Concerts & Seminars

traditional & innovative Concert events

Violinist Ilana Zaks

From intimate solo recitals to immersive multimedia experiences, Ilana Zaks offers a wide range of performances designed to connect with audiences of all kinds. Her programs span classical masterworks, contemporary chamber music, and thematic concerts that explore identity, history, and storytelling through sound. Whether you're planning a concert series, cultural event, or community gathering, performances can be tailored to fit your space, audience, and vision.

Performance Videos

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Soloist with Orchestra

Available to play a variety of classical & pops pieces. View repertoire.

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Violin Performances

Traditional classical repertoire, thematic programs highlighting underrepresented composers, multimedia presentations & interactive concerts

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Chamber Music

Open to collaboration in any grouping or style

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Soloist with Orchestra

Ilana Zaks made her symphonic debut at age eleven with the Boston Civic Symphony under Max Hobart, and later returned as a featured soloist at Boston’s Jordan Hall and the Boston Hatch Shell. Notable stages include Symphony Hall and Sanders Theatre (Boston), Heinz Hall (Pittsburgh), Benaroya Hall (Seattle), Powell Hall (St. Louis), Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Concertgebouw, Rudolfinum, and the Granada and Valladolid Festivals.

Ilana is available for orchestral engagements in the 2025-26 season. View Repertoire.

Tchaikovsky Concerto with conductor Benjamin Zander and Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in Sanders Theater at Harvard University

Lalo Symphonie Espagnole - Ilana Zaks and Christopher Wilkins (With Encore)

The Bohemian Pearl - A Masterworks Concert (Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra)

Ilana Zaks -- Menuhin Competition 2014 -- Junior Finals, Part 2

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64 - Ilana Zaks and Boston Civic Symphony in New London (Copy)

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor - Ilana Zaks and Taichi Fukumura, Boston Civic Symphony

Critics say

“Violinist Ilana Zaks dispatched the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with surprisingly mature and outgoing mastery. She knew when to lead and when her part was accompaniment. With a large and unforced tone, she used vibrato as an expressive device rather than sugarcoating. Her harmonics were some of the best-tuned I have heard, her portato articulations brilliant, and she had a refreshing way of knowing when to borrow time and when to return it. She projected untreacly sweetness along with the command. She was ready for her spotlight in the cadenza. It probably would have earned spontaneous applause had the second movement not been played attacca.”
— Lee Eiseman, Boston Music Intelligencer
“More than a few were astounded by the fearless performance of Ilana Zaks, who is only 14, but who was not in the least daunted by the Allegro vivacissimo finale of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. … This is the same concerto that its original dedicatee, the great Leopold Auer, declared to be unplayable, although he later gave in and played it.”
— Mark DeVoto, Boston Music Intelligencer
“Ilana Zaks opened the evening with the "Carmen Fantasy," for which she wore a red dress. Ilana seemed to thrive on the energy she was getting from the orchestra, and her excellent performance was met with enthusiastic applause.”

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Solo Violin Performances

Violin Recitals

Traditional repertoire featuring works by violinist-composers like Bach, Ysaÿe, Bloch, and Paganini, often with spoken commentary to explore the music’s history and meaning

Repertoire

Thematic Programs

Thematic programs highlighting underrepresented composers, such as Jewish identity through music or American composers of diverse backgrounds

Multimedia Projects

Multimedia presentations combining live violin performance with film, narrative, and visual art to create immersive experiences

Project Portfolio

Interactive Seminars & Accessible Concerts

Tailored for seniors, community centers, and cultural institutions, often including audience discussion.

Topics include:

Jewish Identity Through the Violin – Exploring Jewish composers’ voices through live performance and storytelling
The Violin Across Continents and Centuries – From Baroque to modern-day America, tracing Ilana’s musical lineage through Auer, Galamian, and Oistrakh
Women in Music History – Highlighting underrecognized women composers and trailblazers
Music and Memory – A reflective program combining live music with conversation and story-sharing, ideal for enrichment and memory care
The Intermedial Performer – Exploring how musicians use technology and multimedia to tell new stories

Audiences say

“It was the most extraordinary concert I had ever heard, and I only wish that those who chose not to come ‘because solo violin is not my favorite repertoire’ had taken a chance on a gift that landed literally where we live.”
“She played beautifully, and was generous with her music, poised, forgiving of interruptions by latecomers and appreciative of the riveted attention of the audience. All her selections were difficult, but she made them sing and her commentary was enlightening.”