Biography

Gil Agababa-Shaked is an Israeli-born clarinetist, currently living in Finland. Since 2016 she serves as the Principal clarinetist of Jyväskylä Symphony Orchestra. As a versatile musician, she regularly appears as a soloist, chamber musician as well as an orchestra musician. Besides her work in Finland, Agababa-Shaked also actively performs and teaches abroad. 

In recent years, she has recorded several chamber music projects both for German and Finnish radios (WDR and Yle) and has been invited to teach at the annual “Internationaler Kunstsommer Arnsberg” – this year for the 10th time.

Gil has performed as a soloist with several orchestras, such as the Warsaw Symphony, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Klassische Philharmonie Bonn and Jyväskylä Symphony Orchestra.

Agababa-Shaked attained her Master of Music degree at the prestigious Sibelius Academy Helsinki, in the class of Harri Mäki. She also holds a Master’s degree from the Cologne University of Music and Dance, where her teacher was Ralph Manno. 

During her studies she was a clarinet apprentice at the Finnish National Opera and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as a frequent substitute in other orchestras, such as Tapiola Sinfonietta, Turku Philharmonic and Lahti Symphony Orchestra. She also played in “Philharmonisches Orchester Kiel”, Germany, in 2015-2016.

Gil Shaked-Agababa won several prizes in competitions and is a recipient of scholarships from the America Israel Cultural Foundation, the “Musikstiftung Köln”, the Lions Club, and the Yehudi Menuhin organization “Live Music Now”. She has also participated in the West Eastern Divan Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim.