Mikhail Zemtsov (viola) is an internationally acclaimed and versatile musician, being a prominent soloist, teacher, educator, chamber musician and conductor. Mikhail Zemtsov studied viola and composition at the conservatories of Moscow, Hamburg and Maastricht with G. Odinets, B. Dinerstein, M. Nichiteanu, and M. Kugel. Mikhail obtained his master’s degree in orchestral conducting at the Lithuanian National Music Academy with Juozas Domarkas; he also took conducting lessons and masterclasses from Lev Markiz, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Gianandrea Noseda. Zemtsov’s solo appearances include performances with the Moscow Conservatory Chamber Orchestra, and national symphony orchestras of Mexico, Estonia and Lithuania; Luxembourg Philharmonic, Wiener Volksoper, Hamburger Symphoniker, Stavanger Symphony (Norway), The Hague Philharmonic (Netherlands), with conductors such as Neeme Järvi, Jaap van Zweden, Leif Segerstam, Dmitri Kitajenko. Mikhail is a member of the Utrecht String Quartet and Duo Macondo (with guitarist Enno Voorhorst).
Mikhail also founded a unique ensemble – Zemtsov Viola Quartet – together with his wife Julia, brother Alexander and daughter Dana. Mikhail Zemtsov is a viola teacher at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and Utrecht Conservatory (Netherlands). He is regularly invited to participate in international competitions as a jury member and he holds numerous masterclasses all over the world. Mikhail has been the principal conductor of the Utrecht Conservatory Chamber and String Orchestra and the Atheneum Chamber Orchestra. Since 2010, he has been a conductor of the Young Talent Symphony Orchestra under the Codarts University for the Arts and Hellendaal Music Institut (Rotterdam). He is also regularly invited as a guest conductor to the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain and South America. He has worked with soloists such as Janine Jansen, Dmitri Makhtin, Atar Arad, Gavriel Lipkind and Malibran Quartet. Mikhail teaches orchestral conducting for instrumentalists at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He has participated in numerous international festivals in Europe, the Far East and the Americas as a chamber music partner to Bella Davidovitch, Boris Berezovsky, Dmitri Sitkovetski, Sarah Chang, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Mischa Maisky; and Leipziger, Jerusalem, and Borodin quartets. He has recorded numerous CDs for Sony Masterworks, Tower Records, Deutsche Welle, Ottavo, D&G, as well as recordings for TV and radio. His 2016 recording for Chandos – concerto by B. Martinu with Maestro Neeme Järvi and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra – has been highly acclaimed by international press, including the Gramophone magazine. Mikhail is a prize winner of the First International Viola Competition (Vienna,1998) and of the Elisa Meyer String Competition (Hamburg, 1998).