Gabriel Anker, Violinist

“Impressive weight and cohesion…” — The Strad Magazine

Gabriel Anker (he/him) is a classically trained violinist whose work spans centuries, traditions, and continents. Known for his nuanced, communicative chamber music playing, he has performed at leading venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, Disney Hall, the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Philharmonie de Paris.

Gabriel is thrilled to join the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra as Concertmaster for the 2025–26 season, bringing his passion for artistic collaboration and musical leadership to one of New Jersey’s premier community orchestras. He looks forward to shaping the ensemble’s sound in an exciting season of symphonic masterworks and community-centered performances.

Equally at home in early and contemporary music, Gabriel has collaborated with members of the Netherlands Bach Society and performed under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä with the Orchestre de Paris. In 2022, he toured the Netherlands with Amsterdam Sinfonietta.

A passionate advocate for new music, Gabriel has worked with living composers such as Caroline Shaw, Rhiannon Giddens, and Paola Prestini. Since 2018, he has been part of projects with Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra and LA’s Street Symphony, helping to bring both traditional and new classical music into diverse communities.

Gabriel is a founding member of the Rose Quartet (@rose4tet), a group dedicated to community engagement and performance access. The ensemble is the 2024 Amelia Island Rex Fellowship Quartet and Ensemble-in-Residence at the Texas Chamber Music Institute, under the mentorship of the Harlem Quartet.

His formal training includes the Montclair State Cali School Graduate Quartet Residency and diplomas from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the University of Southern California Thornton School (MM ‘20), and Rice University Shepherd School (BM ‘18, with Distinction in Creative Work and Research).