Aziz Shokhakimov is Music and Artistic Director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and Artistic Director of Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2015 to 2021 he held the position of Kapellmeister at Deutsche Oper am Rhein. His guest conducting has included orchestras such as the Orchestre de Paris, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Netherlands Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Gulbenkian Orchestra. In North America he has conducted the Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Toronto, Houston and Utah Symphony Orchestras.
Upcoming engagements include debuts with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, and returns to the Warsaw Philharmonic, Dresdner Philharmonie, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Alongside his guest engagements, Aziz Shokhakimov will tour with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg to the United Kingdom and conduct the orchestra for a production of Prokofiev’s "The Love for Three Oranges" at the Opéra National du Rhin.
Recent season highlights included engagements with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Bergen Philharmonic, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.
Aziz Shokhakimov is equally prolific in the operatic repertoire. In 2024/25 he returned to the Bayerische Staatsoper to conduct Donizetti’s "Lucia di Lammermoor", having made his debut a season earlier with Tchaikovsky’s "Pique Dame". He has conducted "Lucia di Lammermoor" at Opera National de Paris and as part of his tenure with Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra he has conducted a new production of Wagner’s "Lohengrin" at Opera du Rhin. As Kapellmeister at Deutsche Oper am Rhein he conducted new productions of "The Queen of Spades", "Madame Butterfly", "Salome" and "Tosca" among others.
Together with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Aziz Shokhakimov has released three recordings on Warner Classics. In May 2025, to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth, they released a full recording of his stunning ballet score "Daphnis et Chloë", to great critical acclaim. In 2024, they released Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 and Suites No. 1 & 2 from "Romeo and Juliet" and in 2023, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 and his "Fantasy Overture" to "Romeo and Juliet".
In August 2016, having been selected from more than 100 candidates, Aziz Shokhakimov won the prestigious Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award. He returned to the Salzburg Festival in August 2017 for the prize-winner’s concert with ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien and conducted the Opening Ceremony of Salzburg Festival with Patricia Kopatchinskaja in 2019.
Born in 1988 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Aziz Shokhakimov entered the Uspensky Music School for Gifted Children at the age of six, studying violin, viola and orchestral conducting (in the class of Professor Vladimir Neymer). At 13 he made his debut with National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan, conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. During the following year he conducted his first opera, "Carmen", at the National Opera of Uzbekistan. He was appointed Assistant Conductor of National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan in 2001 and became its Principal Conductor in 2006. In 2010, at the age of just 21, Aziz Shokhakimov won second place at the Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition in Bamberg, under the auspices of the Bamberger Symphoniker. In 2023, he received the French critics’ prize "La Personnalité musicale de l'année" (musical personality of the year).