Jeffrey Kahane

Celebrated for his “imagination, devotion and supreme musicianship” (Los Angeles Times), Jeffrey Kahane is now in the fifth decade of an expansive and eclectic musical career. As a pianist, conductor and scholar, his career highlights run the gamut from concertos with the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony, to recitals with Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell, European tours at the podium of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, lecture/performances of Beethoven symphonies informed by his immersion in ancient literature, and collaborations with the Emerson, Miró, Dover, Attacca and Calidore String Quartets. Kahane is currently Music Director of the San Antonio Philharmonic, where he was named Music Director following the orchestra’s reconstitution under its current name. Building on the legacies of orchestras dating back more than a century in San Antonio, the San Antonio Philharmonic was re-formed from the recently dissolved San Antonio Symphony, on the initiative of its own musicians, with a goal of building an inclusive classical music experience reflecting the city’s diverse heritage. He also serves as Music Director of the Sarasota Music Festival.

During the 2024-2025 season, Kahane conducts the San Antonio Philharmonic in more than a dozen performances, including a special series featuring the GRAMMY®-winning vocal band Roomful of Teeth, an artistic partner to the orchestra. He also performs as a piano soloist in programs with the Oregon Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic, High Desert Chamber Music (Bend, OR) and Northwestern University, where he is featured in a program with his son, composer Gabriel Kahane. From May 31 through June 22, 2025, he leads the Sarasota Music Festival as Music Director.

During his 20 seasons as Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, he led the orchestra on an East Coast tour, including a sold-out Carnegie Hall concert with bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, as well as an eight-city European tour. He was instrumental in the creation of several new series, including his signature “Discover” concerts, each of which would illuminate a major work via a lecture-demonstration and performance. Among his proudest achievements from his LACO tenure was the introduction of a commissioning club, “Sound Investment,” that allowed club members to follow a composer’s process from conception to premiere.

In addition to the dozens of works commissioned or premiered by the orchestras where he has served as music director, Kahane has premiered piano concertos written for him by composers Kevin Puts and Andrew Norman. He has also given multiple performances of Heirloom, a new concerto written for him by his son, composer Gabriel Kahane, as a way of tracing the connections between music and three generations of family history.

Continuing his pursuit of a lifelong passion for the study of languages, he went back to school in 2009 to study ancient Greek and Latin, earning a Master’s degree in Classics in 2011 from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Classics at the University of Southern California.

When not on the road, he teaches a small class of gifted pianists and coaches chamber music at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, and occasionally guest conducts the USC Thornton Symphony. In cooperation with the USC Classics department, he recently developed and co-taught a general education course for undergraduates exploring the connections between classical music and ancient classical literature.

Kahane and his wife Martha (a psychologist, choral singer, and writer) met at summer camp at age ten. Their daughter Annie is an accomplished choreographer-dancer-poet, while their son Gabriel is a widely acclaimed singer-songwriter-composer. Learn more at www.jeffreykahane.net.