Ory Shihor is an award-winning pianist, renowned pedagogue and founder of the Ory Shihor Institute, which offers training and certification programs for piano teachers and students, online courses, and a pre-college program for gifted young pianists. Mr. Shihor was dean of the Colburn Music Academy, which he founded in 2010, and served as professor of piano at the Colburn Conservatory for ten years.

He has given lectures and masterclasses at conservatories, universities and festivals around the globe, including Chautauqua Music Festival, Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, the Frick Museum in Pittsburgh, Oberlin Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, Emory University, Colburn School, Manhattan School of Music, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Lynn University, Royal Northern College of Music (UK), Chetham’s School of Music (UK), Shanghai Conservatory (China), Beijing Central Conservatory (China), Seoul National University (Korea), and Taiwan National Normal University (Taiwan).

Mr. Shihor has served as juror in significant international competitions, including the James Mottram International Piano Competition (UK), the Arthur Rubinstein Junior Piano Competition (China) and the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition (USA).

Ory Shihor’s students have themselves garnered impressive credentials, winning top prizes in numerous international competitions such as Walter W. Naumburg International Piano Competition, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition in the United States,  Montreal International Piano Competition in Canada, James Mottram International Piano Competition in the UK and Piano Campus and Long Thibaud Crespin in France, among many other achievements. His students are regularly accepted to prestigious conservatories and universities such as Curtis, Juilliard, Colburn,

NEC, Peabody, Eastman, Yale and Royal Academy of Music (UK). Read more about Ory Shihor’s Student Success and Testimonials.

As a concert pianist, Mr. Shihor is noted as ‘boldly individualistic’ (New York Times) and his strong, flexible technique as a pianist who has proven he is ‘not afraid to take risks’ (The Washington Post). He has impressed audiences and critics from coast to coast and throughout Europe, Australia, and Asia.

Throughout his career, Mr. Shihor has performed in prestigious venues and festivals around the world, including The Kennedy Center, Aspen Music Festival, Ravinia Festival in Chicago, The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, Dusseldorf Tonhalle in Germany and 92nd Street “Y” in New York, among many others. Ory Shihor’s concert-drama ‘Last Thoughts: Schubert’s Final Works’, written by Hershey Felder, premiered in 2018 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. He will be returning to The Wallis in 2020 with the premiere of ‘Beethoven’s Most Beloved Sonatas’.

Mr. Shihor’s many awards and competition prizes include the Gina Bachauer Prize, Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Washington International Piano Competition and Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition.

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he studied with Dr. Emanuel Krasovsky, Mr. Shihor was a recipient of America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships from the age of 12. At 15, he came to the United States to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia under the legendary pianist Jorge Bolet and later graduated from the Juilliard School in New York City where his teacher was the renowned pedagogue Russell Sherman.   

Ory Shihor is a Bösendorfer and Yamaha artist.