Musician Bio

Known for his “beautiful tone and control, tremendous energy and thoughtful musicality” (Violinist), violist Zhanbo Zheng was the first Chinese to win the Primrose International Viola Competition. He has also taken top prizes in other major competitions including the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and the Washington International Competition for Strings. He was also a recipient of the Emerging Artist Award from the Saint Botolph Club Foundation.

An avid chamber musician, Zheng has collaborated with distinguished artists, such as Jonathan Biss, Anthony McGill, Pamela Frank, Gary Hoffman, and others. He has been invited to perform at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society as a guest artist, and his music festival appearances include Marlboro Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Verbier Festival Academy, Caramoor Evnin Rising Stars, and Cleveland ChamberFest. Zheng has performed in leading venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and Kaufman Music Center.

As a soloist, Zheng has performed with orchestras such as the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, China Broadcasting Performing Arts Orchestra, and EOS Repertoire Orchestra of CCOM. In 2014, sent by the Ministry of Culture, he was selected for an exchange activity between China and Germany, hosted by China Education Association for International Exchange. He has also participated in the recording project “My Concert Hall — The Classical Music Appreciation,” which was proposed by Li Lanqing, the former Premier of the State Council of China.

Zheng earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the New England Conservatory where he studied with Kim Kashkashian, Miriam Fried, and Dominique Eade. He was a recipient of NEC’s prestigious Presidential Scholarship and graduated with top Academic Honors. He received his Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School under the mentorship of Paul Neubauer. In 2024, Zheng joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Viola.