Aleksi Zaretsky is a versatile violinist, teacher and music contractor based in San Francisco. Originally from Valley Cottage, New York, he has performed alongside the San Francisco Symphony, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, New Century Chamber Orchestra, SFJAZZ, the Monterey Symphony, Stockton Symphony, Symphony Parnassus (as concertmaster), the Concert Truck (managed by Opus 3 Artists), and Ensemble Mik Nawooj. In 2023, he won a Grammy Award with the New York Youth Symphony for Best Orchestral Performance. Aleksi has recorded for the Pentatone and Avie record labels and has been featured on PBS, CNN, and KDFC. He has also worked closely with producers at Sony Interactive Entertainment and has performed at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Aleksi has played at Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors, and performed at the 2026 Super Bowl with Green Day.

Aleksi has collaborated with renowned artists across many genres, including violinists Kenneth Renshaw, Simone Porter, Michael Cleveland, and Joshua Bell; pianists Lara Downes, Susan Zhang, Awadagin Pratt and Rieko Tsuchida; conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Edwin Outwater, Earl Lee, Teddy Abrams, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Michael Repper, Kalena Bovell, Rafael Payare, and Keith Lockhart; singers María Zardoya of the Marias, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and Billy Ray Cyrus; and jazz legends Kenny Barron, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Gerald Clayton.

Aleksi is pursuing his master’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), where he studies with Simon James, with whom he also completed his undergraduate degree. He previously studied with Elizabeth Faidley in New York. At SFCM, Aleksi serves as concertmaster of the Conservatory Orchestra and leads interactive community engagement performances, bringing music to a wide range of local settings. He maintains a dedicated private teaching studio in San Francisco, helping students to achieve a variety of musical goals and aspirations. Aleksi plays on a 1901 Rodolfo Fredi violin, generously on loan from the Chi Mei Museum in Tainan, Taiwan.