In June 2003, Israeli Violinist Ittai Shapira made his Carnegie Hall debut premiering the shulamit Ran Concerto with the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Other recent engagements include a tour with the Budapest Symphony under Tamas Vasary, his 3rd performance at the Barbican Center with the English Chamber Orchestra, a UK tour with the Orchestra of the Swan, the Shanghai Symphony, the BBC Concert Orchestra and 5 CD releases. 

Shapira has recently performed with the London Philharmonia; other orchestral credits include the Russian Philharmonic, the Czech National Symphony (under Libor Pesek), the English Chamber Orchestra on tour with Yuri Bashmet at the Barbican Centre, the Polish Chamber Orchestra, Russian Philharmonic, Cape Town Philharmonic, Israel Virtuosi at Alice Tully Hall hosted by Itzhak Perlman, the Israel Chamber Orhesra and the symphony orchestras of Jerusalem, Omaha and Harrisburg. He has recently assumed the role of soloist/leader with various chamber orchestras, including the ECO and Bournemouth Sinfonietta. Described by the Washington Post as "a fluent and expressive instrumentalist", Shapira has performed as recitalist and chamber musician throughout the US, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Australia and China, at venues including Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Louvre Auditorium and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. He has appeared at the Ravinia, Banff, Aspen, and Schleswig-Holstein Festivals. He also performs regularly as a chamber musician with "Concertante". Shapira's discography represents his interest in both standard an unusual repertoire, and includes sonatas by Debussy, Janacek and Strauss and an album of virtuoso pieces (including a number of his own transcriptions) for Meridian Records. His critically acclaimed orchestral debut CD for EMI ("the Bruch reminded me of Isaac Stern's" (Fanfare Magazine)) featured the Bruch Concerto in G minor, Bloch's Baal Schem, Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen and Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra by Kenji Bunch, dedicated to Shapira. His most recent release in which he premieres works for violin and orchestra by Dave Heath has been chosen "Disc of the month" by MusicWeb. He was also the dedicatee of Rechtman's Jerusalem of Gold and Jazzical and has premiered works by Luciano Berio. Shapira's Barber Concerto with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under Thomas Sanderling has been released by Sanctuary Classics on their Platinum Series. 3 other CD's will be released shortly: The Menotti Concerto, an All Dave Heath CD with the English Chamber Orchestra and a Sonata Disc featuring those of Ravel, Delius and Franck. Future recording projects include the Shulamit Ran Concerto and the Shostakovich Concerti.

Ittai Shapira grew up in Israel, where he studied with the renowned pedagogue Ilona Feher. He continued his studies at the Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay and Robert Mann. A recipient of the prestigious Clairmont Award, Shapira has recently founded the Ilona Feher Foundation with esteemed colleague Hagai Shaham, dedicated to the nurturing and promotion of young Israeli violinists. He is also the Classical Programming Director for Bayside Productions, a company which produces special Concerts and events. In addition to being featured as soloist with Orchestra, recitalist and chamber musician he will be presenting a series along with Glen Roven at the Mountain Laurel Center for the Arts. Ittai Shapira plays a 1745 Guadagnini Violin.