Jeffrey Kahane
music director
Renowned as a pianist and conductor, Jeffrey Kahane is recognized by audiences around the world for his mastery of diverse repertoire from Bach to Gershwin. He has established a reputation as a truly versatile artist equally sought after as soloist, conductor and chamber musician.
A native of Los Angeles, Jeffrey Kahane began classical piano studies at the age of five with Howard Weisel. At age 14, he was accepted as a scholarship pupil by the great Polish-born pianist Jakob Gimpel, whom he credits as one of the most profound influences on his vision of music as a vehicle for dramatic narrative, poetic expression and ethical purpose.
Kahane picked up the guitar around the age of ten and learned to play folk and rock music. He spent a good part of the next years dividing his time among practicing the piano and the guitar and dreaming about ways of bringing together different kinds of music and diverse audiences.
Kahane left high school after his sophomore year to attend the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In San Francisco, he played keyboard instruments in the San Francisco Symphony, explored jazz and played in the pit for a touring Broadway musical. His career took a major turn in 1981, when he became a finalist in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Two years later, Kahane won the Grand Prize in the Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Israel.
In fall 2007, Kahane enters his 11th season as music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and continues his successful tenure as music director of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Under his leadership, both ensembles received 2007 ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming. He also continues as artistic director of the Green Music Festival in Sonoma County, having completed his tenth and final season as music director of the Santa Rosa Symphony in 2006.
Highlights of Kahane’s 2007-08 season include a return engagement with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York, as well as a number of premieres in both Los Angeles and Denver.
With the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, highlights include leading the Orchestra on a five-country, two-week European tour-Kahane’s first overseas trip with LACO-and performing and conducting the world premiere of Kevin Puts’s solo piano concerto, the first-ever piano concerto composed for Jeffrey Kahane to conduct from the keyboard.
High points with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra include conducting the “Hope and Despair” festival, which presents works by World War II victims, and leading the Colorado Symphony Orchestra from the piano in a dedicated all-Mendelssohn program.
Jeffrey Kahane’s belief in the educational and inspirational power of music led him to found the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Family Concert series. His interest in musical enrichment is also evidenced by his personal commitment to LACO’s Meet the Music program, which serves approximately 2,700 Los Angeles elementary students annually. For educational projects undertaken with the Santa Rosa Symphony, Kahane received one of the first MetLife Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement from the League of American Orchestras (formerly known as the American Symphony Orchestra League). In May 2005, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by Sonoma State University for his services to the Arts and Education.
Kahane and his wife, Martha, a clinical psychologist in private practice and an avid choral singer, currently divide their time at home between Denver, Colorado and Santa Rosa, California. They have two children: Gabriel, age 26, is a composer, pianist and singer living in Brooklyn, and Annie, 19, is currently a sophomore at Northwestern University. On the rare occasions when he is not thinking about music, Kahane enjoys cooking for his family and studying ancient and modern languages.
