• Program
• About the Artists
  • Ilana Zaks
  • David Ji

Program

Full Program (PDF)

About the Artists

Ilana Zaks

Jewish-American violinist Ilana Zaks has been described as “fearless, refreshing and commanding … she has all the requisites of technique, confidence, and sensibility for a major career.” (Boston Music Intelligencer) and “captivating and delightful” (Worcester Telegram). She has performed as a soloist with the Boston Civic Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, New England Philharmonic, Pioneer Valley Symphony, Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Nashua Chamber Orchestra, Wellesley Symphony, Brockton Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Symphony, Arlington Philharmonic, Cape Cod Symphony, Symphony Pro Musica, and Thayer Symphony Orchestra.

As an entrepreneur, Ilana’s passion resides in creating theatrical multidisciplinary collaboration, breaking the stereotypes of modern musical experiences through the inclusion of contemporary works by women, popular recital works, and works she commissions. Her Jewish identity inspires her to advance Tikkun Olam through creating community within a diverse group of people through educational accessibility and the advancement of gender equality and representation of women in leadership roles. Ilana loves contemporary music as well as premiering new works in unusual instrumentation and presenting the music through multidisciplinary means. In Spring 2019, she commissioned four composers (three from NEC, one from Berklee) to write pieces for Violin and Percussion. The album, Persistence of Memory, was awarded an EM grant from the New England Conservatory and was self-released on CDbaby to great acclaim in November 2019, with the Visual Album Film of the same title distributed on Amazon Prime.

Ilana Zaks studied with Donald Weilerstein for 12 years at New England Conservatory, where she completed her Bachelor’s degree in violin performance and liberal arts minor in creative arts in 2020. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at Yale, where she is also a contributing writer at the Yale Daily News. In the summer of 2021, in addition to being a featured artist at the Boston Public Library’s Concerts in the Courtyard series, Ilana was a Presidential Public Service Fellow at Yale where she worked in community outreach, education, and social justice/arts and cultural programming.

David Ji

Pianist David Ji is a widely recognized performer, who combines insightful understanding, fearless imagination, and sensitivity in mature performances. He made his concerto debut with Prime Philharmonic Orchestra and as a solo recitalist and collaborator, he has performed in many countries throughout the world, some of which include Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, New Zealand, United States, Canada, and Korea. He has appeared in major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, National Opera Center, DiMenna Center, Merkin Hall of Kaufman Center, Seoul Arts Center, and Kumho Arts Hall in Korea.

David is a winner of the Arthur Balsam Duo Competition in New York and worked with renowned soloists and members of the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Seattle Symphony. He participates regularly as a pianist at the Heifetz International Music Institute.

Born in South Korea, David Ji started playing the piano at the age of 6. He moved to Canada and studied at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music with Marc Durand and Andrè Laplante. David is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Manhattan School of Music.