Ilan Volkov

Ilan Volkov was born in 1976 in Tel Aviv

Ilan Volkov was born in Tel Aviv in 1976. His father, Alexander Volkov, was a concert pianist. His mother, Shulamit Volkov, is a history professor at Tel Aviv University and a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences.

As a child he played violin and piano. He trained in conducting with Mendi Rodan at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, then studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

At 19 he became young conductor with the Northern Sinfonia and later led its youth orchestra. He became principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in 1997 and assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1999. From 2003 to 2009 he was chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and then its principal guest conductor.

He led the Iceland Symphony Orchestra from 2011 to 2014 and became principal guest conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic in 2022. He records rarely heard works by neglected composers, several for the Hyperion label. With Assif Tsahar and Daniel Sarid he founded the venue Levontin 7 in Israel.

In September 2025, after a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, he spoke against the war in Gaza. On 19 September he was arrested by Israeli police at a protest near the Gaza border and released soon after.