Zvi Plesser

Israeli cellist Zvi Plesser (Certificate ’93, cello) enjoys a wide-ranging career on the world stage playing, teaching and promoting music in varied settings from the most prestigious halls to community settings with equal devotion and excitement.  Since his debut with the Israel Philharmonic under Asher Fisch, Plesser has regularly performed as a soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Camerata (including a tour to Australia and Bangkok), Israel Chamber Orchestra, Haifa Symphony, and other Israeli orchestras.   

On the world stage, Plesser has performed with orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Saint Martin in the Fields, National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC, Mexico National Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic, and Hamburg Symphony Orchestra under conductors including Zubin Mehta, Neville Marriner, Sergiu Comissiona, Karl Heinz Steffens, Steven Sloan, Duncan Ward, and Omer Meir Welber. He has played in chamber music groups including the Huberman Quartet and Concertante Chamber Ensemble, and he is frequently invited to music festivals around the world. 

At Juilliard, Plesser studied with Zara Nelsova, and his principal teachers include Zvi Harel in Israel and David Soyer in the U.S. As a professor at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, he served as head of strings, and he has also taught at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg, Germany. He frequently gives master classes and workshops around the world, has been on the faculty of the Perlman Music Program since 2017, and has also taught at the Morningside Musical Bridge summer program in Boston.