Guy Ben-Ziony

Guy Ben-Ziony was born in Israel in 1974. At age 9 he started to play the violin, and since age 13 he is playing the viola. In Israel he studied among others with Chaim Taub, Gad Leweroff, and David Chen. He finished his studies under Tabea Zimmermann, and Tatjana Masurenko at the Frankfurt and Leipzig Musikhochschule respectively.

Among his many prizes are a special prize in the “Lionel Tertis competition”, England 2000, 2nd Prize in the “DAAD” competition in Frankfurt 2001, and the first prize in “Sellheim Gesellschaft” competiton in Hanover 2002 with his pianist Jonathan Aner, which resulted in invitation for series of recitals in Germany.  

As a soloist he played with Israeli and European orchestras, among them the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Tel-Aviv Soloists, Camerata Nordica, Sweden and with the I.D.F. Chamber Orchestra in its 12th anniversary, a concert under the patronage of Isaac Stern.  Another collaboration was the Bartok viola concerto in Leipzig under the baton of Daniel Harding.

Guy Ben-Ziony’s orchestral experience as guest viola principle is with orchestras such as Camerata Salzburg under Leonidas Kavakos, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Jaervi, “Kremerata Baltica” under Gidon Kremer, and Camerata Nordica, Sweden.

He was a member of the Zapolski Quartet in Copenhagen. They toured Scandinavia and Russia, and recorded for the “Chandos” and “Classico” record companies. His current Ensemble is “Waldstein Ensemble”, a piano quartet core group which plays in venues such as “Musikverein” Vienna and Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Wigmore hall among others. In Israel he is a member of the “Israeli Chamber Project” (ICP), an Ensemble dedicated to the musical development of youngsters in the peripheries of Israel as well as performing in the major venues in Israel and the USA.

A special collaboration with the “Sasha Waltz Dance Company” is a most recent and exciting project called “Gefaltet”, together with his colleagues Alexander Lonquich, Carolin Widmann and Nicolas Altstaedt which performs regularly on the major stages of Europe.

Guy Ben-Ziony is regularly invited to the world’s leading chamber music festivals, among them are the Lockenhaus, Davos, Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Leicester, Ravinia, “Spannungen in Heimbach”, Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Bad Kissingen, Moritzburg, Prussia-Cove, and “Chamber Music Connects the World” in Kronberg.

Guy Ben-Ziony is Professor for viola in Leipzig “Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Musikhochschule,” and he is giving regular master courses, teaching in Germany, Sweden, Austria, England, Turkey, Israel and Hungary.