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{{Short description|American concert violinist (born 1971)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name              = Gil Shaham
| background        = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| image             = 
| image_size        = 
| caption           = 
| native_name       = גיל שחם
| native_name_lang  = he
| birth_name        = 
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1971|2|19}}
| birth_place       = [[Urbana, Illinois]], U.S.
| genre             = [[Classical music|Classical]]
| occupation        = Musician
| instrument        = [[Violin]]
| years_active      = 1981–present
| label             = {{ubl|Canary Classics|[[Deutsche Grammophon]]|[[Universal Music|Universal Classics]]}}
}}

'''Gil Shaham''' ([[Hebrew]]: גיל שחם; born February 19, 1971) is an American violinist. His accolades include a [[Grammy Awards|Grammy Award]] in 1999, and he has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the [[New York Philharmonic]], [[Berlin Philharmonic]], [[Vienna Philharmonic]], [[Israel Philharmonic|Israel Philharmonic Orchestra]], [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]], [[Cleveland Orchestra]], [[San Francisco Symphony]], [[Russian National Orchestra]], [[Academy of St. Martin in the Fields]], [[Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra]], and the [[Orchestre de Paris]].

==Early life and career==
Gil Shaham was born in [[Urbana, Illinois]], while his [[Israelis|Israeli]] parents were on an academic fellowship at the [[University of Illinois]]. His father, Jacob, was an [[Astrophysics|astrophysicist]]<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/archives/vol20/vol20_iss26/record2026.28.html |title=Physicist Jacob Shaham Dies at 52 |journal=Columbia University Record |volume=20 |number=26 |date=April 28, 1995}}</ref> and his mother, [[Meira Diskin]], was a [[Cytogenetics|cytogeneticist]]. His sister is the pianist [[Orli Shaham]]. His brother, [[Shai Shaham]], is the head of the Laboratory of Developmental Genetics at [[Rockefeller University]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://incubator.rockefeller.edu/sciony-shai-shaham/ |website=The Incubator |access-date=June 8, 2020|title=Shai Shaham on creativity in science and music |date=11 October 2016 }}</ref>

When he was two years old, the family moved to [[Jerusalem]], where at age seven he started violin lessons at the [[Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance|Rubin Academy of Music]], winning annual scholarships from the [[America-Israel Cultural Foundation]].<ref name="gilbio">{{cite web |title=Gil Shaham Biography |url=http://gilshaham.com/about/ |website=Gilshaham.com |access-date=January 22, 2017}}</ref> He went on to graduate from the [[Horace Mann School]] in New York.  He attended the [[Aspen Music Festival and School]] in Colorado, studying with [[Dorothy DeLay]] and [[Jens Ellermann]],<ref name="gilbio"/> and won a scholarship to the [[Juilliard School]]. He and his sister Orli also studied at [[Columbia University]].<ref name="gilbio"/>

Shaham lives in New York City and teaches at [[Bard College Conservatory of Music]]. He is married to violinist [[Adele Anthony]]. They have three children.<ref name="gilbio" />

==Career==
{{More citations needed|section|date=December 2024}}
Shaham debuted as a soloist with the [[Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra|Jerusalem Symphony]] at age 10.<ref name=":0" /> He performed with the [[Israel Philharmonic Orchestra|Israel Philharmonic]]—Israel's foremost orchestra—less than a year later. Shaham won first prize in the Claremont Competition at age 11, and was admitted to Juilliard, where he studied with [[Dorothy DeLay]] and Hyo Kang.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}

Shaham's career advanced in 1989 when, while a senior at Horace Mann, he replaced an ailing [[Itzhak Perlman]] to perform the [[Violin Concerto No. 1 (Bruch)|Bruch]] and [[Violin Concerto (Sibelius)|Sibelius]] violin concertos with the [[London Symphony Orchestra]] at the [[Royal Festival Hall]].<ref name=":0">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-14-ca-366-story.html |title=The Gil Shaham Story: A Star Is Born, Maybe : Violinist, 18, replaces an ailing Itzhak Perlman |first=Hannah |last=Hanani |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=May 14, 1989 |access-date=2023-11-15}}</ref>

Shaham won the [[Avery Fisher]] Career Grant in 1990, and the Premio Internazionale of the Accademia Chigiana in Siena in 1992.

Shaham has performed with the [[New York Philharmonic]], [[Berlin Philharmonic]], [[Toronto Symphony Orchestra]], [[Vienna Philharmonic]], [[Israel Philharmonic|Israel Philharmonic Orchestra]], [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]], [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]], [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]], [[Russian National Orchestra]], [[Academy of St. Martin in the Fields]], [[San Francisco Symphony Orchestra]], [[Philadelphia Orchestra]], [[National Symphony Orchestra]] and [[National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America]].

In 2021,he was a soloist with the [[Naumburg Orchestral Concerts]], in the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, in the summer series. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Notable Events and Performers |url=https://naumburgconcerts.org/notable-events-and-performers |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=Naumburg Orchestral Concerts |language=en-US}}</ref>

Shaham has played the "Comtesse de Polignac", a [[Antonio Stradivari|Stradivarius]] violin of 1699 on loan from the Stradivarius Society of Chicago since 1989.{{Clarify|reason=Does refer to how long the violin has been on loan, how long Shaham has used it, or both?|date=December 2024}}

==Discography==
{{external media|width= 200px |audio1= You may hear Gil Shaham with [[Goran Sollscher]]  performing works by [[Niccolo Paganini]] in 1992 <br> [https://archive.org/details/01.-sonata-concertata-in-a-major-for-guitar-violin-op.-61-allegro-spiritoso-gil-/12.+Centone+di+sonate+M.S.112+per+violino+e+chitarra+-+Lettera+A-+Sonata+n.2+-+in+D+major+-+Rondoncino.+Andantino%2C+Tempo+di+Polacca+-+Minore+-+Gil+Shaham%2C+Goran+Sollscher.wav '''Here on Archive.org''']}}

* ''Mendelssohn, Bruch: Violin Concertos'' (with [[Giuseppe Sinopoli]] conducting the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]])  (1990)
* ''Schumann: Works for Violin and Piano'' (1990)
* ''Franck / Saint-Saëns: Violin Sonatas'' (with [[Gerhard Oppitz]]) (1991)
* ''Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 / Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3'' (with Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting the [[New York Philharmonic]]) (1992)
* ''Wieniawski: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2'' (with [[Lawrence Foster]] conducting the [[London Symphony Orchestra]]) (1992)
* ''Sibelius/Tchaikovsky: Violin Concertos'' (with Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra) (1993)
* ''Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto; [[Erich Wolfgang Korngold]]: Violin Concerto and Much Ado about Nothing Suite'' (with [[Andre Previn]] conducting the London Symphony Orchestra) (1994) 
* ''Paganini for Two'' (with [[Göran Söllscher]]) (1994)
* ''Vivaldi: The Four Seasons'' (with [[Orpheus Chamber Orchestra]]) (1995)
* ''Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2'' (with Andre Previn conducting the London Symphony Orchestra) (1996)
* ''Violin Romances'' (with [[Orpheus Chamber Orchestra]]) (1996)
* ''Dvořák for Two'' (with [[Orli Shaham]]) (1997)
* ''The Fiddler of the Opera'' (with [[Jascha Heifetz]]) (1997)
* ''[[Israel Philharmonic]] 60th Anniversary Gala Concert'' (1997)
* ''Berlin Gala: A Salute to Carmen'' (with [[Anne Sofie von Otter]] and [[Roberto Alagna]]) (1998)
* ''American Scenes (Works of Copland, Previn, Barber, Gershwin)'' (1998)
* ''Glazunov / Kabalevsky: Meeting in Moscow'' (1998)
* ''Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2'' (with [[Pierre Boulez]] conducting the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]]) (1999)
* ''Pärt: Tabula Rasa'' (1999)
* ''Devil's Dance'' (2000)
* ''Two Worlds'' (with [[Lee Ritenour]] and [[Dave Grusin]]) (2000)
* ''[[John Williams]]: Treesong / Violin Concerto / 3 Pieces from [[Schindler's List]]'' (with John Williams conducting the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]]) (2001)
* ''Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time'' (with [[Myung-Whun Chung]]) (2001)
* ''Brahms: Violin Concerto / Double Concerto'' (with [[Jian Wang (cellist)|Jian Wang]] and [[Claudio Abbado]] conducting the [[Berlin Philharmonic]]) (2002)
* ''Schubert for Two'' (with [[Göran Söllscher]]) (2003)
* ''The Fauré Album'' (2003)
* ''Prokofiev: Works for Violin and Piano'' (with [[Orli Shaham]]) (2004)
* ''Beethoven: Triple Concerto / Septet'' (with [[David Zinman]] and [[Yefim Bronfman]]) (2006)
* ''The Butterfly Lovers' Concerto for Violin / Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto'' (2007)
* ''Mozart in Paris'' (with [[Orli Shaham]]) (2008)
* ''Elgar: Violin Concerto'' (with David Zinman conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) (2008)
* ''Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A Minor'' (with [[Yefim Bronfman]] and [[Truls Mørk]]) (2008)
* ''Sarasate: Virtuoso Violin Works'' (with [[Adele Anthony]]) (2009)
* ''Haydn: Violin Concertos / Mendelssohn: Octet'' (with the Sejong Soloists) (2010)
* ''Nigunim: Hebrew Melodies ''(with [[Orli Shaham]]) (2013)
* [http://www.canaryclassics.com/recordings/1930s-violin-concerto-vol1 1930s Violin Concertos] (2014)
* ''[[Sonatas and partitas for solo violin (Bach)|Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin]] '' (2015)

== Awards ==
* Avery Fisher Career Grant<ref name="gilbio"/> (1990)
* Premio Internazionale of the Accademia Chigiana in Siena<ref name="musicam"/> (1992)
* [[Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance]]: [[André Previn]] & Gil Shaham for ''American Scenes (Works of [[Aaron Copland|Copland]], [[André Previn|Previn]], [[Samuel Barber|Barber]], [[George Gershwin|Gershwin]])'' ([[Grammy Awards of 1999|1999]])
* Avery Fisher Award<ref name="musicam"/> (2008) Presented by his dear friend [[Gustavo Dudamel]] at a [[Live from Lincoln Center]] private presentation of the music of [[Pablo de Sarasate]] in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse.
* Instrumentalist of the Year <ref name="musicam">{{Cite web|url=http://www.musicalamerica.com/features/?fid=179&fyear=2012 |title=Instrumentalist of the Year 2012 |first=Dennis D. |last=Rooney |website=[[Musical America]] |access-date=January 22, 2017}}</ref>(2012)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.gilshaham.com/}}
* [http://www.canaryclassics.com/ Gil Shaham] at Canary Classics
* [http://streams.wgbh.org/online/play.php?xml=clas/cmd081002shaham.xml&template=wgbh_audio/ Gil Shaham] in conversation on WGBH Radio Boston
* [https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-806325 Gil Shaham to perform Dvorák with Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra] by Liran Gurkiewicz, The Jerusalem Post, June 16, 2024

{{Accademia Musicale Chigiana International Prize laureates}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaham, Gil}}
[[Category:Israeli classical violinists]]
[[Category:American male classical violinists]]
[[Category:Jewish classical violinists]]
[[Category:Jewish American classical musicians]]
[[Category:Grammy Award winners]]
[[Category:Juilliard School alumni]]
[[Category:Deutsche Grammophon artists]]
[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]
[[Category:Horace Mann School alumni]]
[[Category:American people of Israeli descent]]
[[Category:People from Urbana, Illinois]]
[[Category:1971 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century American classical violinists]]