Nurit Bar-Josef is the Concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra since 2001, and at the age of 26 the youngest such appointee to a major U.S. orchestra by then-Music Director Leonard Slatkin. She was previously Assistant Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops from 1998–2001 and Assistant Principal Second Violin of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from 1997–1998. Bar-Josef’s solo appearances have included the National Symphony, Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, St. Louis Symphony, National Philharmonic, and Britt Festival Orchestras, among others. She has been guest concertmaster for the Seattle Symphony, Houston Symphony, Arizona Fest Orchestra, and Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra. An active chamber musician, she has performed at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Bay Chamber Festival (ME) and Aspen Music Festival, and festivals in Tanglewood, Portland (ME), Kingston (RI), Steamboat Springs, Garth Newel, and Caramoor, where she performed piano quartets with André Previn at his Rising Stars Festival. She was a founding member of the Kennedy Center Chamber Players for nine years, and is a founding member of the Dryden Quartet.