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Diabelli Variations / Variations on a Theme of FDR
Impromptu
Diabelli Variations
Dissolving Margins
The Schubert Effect
Schubert’s Last Sonatas
Discussing Schubert at Cal Performances

“Decades down the line he will be spoken of as one of the greats.”

All Things Considered

“[Wosner’s] pianissimos are uncommonly delicate and beautiful. But when the music moves him, his fortissimos can be steely and terrifying.”

The New York Times

“…impressive in an elegant, ­polished performance of the [Mozart No. 20] ­concerto. ­Wosner’s playing sounded effortless, and his ­approach so convincing it seemed inevitable.”

San Diego Union-Tribune

“In Beethoven’s great G-Major Piano ­Concerto…Shai Wosner was the sometimes ­delicate, ­sometimes fiery soloist. The drama of Beethoven’s extraordinary Andante, in which a ­pleading piano slowly melts an obdurate orchestra, was ­superbly enacted. Perhaps this ­humane, edifying music should be played for Minnesota’s political leaders.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Wosner has lived with these sonatas, and thought them through from every angle, musically and intellectually. The result is revelatory, from the craftily executed quicksilver changes of mood, the sprawling range of dynamic, and the many stunning ways he executes the staccatos. We have, in Wosner’s Schubert, despair intermingled with euphoria, resignation interlaced with fleeting moments of rapture. A heartrending integration of light and dark.”

The Arts Fuse

“Wosner…delivered a vivid, perceptive account of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor. His clearly structured opening movement, complete with rippling passage work, ­mirrored the restless harmonic pull of the orchestral introduction. The Romanza’s serenity, broken by a stormy G-Minor interlude, was beautifully judged as well.”

Chicago Tribune

“Shai Wosner, soloist in Mozart’s Piano ­Concerto No. 25, proved a shining example of his ­generation with a sparkling performance that ­encompassed the difficulties with ease, ­delighting with the ­dancing rhythms of the outer movements and ­affording elegance and serenity within the ­Andante.”

Bournemouth Echo

Pianist Shai Wosner has attracted international recognition for his exceptional artistry, musical integrity, and creative insight. His performances of a broad range of repertoire—from Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert to Ligeti and the music of today—reflect a degree of virtuosity and intellectual curiosity that has made him a favorite among audiences and critics, who note his “keen musical mind and deep musical soul” (NPR’s All Things Considered).

Recent and upcoming highlights include recitals and chamber music in Japan; a return to the Utah Symphony; performances of Mason Bates’s Piano Concerto in Italy and of Vijay Iyer’s Piano Concerto ‘Handmade Universe,’ written for Shai and ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra), with whom he has enjoyed a longstanding relationship. The concerto also marks his ongoing collaboration with Iyer, whose piece, Plinth, was part of Shai’s multi-composer commissioning project ‘Variations on a Theme of FDR.’ Other performances of note include a program with the JACK Quartet at the newly-reopened Frick Collection in New York; the 3 Brahms Sonatas in Philadelphia and San Francisco, as well as a China tour, with Pinchas Zukerman; a U.S. tour with Joshua Bell; and chamber music with the Zukerman Trio.

In recent years, Shai’s arrangements have gained widespread recognition. His chamber versions of various Beethoven Symphonies have been premiered and toured in the U.S. and Europe by Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos and Yo-Yo Ma and are available in GRAMMY-nominated recordings released by Sony Classical. Shai also recently toured the U.S. with Martin Fröst and Antoine Tamestit in a program that included many of his own arrangements made especially for the group.

Wosner has appeared with the major North American orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Berkeley, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, San Francisco, and Toronto, among others. He has performed abroad with the BBC orchestras, the Barcelona, Bournemouth, and Gothenburg Symphonies, LSO St. Luke’s, Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Vienna Philharmonic, among others. His acclaimed recordings for Onyx Classics range from Schubert sonatas, to chamber works by Bartók and Kurtág, to concerti by Haydn and Ligeti.

Born in Israel, Shai studied piano with Opher Brayer and Emanuel Krasovsky, as well as composition, theory, and improvisation with André Hajdu. He later studied with Emanuel Ax at The Juilliard School, where he is now on the piano faculty. He is a recipient of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.

2025-2026