About

Saleem Ashkar made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 22 and has since gone on to establish an exciting international career. Recent and future concerto highlights include the Brussels Philharmonic, Paris Mozart Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Orchestre National de Lyon, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the U.S. He has recently performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Detroit symphony, Milwaukee Symphony orchestra and will return this season to the St. Louis symphony.

Previous seasons have seen him perform with the Wiener Philharmoniker, London Symphony, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Royal Concertgebouw, the Detroit, St Louis, Vancouver and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestras and on a three-week tour to Australia. Saleem has a close relationship with many leading conductors including David Afkham, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Chailly, Jakub Hrůša, Pietari Inkinen, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Kazushi Ono and Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider.

Saleem is Artistic Director of the Galilee Chamber Orchestra, formed of young and professional musicians to encourage collaboration between the Arab and Jewish communities. Saleem works with the orchestra both as conductor and soloist. In March 2022, they made their debut at Carnegie Hall in a programme with Joshua Bell as soloist and at Koerner Hall, Toronto. Recent engagements included a highly acclaimed European tour, which included performances at Konzerthaus Berlin and Rheingau Festival. They are returning to Carnegie hall in November 2025 at the end of U.S. tour that includes Dallas and Philadelphia.

Saleem’s most recent recordings have been for Decca Records. They have released the Mendelssohn Piano Concertos with the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Chailly and two Beethoven Concertos with the NDR Elbphilharmonie and Ivor Bolton. Recently he has released the complete Beethoven sonatas for Decca.