Elyakum Shapirra

Who is Elyakum Shapirra?

Elyakum Shapirra is an Israeli conductor who has appeared in a number of countries.

He studied with Leonard Bernstein, becoming one of his assistant conductors at the New York Philharmonic. He also studied with Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood, and at the Juilliard School.

He was Assistant Conductor with the San Francisco Symphony. He led the New York Philharmonic on tours to Canada and Japan in 1960-61. He was guest conductor with the University of the Pacific in 1961. He became Associate Conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1962 to 1967.

Robert Hall Lewis dedicated his Three Pieces for Orchestra to Shapirra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

He was appointed Chief Conductor of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra in Sweden 1969-1974.

Elyakum Shapirra was the first person to conduct Alexander Scriabin's Prometheus: The Poem of Fire in England with the coloured lighting that the composer called for. This occurred on 4 May 1972 at the Royal Albert Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Shapirra conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and soloist Georges Pludermacher in the posthumous world premiere of Jani Christou's Toccata for Piano and Orchestra, on 23 April 1973 in Oxford.