Maestro Shambadal regularly gives master classes throughout the world in conducting as well as in lieder interpretation for singers and orchestra. Committed to the support of young artists, he also funds annual scholarships in honor of his late relatives, violist Daniel Benyamini (former Principal Violist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and member of the Tel Aviv Quartet) and Mishel Piastro (former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic and assistant conductor to Arturo Toscanini) and is responsible for the selection of the annual IBM Foundation-sponsored scholarship prize every year in San Gemini.
Shambadal was born in Tel Aviv where he studied viola, trombone, composition (with Sergiu Natra) and conducting. His studies took him to the Mozarteum in Salzburg where he worked with Carl Melles. After moving to Vienna, Shambadal was tutored by acclaimed conductors, such as Hans Swarowsky, Carlo Mario Giulini, Igor Merkevitch, Sergiu Celibidache and Franco Ferrara. He later expanded his studies in other areas, such as electronic music and composition, under the tutelage of Witold Lutoslawski and Henri Dutilleaux (in France), and Musical Phenomenology at the Faculty of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. A prolific composer whose musical range includes chamber music, song writing, and symphonic orchestra pieces, his works have been commissioned by several orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic.