As of the 2018/19 season Lahav Shani is Conductor Principal of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and as of the 2020/21 season he is Conductor Musicale of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, following Zubin Mehta who held the appointment for 50 years. From 2017 to 2020 he was also Conductor Principal Guest of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

His appointment as Conductor Principal of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra is announced no less than two months after his debut with the orchestra in June 2016, becoming the youngest Conductor to hold the position in the history of the Dutch ensemble.

Shani made his debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra when he was only sixteen years old, performing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto under the baton of Zubin Mehta in 2007, continuing to play with the orchestra as a double bassist. In 2013, after winning the Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition in Bamberg, he was invited to conduct the opening concerts of the season and is a guest every year as Conductor and pianist, until his appointment as Conductor music in 2020.

Shani also collaborates regularly with the Staatskapelle Berlin, in opera productions and symphony concerts. Recent and future engagements as Conductor guest include orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhaus Orchester, London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Budapest Festival Orchestra. In the 2022/2023 season, Shani begins his three-year residency at the Konzerthaus Dortmund.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1989, Shani began piano studies at age six with Hannah Shalgi, and later with Arie Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music. He studied conducting with Christian Ehwald and piano with Fabio Bidini at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, where Daniel Barenboim is among his mentors.

In the last season Shani performed as pianist alongside Valery Gergiev and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and with Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin. Shani is an active chamber music and recital performer and is a regular guest at the Verbier Festival, recently participated in the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival.