Guy Ben-Ziony
Guy Ben-Ziony grew up in Israel’s scenic Jezreel Valley. At the age of 9, after seeing "The Waltz King", the Walt Disney film about Johann Strauss, he wanted nothing more than to play the violin. A few years later, when he discovered chamber music he wanted nothing more than to play the viola and took lessons with leading teachers of his homeland, including Chaim Taub, Gad Lewertoff and David Chen.
Encounters with the renowned violist Tabea Zimmermann influenced him so greatly that he went to study with her at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. After graduating in Frankfurt, he continued studying with Tatiana Masurenko at the University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig, where he performed Bartók's concerto for viola for his concerto exam under the direction of Daniel Harding, passing with distinction. After meeting the legendary violinist Gidon Kremer in Kronberg Academy's "Chamber Music Connects the World", he was invited to Lockenhaus Festival. Soon after he was a regular guest at important music festivals such as Leicester, Delft, Zagreb or "Open Chamber Music" in Prussia Cove playing alongside artists such as Christian Tetzlaff, Lisa Batiashvili, Alexander Lonquich, and Menachem Pressler.
As a soloist he played with many Israeli and European orchestras such as the Camerata Nordica, Offenbacher Kammerorchester, Israel Chamber Orchestra and the Tel Aviv Soloists.
He was a member of the Zapolski String Quartet from Denmark and the Waldstein Ensemble Wien, performing in many of Europe’s major concert halls (Vienna Musikverein, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall in London, among others). His close collaboration with contemporary composers as founding member of the “Israeli Chamber Project” has taken him upon numerous innovative paths. He has also searched for symbiotic collaborations in Germany, for example with the dance company Sasha Waltz & Guests in Berlin, with which he performed highly acclaimed choreographic concert "Gefaltet".
Guy Ben-Ziony is a welcomed guest principle violist with many leading chamber and symphonic orchestras in Europe, including, Hamburg, Berlin and Stuttgart Radio Symphony orchestras, Bamberg Symphony, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, or Amsterdam Sinfonietta. His Debut solo CD, entitled Monodialogue was released in 2016 with Genuin Classics to great critical acclaim. From 2006 untill 2017 Guy Ben-Ziony has been a Professor for viola at the University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig. The 2017-2018 season featured him as member of the Internationally renowned Pacifica String Quartet and Visiting Professor Viola and Chamber Music at the Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington, Indiana. He was also a guest professor at the Trossingen University of Music.
Currently Guy Ben-Ziony is a guest Viola Professor at the Robert Schumann University of Music in Düsseldorf. He continues to give masterclasses in Europe and in the USA.
He plays on a viola made for him by Alexandre Breton (Berlin 2014).
Photo © Giorgia Bertazzi