Conductor

Harish Shankar

The Malaysian-born conductor Harish Shankar completed his Masterʼs degree in Conducting at the prestigious Conservatoire of Weimar, Germany under the tutelage of Gunter Kahlert. He has also received valuable mentorship from Mark Elder with masterclasses from Nicolás Pasquet, Paavo Järvi, Leonid Grin and Mark Stringer. As assistant conductor, he has worked closely with a number of renowned conductors including Andrew Davis, Vasily Petrenko, Eckehard Stier and Juanjo Mena. Early studies with Eiji Oue led to an invitation to lead the orchestra of the award-winning El Sistema project in Peru. During his tenure with El Sistema, he conducted a number of regular and cross-over projects with the aim to engage a growing classical music scene and to bring together children from all walks of life through music.

A pianist by training, Harish Shankar took piano lessons from the age of six with Penny Kam and Loo Bang Hean before being accepted into the class of noted pianist Konstanze Eickhorst at the Conservatoire of Lübeck.

Previous appearances as a conductor include Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Jena Philharmonics, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Leipzig Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, Vaasa City Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Trujillo, North Czech Philharmonic, Jyväskyla Symphony Orchestra and Hallé Orchestra.