Zachary Brandon has received top honors as the 4th prize Laureate in the 2023 Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition. He was also awarded  4th prize in the International Stradivarius Violin Competition and was the 4th Prize winner in the Cooper International Violin Competition.  He was a two-time finalist and the Bach prize winner in the International Stulberg Competition.  He was a semifinalist in the International Princess Astrid Music Competition and finished in the top six. Additionally, he was a semi-finalist in the Senior division of the 2018 and 2021 Menuhin International Violin Competition and also in the 2019 Concours musical international de Montréal. Zachary was also a semifinalist in the 2022 Sibelius International Violin Competition. 

 

Additionally, Zachary has collaborated with renowned concert pianist Jean Yves Thibaudet and acclaimed oboist Ramòn Ortega.  Zachary has also been invited to perform as a soloist with the New World Symphony, the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Symphony Orchestra, the Birmingham- Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra, the Northbrook Symphony Orchestra, the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra, and the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra among others.  

 

Zachary was the first place winner of numerous prestigious music competitions  including the following: the Walgreens National Competition, the Mika Hasler National Violin Comeptition, the Sejong National competition, the Musicchorale competition, the Grandquest competition,  all four divisions of the Society of American Musicians competition, the Michigan Chapter of the ASTA competition, both divisions of the Fort Wayne Young artist competition, Toledo Symphony’s young artist competition, Kalamazoo Symphony’s young artist competition, Lansing Symphony’s young artist competition, Birmingham-Bloomfield Symphony’s young artist competition, Kalamazoo Junior Symphony’s young artist competition, both the Junior and Senior divisions of the Confucius competition, among others. He was named a National Young Arts winner in 2014 and again in 2016. Furthermore, he was a finalist and winner of The Elaine Louise Lagerstrom Memorial Award at the FRIENDS of the Minnesota Orchestra Competition.

 

Zachary has worked with a number of internationally recognized concert artists and pedagogues including Maxim Vengerov, Augustin Hadelich, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Arnold Steinhardt, Miriam Fried, Donald Weilerstein, Ani Kavafian, Wu Han and David Finckle, Clive Greensmith, Fabio Bidini, Ben Beilman, and Slyvia Rosenberg among others. 

 

Zachary’s former teachers include Robert Lipsett, Jan Mark Sloman, Dr. Roland and Almita Vamos, Steven Rose, Jessica Lee, and Jaime Laredo.

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