Anna van der Zee

Supported by Catherine & Roger Taylor

Anna grew up in Paeroa and pursued violin studies in Wellington and Detmold, Germany.

As a student, Anna was the Wellington Youth Orchestra Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin of the NZSO National Youth Orchestra.

After five years in Germany, she returned to New Zealand and co-founded the Tasman String Quartet. The quartet ventured to Boulder, Colorado, for two years to study under the renowned Takacs Quartet. Along the way, they picked up prizes in chamber music competitions in Florida, Missouri and Melbourne and performed on tours for Chamber Music New Zealand. They also participated in numerous festivals and masterclasses from Banff to Hamburg.

Throughout her travels, Anna has worked with musicians such as Eberhard Feltz, Sylvia Rosenberg, Andras Schiff, Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, Nobuko Imai, and members of the New Zealand, Pacifica, Guarneri, St. Lawrence, Emerson, Michelangelo, Juilliard, Schoenberg, and Cleveland String Quartets.

Before joining the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Anna played with the North German Radio Orchestra and the Århus Symphony Orchestra in Denmark. She has been awarded several prizes and scholarships, including a DAAD scholarship from the German Government and performed concertos by Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Sibelius, Bach and Mozart.

Alongside her work with the NZSO, Anna collaborates with her husband, violist Christiaan van der Zee, to run Karori Classics - a series of monthly chamber music concerts supporting local charities within their community.

I would love to perform at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg - with my beloved NZSO, of course! I studied in Germany and lived and worked in Hamburg, so it would be fun to connect those dots.