Welcome to the website dedicated to the life and works of the beloved and influential violinist and teacher, David Zafer.
We are celebrating the community of David’s family, students, and colleagues, and creating a place where his work and memories of him can be shared. We welcome all content from this community to be added to the site. Our goal is to collect his photos, recordings, masterclass videos, memorial concert footage, bowings and fingerings of violin and viola works, and memories and stories.
Zafer Family Scholarship
The Zafer Family has started a scholarship at the University of Toronto School of Music in the memory of David. The University has established a permanent endowment for deserving young violinists, and will continue to match our donations. This link will take you directly to the University website. Please choose “Zafer Family Scholarship” from their options. Your generosity is deeply appreciated.
Biography
David Zafer (1934 to 2019) was an English-born Canadian violinist, conductor and academic. David Zafer was born in London, England, on April 2, 1934, but moved to Canada with his family in 1947. He studied with Elie Spivak and Albert Pratz at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and from 1966 to 1999 was a professor in the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, where he later obtained the position of professor emeritus. He performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1956 to 1959, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (as assistant concertmaster) from 1960 for a year, and was concertmaster of the orchestra of the National Ballet of Canada from 1961 to 1964. He founded the Chamber Orchestra at the University of Toronto and directed their operations until his retirement. During his academic career he gave master classes in schools such as the Menuhin School in Surrey, England, the Meadowmount Summer School, the University of British Columbia, Rice University in Houston, Texas, and Reina Sofia School of Music in Madrid, Spain, and taught at the National Youth Orchestra, Banff Centre, and the Courtney Youth Music Centre. He also directed the European Seminary of Strings in Budapest, giving a number of master classes in Prague, and in 1998 conducted the Real Chamber Orchestra of Seoul, South Korea, during a televised concert there. For 25 years he was the titular conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO), making tours with this orchestra to the Young Orchestras Festival in Aberdeen, Scotland, Banff, Alberta, and Boston, Massachusetts. He recorded a CD in 1997 with the TSYO which preserved a live performance of theirs at the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto. An extraordinary number of his students have gone on to hold concertmaster, principal, and section positions in major orchestras, as well as positions in chamber groups and at universities across North America and in Europe. David Zafer died in Toronto on April 20, 2019, aged 85.
Website created by violinist Ellen Moore, with the generous assistance of Paul Zafer and Craig Kadoke.