Join violinist Ilana Zaks for an immersive gallery talk and performance exploring the artistic and cultural flourishing of Renaissance Florence and its influence on the music of the Baroque era. This program traces the legacy of the Medici family's patronage and how it set the stage for the great instrument makers—Stradivari and Guarneri—whose violins shaped the soundscape of Western music. Through the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Georg Philipp Telemann, and Hildegard von Bingen, Zaks brings to life the intricate textures and spiritual vitality of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Bio:

Jewish-American violinist Ilana Zaks is a dynamic soloist, educator, and interdisciplinary collaborator, appearing with the Pittsburgh Symphony under John Williams and Manfred Honeck, and in concert with Anne-Sophie Mutter. She has soloed with over a dozen orchestras, including the Boston Civic Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Cascade Symphony, and has performed at Carnegie Hall, The Concertgebouw, and the Berliner Philharmonie.

Zaks currently serves as a first violinist with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera. She is on faculty at the Seattle Conservatory of Music and joined the violin faculty of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute in summer 2025. She also coaches for the Seattle Youth Symphony and the Florida Youth Orchestras.

Zaks holds degrees from the New England Conservatory and Yale School of Music. She also trained extensively with Itzhak Perlman at the Perlman Music Program. Her recording debut, The Persistence of Memory (2020), released as a visual album on Amazon Prime and was the first of its kind in classical music.