With a sound palette ranging from a ‘commanding tone’ to ‘delicate sentiment’ (Calgary Herald), Taiwanese-American violinist Zenas Hsu leads a vibrant career filled with chamber music, orchestral leadership, and education. He is a member of A Far Cry, a Grammy nominated ensemble in Boston. Zenas serves as concertmaster of Phoenix, an orchestra based in Boston focused on approachable concert experiences, and serves as principal second violin with the Boston Ballet.
Zenas is a frequent guest artist of Bard Music West and the Wellesley Chamber Players and has served as guest concertmaster of ensembles and orchestras all over the world, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. World and national premiere performances include works by Robert Honstein, Philip Glass, Matthew Aucoin, Jessie Montgomery, Lembit Beecher, and others. He is a founding member of Chamber Music by the Bay, a California-based interactive music series that reaches over 2,000 people annually.
A native of California, Zenas received his early training in the preparatory division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He was accepted at age sixteen to the Curtis Institute of Music for his Bachelor of Music degree, and received his Master of Music and Graduate Diploma degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music. His teachers include Donald Weilerstein, Nicholas Kitchen, Ida Kavafian, and Wei He.