Aziz Shokhakimov burst on to the music scene at the age of just 21 when he won the second place at the Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition in Bamberg, under the auspices of the Bamberger Symphoniker. Since then he has conducted distinguished orchestras such as SWR Sinfonieorchester, Elbphilharmonie Orchester (NDR Hamburg), WDR Sinfonieorchester, London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Toronto and Houston Symphonies as well as a previous season highlight – Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France during a very successful step-in for Yuri Temirkanov.

Shokhakimov has an ongoing relationship with Salzburg Festival where, having been selected from more than 100 candidates, he won the prestigious Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award in August 2016.

Born in 1988 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Shokhakimov entered Uspensky Music School for Gifted Children at the age of 6, studying violin, viola and orchestral conducting (in the class of Professor Vladimir Neymer). At 13 he made his debut with the 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 the National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan in 2001 and became its Principal Conductor in 2006.