Aziz Shokhakimov is Music Director and Artistic Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and Artistic Director of the Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra in Turkey. From 2015 to 2021 he held the position of Kapellmeister at Deutsche Oper am Rhein.
As a regular guest conductor with leading orchestras, Aziz Shokhakimov has conducted, among others, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, the WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the hr-Sinfonieorchester in Frankfurt, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI in Turin, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Gulbenkian Orchestra.
He also performs regularly in the United States and Canada (Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Utah and Toronto) and in Asia with the Tokyo and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestras. In October 2024, he stepped in at short notice to conduct the Orchestre de Paris, leading two concerts with Gautier Capuçon. The 2025/26 season marks his debuts with further renowned orchestras, including the Hamburg State Orchestra as well as the Netherlands and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestras.
Aziz Shokhakimov is equally prolific in the operatic repertoire. The 2023/24 season saw his debut at Bayerischer Staatsoper conducting Tchaikovsky’s "Pique Dame", where he returned in 2024/25 to conduct Donizetti’s "Lucia di Lammermoor". In 2023/24 he made his debut with Opera National de Paris with "Lucia di Lammermoor". As part of his tenure with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, 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 two recordings on Warner Classics. In 2024, they released Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 and Suites Nos. 1 & 2 from "Romeo and Juliet", and in 2023 Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 and "Romeo and Juliet" Fantasy Overture. His concerts with the orchestra are also frequently broadcast on medici.tv, including Brahms’ "A German Requiem" and Verdi's Messa da Requiem.
Aziz 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. He returned to the Salzburg Festival in August 2017 for the prize-winner’s concert with ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien and appeared at the Opening Ceremony of Salzburg Festival 2019 with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and soloist Patricia Kopatchinskaja.
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 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, 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).