Uri Wassertzug

Bio

Violist Uri Wassertzug has performed around the world in locations including Alaska, the UK, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand. He is a member of the National Chamber Ensemble and appears frequently on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Concerts series. In the past, he was a member of the Sun Quartet and the Empyrean Ensemble, a new-music group.

In 1998 Uri Wassertzug was appointed as a member of the Kennedy Center Opera House/ Washington National Opera Orchestra, and also joined the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Idaho. He has also played with many other symphonic and opera orchestras.

Mr. Wassertzug is on the faculty of George Washington University, where he teaches viola and chamber music; previously he taught at California State University in Sacramento. He strives to pass on to students the passion and drive that led him to pursue a musical path, along with the tools to realize those dreams. His own studies were at the University of Maryland in College Park and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Some of his most influential teachers included the members of the Guarneri Quartet, Robert Becker, and Isadore Tinkleman. An aficionado of coffee, Mr. Wassertzug has been roasting his own coffee beans for several years.

Current Outside Position

• Tenured member of Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra and Sun Valley (Idaho) Summer Symphony. Founding member of National Chamber Ensemble.

Distinctions

• Member of American Federation of Musicians
• Member of SEIU

Education

B.M. in Viola Performance, University of Maryland at College Park

M.M. in Chamber Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music