About Hadar Zaidel

Hadar Zaidel was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. She is pursuing her Master of Music degree in Violin Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of Prof. Ilya Kaler. Zaidel has recently earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (BMSM), Tel Aviv University, under the tutelage of Prof. Hagai Shaham. Zaidel has completed her obligatory service at the Israel Defense Force as a Musician of Excellence (2018-2020). Previously, she has studied the violin with Ms. Nava Milo and Mr. Nitai Zori at the Israel Conservatory of Music, Tel Aviv, and is a graduate of the Music Department at the Thelma-Yellin High School of Arts, Giv’ataim.

Zaidel has extensive chamber music and orchestral experience. She has been a member of the Gertler Quartet - the representative quartet of the BMSM and is a graduate of various programs of the Jerusalem Music Centre (2013-2018). These include the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, serving as their concertmaster; the David Goldman Program for Outstanding Young Musicians, the Huberman Program and the Ilona Feher Violin Program. Hadar has been broadcasted on radio for the Kol Hamusika station (Israel’s national classical music broadcast station) on several occasions with the Gertler Quartet as well as with chamber music ensembles as part of the David Goldman Program.

Zaidel’s solo experience includes solo performances with the Tel Aviv Soloist Ensemble under the baton of Barak Tal (2018); the Thelma Yellin Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Guy Feder (2018); and the “Goppisberger Musikfestival und Akademie” festival’s orchestra in Zurich, Switzerland, under the baton of Jonas Alber (2013).

Zaidel is an active participant of the prestigious Perlman Music Program since 2016 and has participated at the Keshet Eilon Strings Mastercourse (2023, 2022), ISAmasterclass festival (2023, 2019) and the Morningside Music Bridge festival (2018). During aforementioned festivals and in additional collaborations, Zaidel has performed and collaborated with violinist Hagai Shaham and cellists Hillel Zori, Zvi Plesser and Michal Korman.

Zaidel has participated in masterclasses with world-known violinists, artists and pedagogues, including Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Miriam Fried, Shmuel Ashkenazy, Grigory Kalinovsky, Irina Svetlova, Dora Schwarzberg, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Vadim Gluzman, Daniel Heifetz, Catherine Cho and Li Lin.

Since 2021 Zaidel is an active member of Musethica, a program organizing performances for diverse audiences in the community, focusing on “audiences with special needs, who are excluded from society and from experiencing music directly” (Musethica’s website). Through the program Zaidel collaborates with Israel’s most prominent professional musicians.

Zaidel is a recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) scholarships since 2013, and is playing on a violin generously loaned by the AICF. Zaidel’s additional awards include the 3rd prizes at both the Strings Competition and the Chamber Music Competition at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, May 2022; the Leah and Itzhak Lewin scholarship, June 2018; the 2nd prize at the annual competition of the Israel Conservatory of Music, June 2015; and the 3rd prize at the Israel National Competition, Raanana, March 2013.