Saleem Abboud Ashkar made his New York Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 22 and has since worked with many of the World’s leading orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, La Scala Philharmonic, Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Deutsche Symphony Orchestra Berlin, London Symphony Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Maggio Musicale, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Orchestra and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. He performs regularly with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti, Lawrence Foster, Bertrand de Billy, Philip Jordan, Nikolaj Znaider and Ludovic Morlot and following a highly successful debut with Christoph Eschenbach and the NDR Hamburg Orchestra, with whom he was immediately re-invited to work, Eschenbach invited Ashkar to play the Schumann Concerto with the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra in the special Schumann Birthday Concert in June 2010. He toured extensively with Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra performing Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto, including appearances at the Proms and Lucerne Festivals, in a tour celebrating the bicentennial anniversary of the composer's birth and Chailly has re-invited Saleem for concerts and to record with him for Decca in the 12/13 season and beyond.  Appearances in this and future seasons include invitations

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"A formidable musician...who has a mixture of warmth and clarity, intensity and freshness that simply grabs you: Pure Beethoven-joy"

Die Welt Oct 1st 2012

"Ashkar developed the piano part with great care, insight and technical perfection as well as a fine feeling for the poetic sensitive moments. The finale was a combination of commanding virtuosity and pearly light dexterity"

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"(Ashkar) offers a transparent interpretation in the interest/for the care of the sound which he commits to in every single note. Delicate and refined, his technique never indulges, under any circumstances, in extroversion that turns into vulgarity...A model to be imitated."

Claudia Abbiati, Amadeus May 31st 2013

"Ashkar, protégé of Mehta and Barenboim, gave an interpretation that had much to commend it. His playing from the start had crispness and clarity, and I found his cadenza spellbinding, with a plangent tone and flowing glissandi. Ashkar has remarkable dexterity and attention to detail."

Philip Radcliffe, The Arts Desk Jan 18th 2013

"His performance was solid throughout, but in the slow movement he found attractive spaciousness in longer lines. There was great warmth...and the breezy coda firmly emphasized the lighter elements of the work."

Rohan Shotton, Bachtrack Jan 21st 2013

"The RSNO elicited all the tight-knit intimacy of a crack chamber orchestra, smitten it would seem by the beautifully controlled sophistication of Ashkar’s finely-articulated solo performance... Ashkar is a prize Mozartian. Let’s hear from him again."

Ken Walton, The Scotsman Nov 26th 2012

"His entry to the work was as calm as his demeanor; clarity, balance and phrasing were just right...The drama here was poignant and Ashkar’s touch was just right, endowing the ending with a sense of joyous relief...Ashkar walked the fine line between wistfulness and sentimentality with great balance."

Alan Coady, Bachtrack Nov 26th 2012

"Saleem Abboud Ashkar had a perfect mix of vibrant youthful energy and sophisticated maturity in this performance."

Hans Bünte, Saarbrucker Zeitung Oct 8th 2012

"From the opening arpeggio it was clear why this young pianist's sparkling articulation, dynamic contrasts and supple phrasing have seen him so well regarded internationally."

Martin Duffy, Smh.com.au Jul 19th 2012

"The other highlight of the evening for me was the fifth movement, “Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus”, a beautiful duet for cello and piano. This had an amazing, timeless quality to it and was played with great intensity of emotion. Like all great music coupled with great performances, this made me temporarily unaware of my surroundings and transported me onto another plane. A similarly moving movement, “Louange à l'Immortalité de Jésus” for violin and piano, concluded the work, and after a long, reflective silence, the audience burst into enthusiastic applause, rounding off a thoroughly engaging evening."

Oliver Brett, Bachtrack.com Jul 18th 2012

"Quality was brought out in this performance combining soloists from the Australian Chamber Orchestra with exciting young Israeli pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar (and)...the group's playing of Schubert's much-loved quintet proved a perfect vehicle for listeners to appreciate Ashkar's faultless touch and ensemble work."

Steve Moffat, Southern Courier Jul 18th 2012

"His easy flowing pianistic style was well suited to Schubert, and the ‘Trout’ in particular with its suggestion of water bubbling over stones in a brook....executing dazzling runs and arpeggios as in the instantly recognizable finale."

Susanne Yanko, ArtsHub Jul 17th 2012

"Time really stood still, lifting this work from the realms of merely charming to something more inspirational...The dawn chorus of the Crystal Liturgy was an ecstatic opening, bright and brilliant, while the second movement, Vocalise, erupted from the piano with arresting majesty. "

Harriet Cunningham, WA Today Jul 16th 2012

"Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No.1 was played deliciously by Saleem Abboud Ashkar, as though he loved and respected the work deeply – not merely as though he loved performing it."

Hilary Finch, The Times

"Saleem Abboud Ashkar played with muscularity, subtlety and grace in an excellent performance of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto No. 5."

Garth Wilshere, Capital Times Mar 31st 2011

"Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra is “a must”, in which the young soloist Saleem Abboud Ashkar satisfied us. Virtuosic (...) he gave us a beautiful music lesson, full of poetry."

Poitr Ilich

"Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in the hands of Saleem Abboud Ashkar was an exceptionally fine and commanding performance. Ashkar traversed between the lyrical and flowing to the powerful with fluency, capturing the ever-changing moods. "

Buchanan Smart, Waikato Times Apr 1st 2011

"Pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar made his first New Zealand visit to play Beethoven's Emperor Concerto in a lively, unaffected interpretation leaning to the lyrical and sparkling."

Michael Fowler, New Zealand Listener Apr 9th 2011

"His precise articulation, control of dynamics and quicksilver runs the length of the keyboard and long delicate trills won spontaneous thunderous applause. The second movement Adagio un poco mosso was particularly enchanting. "

Marian Poole, Otago Daily Times Apr 7th 2011

"Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto was inevitably grand, considering the size of the orchestra, yet both conductor and soloist, Saleem Abboud Ashkar, through their sprightly tempi and the pianist’s winning way with pedal-brushed passagework and crisp phrasing, ensured a lightness of spirit."

William Dart, The New Zealand Herald Apr 4th 2011

"There followed the first high point, as the Israeli-Palestinian pianist Ashkar entered for Saint-Saëns fifth piano concerto. With the title ‘Egyptian’, the work is curious and striking. Ashkar knew how to acquire those characteristics. His brilliant technique allowed him to play the lyrical piece with wonderful phrasing and tender shimmering sounds"

Michael Matter, Der Bund Jun 21st 2010

"The Bern Symphony orchestra and the Nazareth born pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar brought the atmosphere of a trip to Egypt to the Berner Culture Casino so effectively, that one would want to jump into a boat with Saint-Saëns immediately. Ashkar played with suppleness and subtlety, which fits excellently with Saint-Saëns’ complex composition"

Theresa Beyer, Berner Zeitung BZ Jun 21st 2010

"the main work of the evening: the A minor Piano Concerto. Saleem Abboud Ashkar from Nazareth played with the attitude of an old master, but was not a snob. The brilliance of the Galilean was captivating, and in the cadenza there were a few original twists"

Wolfram Goertz, RP Online Jun 10th 2010

"The piano was really sounding like Beethoven when Saleem Abboud Ashkar performed at the DR Concert Hall the other day. It was as if he gripped the theme of the first movement, taking into consideration and thinking a bit about it before he made it sound, clearly and to point. It was wonderfully clear and amazing how gently Ashkar could phrase"

Jakob Wivel, Borsen Mar 22nd 2010

"The Beethoven performance of the 34-year-old pianist from Nazareth was both ardent and lyrical and marked by a good mixture of outlook and room for savagery and strength in the details. The interpretation was exciting."

Thomas Michelson, Politiken Mar 22nd 2010

"Ashkar’s liquid scale-runs against Tortelier’s tightly restrained orchestral backcloth allow every pianistic nuance to shine. Lyrical, raptly romantic in execution, the Romanza’s alluring ambience proved Ashkar’s innate empathy with the more reflective prose. Those passages enhanced in duet with the bassoon, and Chopin’s effective evocation of moonlight made this irresistibly charming…Ashkar’s dancing fingerwork fully decorated the ensuing melodies with an infectiously engaging bravura."

Mike Marsh, Daily Echo Feb 25th 2010

"And so Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto in G minor seemed to arrive in the heat of inspiration with bows fired and a sense of composed authority in the fingers of Saleem Abboud Ashkar."

Edward Seckerson, The Independent Sep 9th 2009

"This was the G minor Piano Concerto, and what a joy it was. The soloist, the young Palestinian Israeli Saleem Abboud Ashkar, has the slender looks of a matinee idol, and his playing too was fabulously well-groomed, light-fingered and neat."

Ivan Hewitt, Telegraph Sep 9th 2009

"His playing twinkled with vibrancy, delved beneath the surface of lower notes, and then shimmered in the more languid passages. The final movement also prevailed, primarily because Ashkar effectively brought his exuberant playing to momentary standstill in the space of just two notes, it felt as if he were capturing Mendelssohn’s original intentions to the letter."

Sam Smith, Music OMH Sep 7th 2009

"The soloist on Mendelssohn’s first piano concerto, Palestinian pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar, performed with impressive style and panache. Though the piece by no means lacks drama – the opening movement is full of fireworks – the real melodic essence of Mendelssohn was revealed in the slow and tender second movement, which Saleem played with a piercingly exquisite intensity that expressed his deep love for a composer who once conducted this very orchestra."

Dick O’Riordan, The Post.IE Sep 6th 2009

"The piano plays almost continuously, providing the harmonic core of the work. In Ombres it is particularly beguiling, as high harmonics resonating from the back of the orchestra pick up the piano’s notes. Ashkar had to be given a little more to do so Volkov persuaded him to play Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the left hand, which he did with robust physical confidence and mercurial imagination."

Hilary Finch, The Times Dec 5th 2009

"After the perfumed aura of the Dukas, Volkov’s emphasis on the darkly forbidding quality of the opening bars of Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand comes as a shock. Soloist Saleem Abboud Ashkar handled this well, but even more interesting was his espousal of the Jordanian Saed Haddad’s concertante piece Alternative World – Version, given its UK premiere here."

Rian Evans, The Guardian Dec 5th 2009

"Ashkar revealed the poetry of the improvisatory slow section and the concerto’s underlying menace – the feral grin under its jazzy good-humoured surface."

Norman Stinchcombe, The Birmingham Post Dec 4th 2008