About

Saleem Ashkar made his Carnegie Hall debut at age twenty-two and has since become one of the most outstanding pianists of his generation.

Saleem has performed with the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles including The London Symphony, Orchestra La Scala Milano, The Staatskapelle Berlin and The Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, to name a few. He has also worked closely with internationally celebrated conductors ​​such as Riccardo Chailly, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Jakub Hrůša, Pietari Inkinen, Fabio Luisi, Riccardo Muti, Kazushi Ono, David Afkham and Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. 

Recent seasons saw him perform Brahms 1st with the Bamberg symphoniker, Grieg with the Brussels and Copenhagen philharmonic, he returned to the Konzerthaus orchestra in Berlin with Ravel in G and Beethoven 5th piano concerto with the polish national Radio and Mozart d minor with Lyon symphony orchestra. He also gave his Oslo recital debut at the Oslo opera house.

Saleem divides his time equally between Berlin and New England in the U.S. He is the director of the keyboard program and professor of piano at Brown University, where he teaches, Lectures and curates programs for the university.

He has had highly acclaimed debuts with the Chicago symphony at Ravinia, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and The Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the Ottawa national Symphony Orchestra and at Toronto’s Koerner hall with the Galilee chamber orchestra.

In the upcoming year he will return to St. Louis, debut with the Milwaukee symphony, and tour North America with the GCO, performing at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia Kimmel centre and the Dallas Symphony hall.

An avid recitalist and chamber musician, Saleem is a renowned Beethoven interpreter and has performed the complete Sonata cycles in Prague, Berlin Konzerthaus and Duisburg Philharmonic. He has been an artist in residence at the Harrogate International Festival, Queen’s hall in Copenhagen, and Milan Verdi Conservatory Hall. He is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall in London, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Boulezsaal Berlin and Musikverein Vienna.

Saleem is the Artistic Director of the Galilee Chamber orchestra, an ensemble that brings emerging and professional Palestinian and Jewish Israeli musicians together. Performing as both conductor and soloist, Saleem has taken the orchestra on multiple tours, including their European debut at The Konzerthaus Berlin and the Rheingau Festival in Germany.

And in 2022 their debut performance at Carnegie Hall with Joshua Bell as soloist and Koerner Hall in Toronto.

Saleem has recorded extensively for Decca Records including the Mendelssohn Piano Concertos with the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Chailly, as well as two Beethoven Concertos with the NDR Elbphilharmonie and Ivor Bolton. Saleem has also recorded the complete Beethoven Piano Sonata cycle in eleven CDs, a set that was released in 2023.