Zart Dombourian-Eby is the principal piccoloist (Robert and Clodagh Ash Chair) of the Seattle Symphony, and is regularly featured as both a flute and piccolo soloist with the orchestra. Her performances have consistently received highest praise from both critics and audiences: the Seattle Times review of her performance of Gunther Schuller’s Concerto for Flute and Piccolo bore the headline "It was a night for flute/piccolo artistry,” and described her playing as "spectacular" and "phenomenal.” Alex Ross of The New Yorker wrote that she “crystallized Varèse's ‘Density 21.5.’”
A native of New Orleans, she received her B.A. and M.M. degrees from Louisiana State University. After a year of study in Houston with Albert Tipton, she attended Northwestern University, where she earned a Doctor of Music degree under the tutelage of Walfrid Kujala, and also coached with Donald Peck.
Ms. Dombourian-Eby has performed on concert series and given masterclasses throughout the world, most recently in Slovenia, Italy, and China, where she performed the first solo piccolo recital ever presented in that country. She was the founding editor of Flute Talk and is on the Editorial Board for the Flutist Quarterly. She has been on the National Flute Association's Board of Directors, has been a featured soloist and teacher at numerous NFA conventions, was the Program Chair for the 2012 40th Anniversary convention, and served as President from 2014 to 2016. She has commissioned numerous compositions, including two works for piccolo and piano by Martin Amlin, and sonatas by Gary Schocker and Levente Gyongyosi, and a chamber work by Ken Benshoof. Her edition of the Vivaldi piccolo concertos, published by Theodore Presser, is now in its third printing. Ms. Dombourian-Eby can be heard in over 100 recordings of the Seattle Symphony. Her solo CD, in shadow, light, is available on Crystal Records.