Viola Masterclass with MET Orchestra Associate Principal Viola Shmuel Katz

Shmuel Katz - Associate Principal Viola

Shmuel Katz has been praised as a “World-class musician” by the leading German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau, and heralded by the Ottawa Citizen for his “Uncommonly rich and introspective” playing.

Mr. Katz is the Associate Principal Violist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He was previously an associate member with the company for over a decade. Shmuel serves as Principal Violist of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra. He has also served as the Assistant Principal Violist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Principal Violist of the Pennsylvania Ballet, member and guest Principal Violist of the New York City Opera, and member of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He also appeared as Concertmaster and Soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, and has toured with the orchestra across Europe, Asia and North America. Shmuel has also performed as a guest violist in the sections of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.

Mr. Katz is on the viola faculty of the Manhattan School of Music for both the College and Orchestral Performance Programs, in addition to leading the Orchestral Repertoire classes. He previously taught on the viola faculty of SUNY Purchase and New York University. Mr. Katz has given masterclasses at TON at Bard college and at the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Shmuel is an active recording artist. He has recorded for the EMI, Deutche Grammophon and Ondine labels with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. His studio work in New York includes albums of Sting, Bruce Springsteen, and Lou Reed as well as more than 20 movie soundtracks.

Mr. Katz enjoys playing in a variety of chamber music concert and recitals throughout the year.  He performs regularly with Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin as part of the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble Series at Carnegie Hall, as well as with the Concertante, Richardson and American Chamber Players, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble and the Israeli Chamber Project. He has collaborated in chamber music performances with Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Yefim Bronfman, Michael Tree, Ralph Kirchbaum, Vadim Gluzman, Leif Ove Andsnes, the American String Quartet, and Tabea Zimmerman.  He has also collaborated in chamber ensembles with opera singers such as Tamara Mumford, Eric Owens, Ryan Speedo Green, and Joyce DiDonato. As a recitalist, Mr. Katz has performed in Weill Recital hall, David Geffen Hall, the Jerusalem Music Centre, National Library in Ottawa, Canada and more.

Also in demand as an arranger, Mr. Katz has had his viola arrangements performed by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra members in New York City, as well as by principal musicians in the Royal Swedish Orchestra and renowned chamber musicians in England. 

He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied violin and viola with Pinchas Zukerman, Michael Tree and Patinka Kopec. Before leaving for New York, he studied in Israel with Haim Taub, Ora Shiran and Yair Kless. He also performed in masterclasses given by Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Dorothy DeLay, Josef Gingold, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, and Alexander Schneider.

Mr. Katz performs regularly on his Iizuka violas, one of which was previously owned by his former teacher and mentor, Michael Tree of the Guarneri Quartet. He is also a Thomastik Infeld Artist Ambassador.
 

THE METROPOLITAN ORCHESTRA

Thrilling audiences with more than 200 performances each season, the MET Orchestra is one of the world’s great performing ensembles, both on stage and in the opera pit. Since its founding in 1883, the MET Orchestra’s performances have encompassed not only the entire opera repertoire, but symphonic and chamber programs at Carnegie Hall, international tours, and countless musician activities outside of the Metropolitan Opera House. The MET Orchestra has grown in the past four decades into an ensemble noted by singers, critics, conductors, and audiences as one of today’s most stylistically versatile and musically satisfying orchestras.