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John Zoltek

An artist of varied musical interests from classical to jazz and beyond, Maestro Zoltek holds degrees from University of British Columbia (M.M. composition) and Berklee College of Music in Boston (B.M. composition) where he studied both classical and jazz composition graduating with honors. While Berklee he was awarded the prestigious Youth Concerts at Symphony prize for classical composition. He studied conducting with Attilio Poto, a legendary conducting mentor at the Boston Conservatory, and was selected to attend the Pierre Boulez Carnegie Hall Foundation program in New York. He later studied conducting abroad in the Czech Republic. Notable teachers include Zdenek Bilek, Tsung Yeh, Jorma Panula, Kirk Trevor, John Bavicchi and George Monseur.

Orchestras conducted include the National Latvian Symphony Orchestra (Riga), Philharmonic Bohuslav Martinu (Czech Republic), Vancouver CBC Orchestra, Orchestra Now, Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, Vancouver Pro Musica Orchestra and the Altoona Symphony (PA). Zoltek made his European conducting debut with the Philharmonic Bohuslav Martinu in Luhachovice, Czech Republic. He has worked with notable composers Alan Hovhaness, Sofia Gubaidulina, R. Murray Schafer, Stephen Chatman and Mark Armanini. In 2009 he traveled to South America to lead the Orquesta Sinfonica de Guayaquil in Ecuador. Recording credits include three CDs of the symphonic music of Mark Armanini with the National Latvian Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonic Bohuslav Martinu. While living in Seattle he was the Music Director of the Renton Youth Symphony Orchestra

Zoltek’s music has been performed in the US, Canada, Europe and South America. His recent compositions include: Trumpet Concerto, Clarinet Concerto, Going to the Sun (Fanfare for Orchestra) (that premiered in 2010 for 100th anniversary of Glacier Park) Hemispheres (2007) and Romantic Overture (2007) Processional (2005) and Celestial Lullaby Suite. His violin/piano piece By Dreaming Water was recently premiered by Tim Fain during Festival Amadeus in Whitefish where Polish violinist Kinga Augustyn will give the US premiere of his Rustic Suite for Solo Violin this August, 2014.

A native of Rhode Island, Zoltek began studying guitar at the age of seven in his home town of Woonsocket with traditional jazz master Alvin Pulley whom he studied with for 11 years until age 18. After playing in various rock and jazz groups during his high school years Zoltek auditioned and was excepted into Berklee College, one of his dreams. Thus began his academic career and serious music/artistic pursuits. While studying at Berklee he took a sharp musical turn towards classical composition and more importantly, conducting. While in Boston he studied privately with renowned conducting teacher Attilio Poto at the Boston Conservatory.

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Live Review

John Zoltek Stirs Up Jazz Fusion Storm in Montana

Read "John Zoltek Stirs Up Jazz Fusion Storm in Montana" reviewed by Mark Holston


The John Zoltek Quartet O'Shaughnessey Center Jazz Night with the Maestro Whitefish, Montana May 16, 2015 Watching guitarist John Zoltek bound ecstatically around the stage like one of his rock guitar heroes from the '70s, it was perhaps difficult for some in the audience of about 200 to reconcile that only two weeks earlier, his other, dark-side- of-the-moon music persona had commanded a local stage in a radically different fashion. That's when the 57-year ...

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