Dr. Netanel Draiblate
Concertmaster
Founder & Director, Annapolis Symphony Academy
Hailed as “an extremely gifted violinist with a strong stage personality and charisma,” Netanel Draiblate has concertized across four continents. The versatile artist performs as a soloist, chamber musician and recording artist and The Washington Post has recognized him as “a violinist who combines confidence and virtuosity with a playful musical personality.”
Recent highlights include performances of the Saint-Saens and Tchaikovsky violin concerti with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Jim Stephenson’s violin concerto Tributes with the Lake Forest Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra featuring his own cadenza, andLou Harrison’s Suite for Violin, Piano and Chamber Orchestra with the Post-Classical Ensemble in Washington, D.C. Previous engagements include appearances with the American Symphony at Carnegie Hall, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Brasilia Concert Society Orchestra and Turkey’s Bursa Symphony Orchestra.
Active as a chamber musician, Draiblate has collaborated with Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Jaime Laredo and Cho Liang Lin, performing in many of the world’s premiere venues. In his second summer as a guest artist with Festival Baltimore, he was featured in a program dedicated to the works of Mendelssohn. Mr. Draiblate appeared in numerous festivals including the Ravinia Festival, a performance with members of the New York Philharmonic as part of the Lancaster International Piano Festival, three seasons with the Nuevo Mundo Festival in Aruba, the Dali Quartet International Festival, West Branch International Festival, the Endless Mountain Music Festival, World Youth Orchestra, and the Campina-Grande International Music Festival in Brazil.
He also led a string quartet in a special program celebrating the 50th anniversary of German-Israeli diplomatic relations at Carnegie Hall, with an encore performance in Washington, DC for the Embassy Series. Draiblate tours with his duo partner, pianist Lura Johnson, as Times Two and continues to explore the lesser known works for violin/piano duo.
Perspectives, Draiblate’s debut solo recording was recognized by American Record Guide as “very exciting and engaging.” The recording features works by Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, Elgar, Grieg and Kreisler. Future projects include a recording of Draiblate’s original arrangement of Introduction/Theme and Variations on The Star Spangled Banner for solo violin.
A sought-after teacher, Draiblate is the Founder and Director of the Annapolis Symphony Academy. Mr. Draiblate served as the Director of Chamber Music at Georgetown University, held faculty positions and led master classes at Towson University, Goiania University (Brazil), Brasilia University (Brazil), Recife Conservatory (Brazil), the Holon Young Artists Festival (Israel).
Recognized as a violinist whose artistry “combines confidence and eloquence,” Draiblate is currently concertmaster of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Washington, DC based Post-Classical Ensemble whose mission is to perform works created after 1900. He has also served as concertmaster for the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra, Tel-Aviv Soloists, the World Youth Orchestra, Israel Young Philharmonic, and held a leading position with the historic West Eastern Divan Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Daniel Barenboim.
In 2012 Draiblate created ND-Publishing to publish his original compositions as well as cadenzas for celebrated concertos and recently saw the world premiere of his newly published Beethoven and Brahms Violin Concerti cadenzas.
In celebration of the Oslo Accords fourth anniversary, Draiblate performed in a special concert hosted by the King of Norway. His awards include first prize at the Jerusalem Academy Solo Competition (1998), the Ben-Haim Competition (1995), finalistat the Young Artists Competition in Haifa (1999), and a major prize in the Peabody Conservatory’s Yale Gordon Competition (2006). He was the first violinist to be supported by the Ilona Feher Foundation and performed in the foundation’s Gala concert at Carnegie Hall. Scholarships have been awarded to him from the America- Israel Cultural Foundation, the Ronen Foundation, the Barenboim-Said Foundation, the Buchman Haiman Foundation and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. As child, Draiblate was asked to play for Isaac Stern during a master class in Jerusalem. Following the class, Stern arranged to lend a 7/8 violin he owned to the young violinist writing in a note “he would like you to have it until you grew out of it.”
Draiblate studied with the renowned Pamela Frank, Vali Blutner, Hagai Shaham, Shmuel Ashkenasi and David Salness, and has performed in master classes with Isaac Stern, Dorothy Delay, Pinchas Zukerman, Zachar Bron and Miriam Fried.
When not concertizing, Mr. Draiblate flies the Boeing 737 as a First-Officer for United Airlines.