The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra has announced that its next Chief Conductor will be Lahav Shani. He will assume the role in September 2018, at which point he will be just 29 years old. 

The orchestra has quite a track record for appointing young talent to its Chief Conductor position, Yannick Nézet-Séguin (the current Chief Conductor) was 33 when he joined the orchestra and Valery Gergiev became the orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor at the age of 36.

Shani, who is also a pianist and rose to prominence by winning the 2013 Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition (the same competition that effectively launched Gustavo Dudamel's career in 2004), also becomes Principal Guest Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra next season. The Israeli made his debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic in June of this year with a programme of Beethoven's Egmont Overture, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 6 and Mozart's Piano Concerto No 20, which he directed from the keyboard.

Watch Shani react to the appointment in the video below: