Shmuel Ashkenasi – Distinguished Visiting Artist

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Shmuel Ashkenasi attended the Musical Academy of Tel Aviv and gave his first public performance at the age of 8. After studying with Ilona Feher, he came to the U.S. to study with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Ashkenasi won the Merriweather Post Competition, was a finalist in Belgium’s Queen Elisabeth competition and received second prize in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In 1969, he formed the famed Vermeer Quartet and remained its first violinist throughout the quartet’s 39-year career, gaining a reputation as one of the world’s outstanding chamber musicians.

Ashkenasi toured the former Soviet Union twice and concertized extensively in Europe, Israel, the Far East and the U.S. He has collaborated with Rudolf Serkin, Thomas Hampson, Murray Perahia, Peter Serkin and Menahem Pressler, and has performed as soloist with many leading orchestras, including those in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Berlin, London, Moscow and Tokyo.

Ashkenasi has been part of the faculty at Curtis Institute of Music since 2007 and he also teaches at Bard College. He has joined the Park University International Center for Music in the 2025-26 season as distinguished visiting artist.