Announcing Facebook Live: April 17 with the Zaks

We are thrilled to invite you to another From the Top Daily Joy Facebook Live concert, this Friday, April 17, at 6 PM ET featuring “Needham State of Mind”: Ilana and Eric Zaks from Needham, Massachusetts. The duo will play a program featuring music of all genres.

Ilana appeared on the show at age 14. She and Eric were both participants in From the Top’s Boston Center for the Development of Arts Leaders, which matched young musicians with community partners to share the transformative power of music with diverse audiences.

About Needham State of Mind: 

Eric Zaks is a cellist and undergraduate student at Tufts University studying computer science and economics. Born and raised in the Boston area, he studied with Ronald Lowry and is currently a student of BSO member Mickey Katz. Eric is Assistant Principal Cellist in the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. With the BPYO, he has performed in venues including Boston’s Symphony Hall, NYC’s Carnegie Hall, Prague’s Rudolfinum, the Berliner Philharmonie, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and Vienna’s Musikverein. In 2018, Eric was a cellist in the National Youth Orchestra of the USA and toured Asia with San Francisco Symphony conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. Outside of music and academics, Eric enjoys exploring the outdoors, traveling, and reading.

Jewish-American violinist Ilana Zaks has been described as “fearless, refreshing and commanding…she has all the requisites of technique, confidence and sensibility for a major career.” (Boston Music Intelligencer) and “captivating and delightful” (Worcester Telegram). She has performed as a soloist with the Boston Civic Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, New England Philharmonic, Pioneer Valley Symphony, Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Nashua Chamber Orchestra, Wellesley Symphony, Brockton Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Symphony, Arlington Philharmonic, Cape Cod Symphony, Symphony Pro Musica, and Thayer Symphony Orchestra.

Ilana loves contemporary music as well as premiering new works in unusual instrumentation and presenting the music through multidisciplinary means. In Spring 2019, she commissioned four composers (three from NEC, one from Berklee) to write pieces for Violin and Percussion which will be performed in a full recital with dancers, digital artists, and animation in 2020. The album, Persistence of Memory, was awarded an EM grant from the New England Conservatory and was self-released on CDbaby to great acclaim in November 2019, with the Visual Album Film of the same title
distributed on Amazon Prime.

Check out their other upcoming Livestream Performances: April 23, May 3, May 9.