Cellist Peter Zay’s musical achievements have taken him to concert halls throughout the United States, Europe and Central America. He appears regularly at the International Musical Arts Institute chamber music concerts in Fryeburg, Maine, and travels frequently to Spain to perform as a guest of the Quartetto Saravasti. As a member of the American Sinfonietta, he has toured many of Europe’s leading venues, including Vienna’s “Musikverein”, Frankfurt’s “Alte Oper”, and Stuttgart’s “Beethoven Saal”. He has performed at the Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival (VT), the Taos Chamber Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Bellingham (WA) and Wintergreen (VA) Festivals of Music. He has been featured live on WFCR and WAMC Public Radio and has been heard on radio broadcasts across the United States and in Europe. Mr. Zay performs frequently in recital with pianist Anne Chamberlain.

In addition to being a member of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Zay has performed regularly with many other organizations including the Boston Lyric Opera, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the Boston Modern Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the New Haven and Springfield (MA) Symphonies, and the Barrington Stage Company. As a backing musician Mr. Zay has toured with Diana Krall, Linda Ronstadt and Andrea Bocelli, and he has appeared with Luciano Pavarotti, Barry Manilow, Arlo Guthrie, Frankie Valli, the Beach Boys, Aretha Franklin and many others. He has recorded for New World Records, Natural Soundfields, Gamut Records and Moving Together Productions.

Mr. Zay first began studying the cello with his mother at the age of six. He earned his Bachelor of Music from the Hartt School of Music magna cum laude, and a Master of Music Degree from the Manhattan School of Music. His teachers and coaches included members of the American, Emerson, Guarneri and Muir String Quartets, and the Beaux Arts Trio.