“Born in Nazareth Illit in 1977, the Israeli pianist Iddo Bar-Shai studied with Pnina Salzman at the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. He also received guidance from Alexis Weissenberg.
He attracted attention from a very early age, and from the age of eleven he received scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Since then, his career has taken on an international dimension. He has performed in many European countries, Israel, the United States, Brazil, Japan, and China, in such important venues as the Wigmore Hall in London, the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Tokyo Opera City Hall, and the Beijing Zhongshan Concert Hall.
Iddo Bar-Shai has played with major orchestras in Europe and Israel, notably the English Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra-IBA, and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, under the baton of such conductors as Lawrence Foster, Aldo Ceccato and Jesús Lopez Cobos.
His concert appearances have included such festivals as the International Piano Festival of La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée, Verbier, Ravinia, La Grange de Meslay, and the Festival de Radio France-Montpellier.
His Haydn disc, released on Mirare in 2006, was widely acclaimed by the press (Diapason, Le Monde de la Musique, Piano International etc.). December 2008 saw the release of his recording of Chopin mazurkas on the same label. This too received unanimous praise around the world, with the highest possible ratings from such prestigious newspapers and magazines as Le Figaro and Fono Forum.
I would like to dedicate this recording, with great admiration, to the memory of Alexis Weissenberg (1929-2012).”
