Some facts about Iren:
Hobbies she enjoys: Running has been my family's passion for
a long time. I am supposed to run my first half-marathon this December with my brother who is coming from Hungary to visit!
If she wasn't a musician, she'd enjoy being a: History or Hungarian literature teacher, or archeologist.
What she's reading now: Dracula by Bram Stoker currently, Jane Austen and Isaac Asimov recently
Her favorite Memphis restaurant: Automatic Slims
Favorite Vacation: anyplace tropical with a bar at the beach and daycare facilities
The worst non-musical job she's ever held: Working in a Hallmark store full-time during my first season with the orchestra and going to rehearsal very tired every night. It wasn't all that bad until the beanie-babies broke, but after that it was pure maddness. Seemingly normal looking stay-at-home moms and nice old ladies would practically attack the UPS truck that brought the next shipment...
Her most influential teacher: My first teacher, Klara Ivan. She taught me everything about music. I still think about every musical phrase I ever play the way she taught me to.
Her earliest musical memory: I don't remember, but I also don't remember why I chose the cello. I think I thought it was a wind instrument...
Favorite composers: Bach, Bartok, Prokofiev
What she listens to in the car: WKNO (even though Scott always changes the channel!)
What she enjoys most about performing: I enjoy when people recognize me outside of the orchetsra. (It doesn't happen very often.) It just reminds me that even though we don't actually verbally communicate with the audience while on stage, we still develop a long-term relationship with the people who keep coming back to hear us.
Besides creating great music, what is the orchestra's biggest role in the community? The other aspect of our job that is very stisfying to me personally is community outreach. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing genuine interest in a child's eyes during our school programs. So many people so often say that classical music is doomed, it won't be around forever. To me just the fact that the orchestra has not only been sustaining itself but has actually been growing and evolving and developing is the sheer proof that there is indeed time and money and NEED for culture not just here in Memphis but around the world in every town that has a concert hall. In other words the Orchestra's biggest responsibility is not just to fill the need for culture, but help create it.
Iren Zombor is a native of Miskolc, Hungary. After attending music college in her hometown, she lived in Bratislava, Slovakia for two years, where she studied with the famous Slovak cellist, Joseph Podhoransky. She received her Masters of Music degree in cello performance from the University of Massachusetts at 
