Ittai Shapira

Violinist and composer Ittai Shapira made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestras of St. Luke's in 2003, and returned to world renowned stage numerous times since, including a concert with the American Symphony and as well as premiering his own work, “The Ethics”.   

Ittai Shapira has performed in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the US with renowned orchestras such as the Belgrade, Cape Town, Czech, Detroit, Jerusalem, Lucerne Symphonies, and London Philharmonia to name but a few.  He has premiered 19 concertos and recorded 20 CD's for the EMI, Sony, and Champs Hill Labels, and is the first violinist to tour regularly with his own Concertos with Orchestras  in over seven decades.  His most recent album features three of his double concertos, co produced by the BBC, which includes his violin and clarinet concerto, “Midnight’s Children” with narration by Sir Salman Rushdie.  The multimedia version with visual artist Alexander Klingspor has won “Best Experimental Film” in the Santorini Film Festival.  His next album features his violin and soprano concerto, which he recently recorded with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Grammy Winning Soprano Hila Plitmann, conducted by Florin Parvulescu.

The Victor Herbert Foundation has given him a special award in recognition and support for his unique projects, which often involve social causes. He has collaborated with the Daniel Pearl Foundation for an HBO Film narrated by Christiane Amanpour, has performed with Glenn Close and Brooke Shields.   Shapira studied in Israel with the Ilona Feher and at the Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay and  Naoko Tanaka.  He serves as the advisor for the Music and Medicine program at Weill/Cornell , co founder of the Ilona Feher Foundation with his colleague Hagai Shaham, dedicated to the nurturing and promotion of young Israeli violinists, and “Sound Potential”, an organization exploring Music and Healing on medical, educational, and societal levels. The material he has developed for various therapeutics has been used by the Juilliard School, Tel Aviv, and McGill Universities (the latter curated by pianist Constanze Beckmann), The Juilliard School, Brigham and Women’s/Harvard Medical School, Mt. Sinai, and Weill Cornell Hospitals as well as various private clinics in the US.  His work has been supported by grants from the Krueger, Blavatnik, and Lauder Foundations. 

Shapira plays a 1745 Guadagnini Violin.