Critically acclaimed as the "pre-eminent improvising violinist of his generation," Zach Brock is an American jazz violinist and GRAMMY Award-winning member of Snarky Puppy. He has toured with Stanley Clarke and Phil Markowitz, released seven solo albums, and was named "Rising Star Violinist" of 2013 by Downbeat Magazine. A passionate educator, Zach has coached hundreds of musicians from workshops to conservatories worldwide. Zach remains a perennial coffee fanatic and skateboard enthusiast and currently lives with his wife and daughters in the NYC area.
Mike Block is a pioneering cello player, singer, composer and educator. Passionate about cross-cultural collaboration through music, Mike is committed to inspiring individuals and connecting communities. Acclaimed by the New York Times for his "vital rich-hued solo playing”, and by Salt Lake City Desert News as “a true artist... a sight to behold”, Mike's performances offer a rich mixture of classical repertoire, folk music, original compositions and songs. Since 2005, Mike has been a member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, with which he has been featured as both cello and vocal soloist, contributed arrangements and compositions, and earned a Grammy Award in 2017 for their album Sing Me Home.
As an innovator, Mike is among the first wave of cellists to adopt a strap in order to stand and move while playing, using his patented design The Block Strap. Mike was the first standing cellist to perform at Carnegie Hall, which the New York Times characterized as "breathless ... half dance, half dare." In 2020, Mike founded Play For The Vote, which organizes musical performances at polling locations across the country on Election Day, with the goal of increasing voter turnout by providing a more positive voting experience.
As an educator, Mike is passionate about creativity and collaboration among performers of all ages, and is the founding director of Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop and the Mike Block String Camp, and is on faculty at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory of Music.