Zachary Spontak
Instrument: Violin
Studies:
Rice University
Biography:
Zachary Spontak, named the Young Alaskan Artist for 2015, is an active performing violinist and musician. Called a "natural leader" by Casa Magazine, Zachary has collaborated in performances with Roger Tapping, Desmond Hoebig, Ivo Van der Werff, Ritchie Hawley, Julie Landsman, and Nico Abondolo, among many others. In addition to being a three-time winner of the Fairbanks Symphony Concerto Competition, he won First Place at the Skokie Valley Symphony Concerto Competition in Chicago and the Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition in California. He is also a Gold Medal winner in the Junior Division of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Zachary received an Audience Prize for a performance in Moritzburg, Germany. A review of the concert said he plays with “a supple tone and lively
communication” (Dresdener Neueste Nachrichten).
Zachary has performed in many orchestras, including the Houston Symphony, the Skokie Valley Symphony, the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra. He was concertmaster of the Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra, the Astona Chamber Orchestra, and the Fairbanks Youth Symphony, among others. Zachary joined the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra on a tour of the East Coast of the United States in 2014, performing in Meyerhoff Hall (Baltimore) and Carnegie Hall. Zachary has appeared on radio programs such as KUAC’s “Alaska Live” and NPR’s “From the Top”.
Zachary has attended several music festivals, including the Perlman Music Program, Moritzburg Festival Academy (Germany), Astona-International (Switzerland), and the Music Academy of the West, where he participated in the inaugural String Quartet Seminar. In summer of 2014, he attended the Aspen Music Festival with a Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Fellowship. Zachary joined the Iowa Great Lakes
Music Festival in summer of 2015 as artist-faculty.
Zachary graduated from Rice University in 2015 as a student of Paul Kantor. He began studying music at age three with Jean Krause, later studying with Dr. Gail Johansen. In 2009, he moved to Chicago to study with Roland and Almita Vamos through the Music Institute of Chicago. He has studied chamber music with Itzhak Perlman, Peter Salaff, Roger Tapping, Donald Weilerstein, Francis Gouton, Norman Fischer, Robert Mann, Desmond Hoebig, Kathleen Butler-Hopkins, and the Cavani Quartet.
Apart from music, Zach enjoys running, reading, and hiking.
