Roman Spitzer, Principal Violist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra since 2000, joined the IPO in 1995 and became Assistant Principal Violist in 1997.
Born in 1969 in St. Petersburg, he began violin studies at the age of 6 with Prof. S. Zabejinsky. Later he studied with Prof. V. Maazel at the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Music College and was very active as soloist with the college chamber orchestra and as a recitalist.
In 1990 he came to Israel and continued his studies with Prof. G. Levertoff at the Rubin Academy of Music, Tel-Aviv University. During that time he started to play the viola and was soon invited to be Principal Violist of the Tel-Aviv Symphony Orchestra. He was a member of the New Tel-Aviv String Quartet, with whom he played throughout Israel and participated in an international string qurtet festival in Tel-Aviv.
He regularly plays chamber music, often with such renowned artists as Gil Shaham, Pamela Franck and leading IPO members. He has already appeared as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.