David Zafer

With his exceptional skill and dedication as both a performer and a teacher, David Zafer has earned international acclaim as one of Canada's leading assets in the field of classical music.

David Zafer has focused for over 30 years in developing young Canadian and International musicians in addition to the refinement of his own talents as a performer. He has focused with remarkable commitment and innovation on the goal of developing within Canada, a national identity in classical music. David Zafer has worked with renowned artists as Oscar Shumsky, Leonard Rose, Glen Gould & William Primrose both in Stratford Music Festival and the Banff Centre. He studied pedagogy with the noted pedagogue Ivan Galamian at Meadowmount known for his excellence in developing young talents. As a performer, his career has spanned a full spectrum of engagements from Associate Concertmaster, Concertmaster, to guest soloist with the Baltimore and Toronto Symphony Orchestras. For many years he was a member and concertmaster of the Hart House Orchestra as well as the National Ballet of Canada. The works of Canadian composers regularly formed a part of his program, often performing premiers of their compositions.

He is now Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, retiring after 33 years as Professor of Violin and founder/conductor of the University of Toronto Chamber Orchestra. This ensemble was one of two orchestras invited to the Mozart's Bi centennial celebration at the Lincoln Centre in New York City. For 25 years, David Zafer was the principal conductor and violin coach of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, traveling extensively with the orchestra throughout North America and Europe. He has served as a performance coach for the National Youth Orchestra, a Director of the Canadian Chamber Orchestra at the Banff Centre and a faculty member of the Festival of Youth Orchestras.

Internationally, David Zafer is in great demand. He has given master classes at the Menuhin School in Surrey, European String Seminar in Budapest and Prague. Since 1994 he has been a bi-annual guest at the Reina Sofia School in Madrid. His schedule included faculty position at Le Domaine Forget, Meadowmount, Ikasante 2001, Bilbao, Music in Shannon, Limerick and the JVL Summer School for Performing Arts. He continues to be involved in many programmes as a faculty member, advisor, and juror.

Currently, Mr. Zafer teaches privately and continues to develop with focus, energy and consummate skill, many young musicians of the future. In addition to his teaching, he continues to appear as a conductor with orchestras comprised of secondary school students, university students and young professional musicians.