Before she would talk career or family, pianist Orli Shaham had to share her excitement about coming to Colorado Springs to play Johannes Brahms’ “1st Piano Concerto.”

“Anytime I get to play that piece I feel like the luckiest person on the planet,” she said. Shaham will perform two Pikes Peak Center concerts with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and conductor Josep Caballé-
Domenech this weekend

“Not only was Brahms an incredible composer, but he was an amazing pianist of some very unusual technical abilities,” she said. “And that means that both (of his piano) concerti are packed with technical pitfalls even for the best technicians of the day.”

Coincidentally, the 39-year-old Shaham is in the midst of a “Brahms year.” “I’m fully immersed in Brahms in the most wonderful way,” she said. “I’ve been tackling this enormous recording project doing Op. 117, 118 and 119 (the composer’s final works for solo piano) and combining them both with pieces that inspired Brahms, including works by Schubert, Chopin, Schumann and Bach, but also works that have been inspired by his compositional style, including Schoenberg but also a number (of my) commissions. I specifically asked contemporary composers to be inspired by Brahms which, lo and behold, is something they’re all thrilled about.”

Shaham’s surname should be familiar to classical music fans. Her brother Gil is one of the world’s foremost violinists. The siblings have made numerous recordings together. “Gil and I ‘speak’ as one,” she said. “I love it.”

Another frequent collaborator is husband David Robertson, an internationally renowned conductor who is music director of the St. Louis Symphony and chief conductor and artistic director of Australia’s Sydney Symphony. “Amazingly, even though David and I didn’t grow up together, we do as well as Gil and I do on stage.”

Shaham and Robertson have twin sons – Nathan Glenn and Alex Jacob. Between their very busy careers and the demands of parenthood, they have to engage in an artful juggling act.

“The hardest part is finding time to spend with each other because our priority is always to make sure someone is spending time with the kids,” said Shaham. “At the moment it’s not too bad because David is conducting at the Metropolitan Opera, which is always a nice thing for our family life because it means he’s essentially based at home.”

Orli Shaham Photo Credit: Christian Steiner