Uzi Shalev was born on Kibbutz Ein-Dor in 1961. He studied the bassoon with Walter Meroz, Zeev Dorman, and Mordechai Rechtman. Upon completion of his military service in the Israel Defense Force as an officer, he continued his studies at the Juilliard School.

Since 1987, he has been Assistant Principal Bassoonist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Uzi is a versatile musician who appears regularly with various chamber ensembles and has been active as a solo performer with the IPO and with other orchestras. He has performed several premieres of Israeli works, some of which were dedicated especially to him, such as Aharon Harlap’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra. The world premiere of this piece was performed by Uzi with the IPO in January 2005. For this performance, he won the Eoden Partos prize for Music Performer in Israel.

Uzi has made numerous recordings for radio and CD. In 1993, his CD of works by Telemann won the Annual Award for excellence by the Music Retailers’ Association in England. In 1998, he released a CD of Bach’s Bassoon Concerto with the Cappella Istropolitana.