was born in Israel. At the age of 19 he was appointed Young Conductor in Association to the Northern Sinfonia in England. In 1997 he became Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and then Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was the Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra between 2003-2009 and is currently the orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor. He is a frequent guest conductor with orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, Ensemble Modern, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, National Symphony Orchestra Washington and many others. His operatic work includes Yevgeni Onegin (Tchaikovsky) at the San Francisco Opera, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Britten) at Glyndebourne, Peter Grimes (Britten) at Washington National Opera and other productions.  He is one of the guiding voices behind Levontin 7, a performance venue in Tel Aviv that brings together differing musical genres including classical, jazz, electronic and rock. This is his Israeli Opera debut.