Dr. Netanel Draiblate - Program Founder & Director
Private Lessons, Ensemble Training Program
Annapolis Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster
Hailed as “an extremely gifted violinist with a strong stage personality and charisma,” Netanel Draiblate has concertized across four continents. The versatile artist performs as a soloist, chamber musician and recording artist and The Washington Post has called him “a violinist who combines confidence and virtuosity with a playful musical personality.”
Draiblate’s recent and upcoming highlights include appearances with the Brasilia Concert Society Orchestra, presented by the Music Society of Brazil, and the Lancaster and Annapolis Symphonies. He marked his second summer as artist in residence at the Aruba Symphony Festival where he was featured in Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe. Earlier this season he appeared as soloist with the AACC Symphony Orchestra in their Kennedy Center debut as part of the Capital Orchestra Festival. Draiblate has also performed with the Ashdod, Rishon Le Zion and Mediterranean Symphony Orchestras. Next season he will be featured in Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins with the Lake Forest Symphony. Solo engagements include his debut with the American Symphony at Carnegie Hall, Israel Chamber Orchestra and Turkey’s Bursa Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared as soloist with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra on a tour throughout China.
As a chamber musician, Draiblate has collaborated with Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, ltzhak Perlman, Jaime Laredo and Cho Liang Lin, performing in many of the world’s premiere venues. This season he will be play with members of the New York Philharmonic as part of the Lancaster International Piano Festival and serve on its’ faculty. He will be featured on a special concert for the America-Israel Cultural Foundation in November. Last fall, Draiblate made his Canadian debut and performed on the Friday Music Series at Georgetown. Draiblate recently toured with his duo partner, pianist Lura Johnson, as Times Two in a program dedicated to Brahms and continue to explore the lesser known works for violin/piano duo. He led a string quartet in a special program celebrating the 50th anniversary of German-Israeli diplomatic relations at Carnegie Hall, with an encore performance in Washington, DC for the Embassy Series. He will make his Ravinia debut in this same program this summer.
Perspectives, Draiblate’s debut solo recording was recognized by American Record Guide as “very exciting and engaging.” The recording features works by Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, Elgar, Grieg and Kreisler. Future projects include a recording of Draiblate’s original arrangement of Introduction/Theme and Variations on The Star Spangled Banner for solo violin and an encore disc with Johnson.
A sought-after teacher, Draiblate is the Director of Chamber Music at Georgetown University and serves on the faculty of the Annapolis Young Artists Program and The Levine School serving greater metro-DC area. This summer he was a faculty member of the 12th annual Dali Quartet International Music Festival. He has held faculty positions and led master classes at Towson University, Goiania University (Brazil), Brasilia University (Brazil), Recife Conservatory (Brazil), the Holon Young Artists Festival (Israel) and has previously taught at the West Branch International Festival, the Endless Mountain Music Festival, for the World Youth Orchestra and the Campina-Grande International Music Festival in Brazil.
Recognized as a violinist whose artistry “combines confidence and eloquence,” Draiblate is currently concertmaster of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Lake Forest Symphony and the Washington, DC based PostClassical Ensemble whose mission is to perform works created after 1900. He has also served as concertmaster for Tel-Aviv Soloists, the World Youth Orchestra, Israel Young Philharmonic, and held a leading position with the historic West Eastern Divan Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Daniel Barenboim.
In 2012 Draiblate created ND-Publishing to publish his original compositions as well as cadenzas for celebrated concertos. Last season saw the world premiere of his newly published Beethoven and Brahms Violin Concerti cadenzas.
In celebration of the Oslo Accords fourth anniversary, Draiblate performed in a special concert hosted by the King of Norway. His awards include first prize at the Jerusalem Academy Solo Competition (1998), the Ben-Haim Competition (1995), finalist at the Young Artists Competition in Haifa (1999), and a major prize in the Peabody Conservatory's Yale Gordon Competition (2006). He was the first violinist to be supported by the Ilona Feher Foundation and performed in the foundation’s Gala concert at Carnegie Hall. Early in his career he was honored to play on the personal violin of Ms. Feher. Scholarships have been awarded to him from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the Ronen Foundation, the Barenboim-Said Foundation, the Buchman Haiman Foundation and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. As child, Draiblate was asked to play for Isaac Stern during a master class in Jerusalem. Following the class, Stern arranged to give a 7/8 violin to him with a note saying “he would like me to have it until I grew out of it.”
Draiblate studied with the renowned Pamela Frank, Vali Blutner, Hagai Shaham, Shmuel Ashkenasi and David Salness, and has participated in master classes with Isaac Stern, Dorothy Delay, Pinchas Zukerman, Zachar Bron and Miriam Fried.