Violinist Zsolt Eder enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Based in Kansas City, Zsolt was appointed Concertmaster of the Topeka Symphony in 2011. In addition to this position, Zsolt is the newly appointed Associate-Concertmaster of the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA). In recent seasons he has given acclaimed recitals in both Topeka and Kansas City. During the 2012-13 season he also performed the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the City of Asuncion Symphony Orchestra (OSCA) in Paraguay and the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Midwest Chamber Ensemble (Kansas City).

 

Born in Budapest, Hungary, Zsolt spent most of his childhood in Perth, Australia. College studies brought him first to Toronto, Canada, where he studied with Lorand Fenyves, former Concertmaster of the Palestine Orchestra (now the Israel Philharmonic). Zsolt then continued his studies with Paul Kantor at the Cleveland Institute of Music, earning his Bachelors and Masters Degrees there. While at CIM he was also part of the intensive string quartet program where he worked with Peter Salaff and the Cavani Quartet. In addition, his quartet worked with members of the Takacs, Juilliard, Tokyo, Guarneri, Brentano, Miami and Cleveland String Quartets in Cleveland, New York and Banff, Canada.

Zsolt also maintains a keen interest in historical performance practice, having studied on period instruments with Jeanne Lamon and members of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (Toronto) as well as Jeanette Sorrell, leader of Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra (Cleveland).

 

Zsolt has performed at IMS Prussia Cove (England), the Banff Music Festival (Canada), the Aspen Music Festival, the Perlman Music Program, Mahlerfest (Colorado), Tafelmusik Baroque Institute (Toronto) and the Sunflower Music Festival (Topeka). In 2006, he performed in the first violin section of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in the very first Canadian production of Wagner’s complete Ring Cycle, inaugurating the new Four Seasons Performing Arts Center in Toronto. From 2008-11, Zsolt was a member of CityMusic Cleveland, a chamber orchestra that also runs a teaching program modeled on Venezuela’s El Sistema, bringing string teaching to underprivileged populations. Since 2011 Zsolt has been working for Musical Bridges, an organization that has a similar educational mission in Kansas City. He is on faculty at the Academy of Music and Dance at the UMKC Conservatory where he teaches violin. He is also taking lessons from renowned violinist Benny Kim.