Musicשי מאסטרו

Shai Maestro

Shai Maestro is an Israeli jazz pianist who played in the Avishai Cohen Trio and leads his own trio.

born 1987Pianist in the Avishai Cohen TrioLeading the Shai Maestro TrioAlbums on the ECM label

Born: 5 February 1987, Israel
Occupation: pianist, jazz musician
Education: Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts, Berklee College of Music

Shai Maestro was born in 1987 in Israel

Shai Maestro was born in Israel on 5 February 1987. He began playing piano at age 5, starting with classical music. He first heard jazz at age 8 through an Oscar Peterson recording.

He graduated from the Thelma Yellin High School of Performing Arts in Givatayim. He won the national jazz ensembles competition Jazz Signs in 2002 and 2003, and he received scholarships for jazz piano from the America-Israel Cultural Fund from 2004 to 2010. He earned a scholarship to Berklee College of Music but chose not to study there.

Bassist Avishai Cohen invited him to join his trio, where he played from 2006 to 2011 and recorded 4 albums. In 2010 he formed the Shai Maestro Trio, which toured widely and played about 80 concerts a year. The trio recorded albums including The Road to Ithaca, Untold Stories and The Stone Skipper.

He recorded The Dream Thief for the ECM label in 2018 and released Human on ECM in 2021. He has also worked as a sideman and has played at jazz festivals in Korea, the Netherlands and New York. In 2025 he released his first solo piano album, and he is based in Brooklyn, New York.