About Shira

American conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg is dedicated to creating vibrant, welcoming orchestral experiences for musicians and audiences alike. Shira is Fellow Conductor for the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Her jump-in subscription debut in Dallas, which including two world premieres, was praised for bringing “shape, purpose, and fastidious detailing” to the podium (Dallas Morning News).

The 2026/27 season features debuts with London Philharmonic, Sinfonieorchester Basel (Switzerland), Haydn Orchestra (Italy), Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic (Turkey) and Tulsa Symphony Orchestra (U.S.).

Shira is a 2026 recipient of the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, a semi-finalist in the 2026 Mahler Competition with Bamberg Symphony, and a 2025 winner of the Neeme Järvi Prize at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival. Other recent highlights include debuts with North Carolina Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico, Chattanooga Symphony, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Dallas Opera, and her subscription debut with the Spokane Symphony, where she previously served as Assistant Conductor. Shira has also guest conducted orchestras such as the Corpus Christi, Irving, and South Bend symphonies, and served as cover conductor for the St. Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic. 

A fierce advocate for women composers of the past and present, Shira’s repertoire this season highlights the music of Louise Farrenc and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, while brining works by Katie Jenkins, Reena Esmail, and Rachel MacFarlane to the Dallas Symphony for the first time. Additionally, Shira conducts symphonic favorites ranging from the triumphant declarations of Beethoven and Dvorak to the expansive meditations of Vaughan Williams and Elgar.

Shira is committed to helping young people fall in love with orchestral music, and does so both in her work with youth orchestras and in her leadership of concerts for young audiences. This season, Shira conducts the LPO’s Junior Artists in a side-by-side concert with their LPO mentors, and for the third year, she leads one of Texas’s All-Region Honors Orchestras. Shira has designed and led education concerts, sensory-friendly events, and family-oriented programs for more than 100,000 students and their families.

Shira graduated with a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from The Juilliard School, where she studied with David Robertson. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a minor in German from Swarthmore College, where she studied conducting with Andrew Hauze and piano with Marcantonio Barone.

In her free time, Shira can be found reading historical fiction, watching Star Trek with her fiancé, or taking an unreasonably long time to dice a shallot.