Mr. Montasser has enjoyed a varied and fruitful performance career, and has performed in halls such as Symphony Center (Chicago, Illinois), the Wortham Theater Center, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, the Miller Outdoor Theater, among many others.
Mr. Montasser was a featured violinist in the Tikvah Company of Artists, where he accompanied live contemporary dance.
He has been a founding member of two classical string quartets, the Clark Street Quartet and the Fuzion String Quartet. The Fuzion String Quartet was featured at the prestigious Hot Springs Music Festival. The Clark Street Quartet presented Classical concerts in the Greater Chicago Community, and collaborated with artists such as Aryk Crowder and Sidewalk Chalk. The Clark Street Quartet performed at venues including the House of Blues Chicago and others across the country. Thereafter, he was second violinist in the Westheimer String Quartet, a String Quartet which performed across Houston and the United States. Westheimer SQ was the resident string quartet at Taneycomo Festival Orchestra in Branson Missouri.
In 2019, Zachary performed with the Houston Based Terra Nostra Ensemble at the Latin American Music Festival in New York City. Terra Nostra performs and champions music from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula.
As an orchestral musician, Zachary has performed with the Oistrakh Symphony Orchestra, The South Florida Symphony, Baytown Symphony. He performs with Opera in the Heights, and is currently a core First Violinist of The Symphony of Southeast Texas.
As a musical Theater Musician, Zachary has performed in musicals such as: Oklahoma, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Oliver, Chicago, Hairspray, Unlock'd. He has performed for esteemed companies as Stages Theater (formerly Stages Repertory Theater), Theater Under the Stars, A.D. Players, The Queensbury Theatre, as well as the off Broadway tours.
Zachary has collaborated with award-winning Christian artist Wayne Watson, and now collaborates with composer Peter Johns. Zachary was invited to perform on an album "A Discerning Heart," the first album of contemplative worship songs composed and arranged by Peter Johns.
In June 2023, Zachary performed in the world premier of "Desert Shelter," a piece for String Sextet and Choreographed dance. The piece was commissioned by Ponce Project, and was composed by rising star composer J.E. Hernandez.
Zachary is currently playing the fiddle at the Stages theater production of "Always...Patsy Cline", and will be performing in TUTS production of Cinderella in December of 2023.
As an educator, Zachary has taught private lessons and master classes since 2013. He was a program director for the impactful People's Music School, and has had private students pursue music degrees at the collegiate level.
In 2019, Zachary pioneered an enrichment lecture series called "Performance Conversations" which were an interactive performance dynamic with the elderly. Since that time, Zachary has created a whole new series of lectures called "Musicology LIVE!" which serves the elderly as an interactive music appreciation course with live performance. Zachary has been featured in Voyage Houston online magazine: Click here to read the interview.
Zachary earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in 2011 from University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, under the tutelage Andrjez Grabiec. Zachary pursued a Performance Certificate in 2013 from DePaul University in Chicago studying with renowned American violinist Janet Sung. Post Graduate, he has studied with Oleg Sulyga and Kathleen Winkler.