Yaroslav Shemet

At only 28 years old, he serves as Artistic Director of the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice and Music Director of the Baltic Opera in Gdansk. From 2020-2022, he was the first guest conductor of the Neue Philharmonie Hamburg. In the 2020/2021 season, he held the position of chief conductor of the INSO-Lviv Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic in Lviv, and since graduation, he was the youngest academic lecturer at the I.J.Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan at the Institute of Conducting in 2018-2023. He is currently an academic lecturer at the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk. In 2023, he was among the nominees for the Polityka Passports.

He has been behind the conductor's desk since the age of 13. He has given concerts in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, China, Poland and Ukraine, with such ensembles as the Prague Symphony, Philharmonie der Nationen, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Sinfonia Varsovia, Sinfonia Iuventus, NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic, Polish Baltic Philharmonic, Poznan Philharmonic, Lodz Philharmonic, etc. He has performed at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Konserthuset in Stockholm, Shanghai Grand Theatre or Harbin Opera House as well as at festivals in Bayreuth, Munich and Hong Kong. He has collaborated with prominent soloists such as Lars Danielsson, Sonya Yoncheva and Roman Simović.

In the opera business as music director, he made his debut at the Baltic Opera in Gdansk in 2018 in a production of Georges Bizet's "The Pearl Catchers." After a few years, already in the role of music director at this theater, new productions of Karol Szymanowski's "King Roger," Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto" and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "The Grace of Titus" were created under his baton. He has worked with the Odessa National Opera, where he conducted Georges Bizet's "Carmen" and Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly," among others. He regularly works with the Silesian Opera, where he revived productions of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "La Finta Giardiniera" and conducted Giacomo Puccini's "La Rondine" as music director.

“The energy that this young conductor passes on to his orchestra is incredible!”

Sebastian Koik, "Klassik Begeister"

“Shemet performed at the filled-up-to-capacity Elbphilharmonie exhibiting his youthful and untamed temperament. He lives on music and breaths it – by conducting he presented all his skills.”

Marion Nevoigt, "Das Opernmagazine"

“The orchestra, which plays well and in time […], gains a deep sound under the baton of Yaroslav Shemet who conducts almost in an organic way.”

Łukasz Rudziński, trojmiasto.pl

“While interpreting the old Haydn’s piece, Shemet and his musicians breathed a new life into it. As if one listened to it for the first time – it was vigorous, fresh, delicate and balanced (…).”

Sebastian Koik, "Klassik Begeister"

Already at a very young age Yaroslav Shemet showed musical predisposition, therefore he began his musical education as early as the age of three. After finishing a primary music school where he learnt to sing, play the piano and clarinet, he received an offer to continue his education at a conducting class in one of four outstanding Ukrainian schools of talents at Kharkiv Conservatory. During his time at the Conservatory he won many international piano and vocal competitions, among others in Milano and Theodosia.

His Polish origin as well as his drive for further development made Yaroslav Shemet direct the path of his musical education to the academy in Poznań. At the age of 17 he began his studies in orchestral conducting at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan in the class of Prof. Warcisław Kunc. During his academic time he established the Musique Moderne Orchestra specializing in performing contemporary music. He was also an initiator and artistic director of a project known as the Polish Symphony Orchestra, gathering the best musicians in Poland. In the years 2018-2019 he was a conductor and assistant of Oksana Lyniv, the artistic director of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Wishing to constantly broaden his musical horizons, Yaroslav Shemet studied also at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna (Austria) in the class of Prof. Johannes Wildner. At the age of 22 he graduated magna cum laude from the Academy of Music in Poznań and began his career as an academic teacher.

The array of repertoire performed by Yaroslav Shemet goes beyond the canon of orchestral and operatic works. He specializes also in contemporary music and can boast over 40 premieres. He cooperates willingly with jazz musicians – in 2018 along with Lars Danielsson Group and INSO-Lviv orchestra he performed at the legendary Lviv music festival Leopolis Jazz Fest. Apart from his artistic life, he likes to share his knowledge and experience leading master classes for conductors, e.g. in Poznań, Lviv and Kharkiv. Thanks to his abilities, charisma and energy he can – as critics say – infuse well-known pieces with new life making the audience feel as if they were listening to the piece for the first time.