Violinist Elbert Tsai leads a multifaceted career as a soloist, chamber musician, and sought-after pedagogue. He currently serves on the violin faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College as well as Center Stage Strings Summer Institute held at the University of Michigan. Guest faculty appointments include the Oberlin Conservatory and SFCM Collegiate Division, and he has taught violin and chamber music classes at the Luzerne Music Center and Crowden School. His students have competed at the Menuhin Competition, won awards from the YoungArts Foundation, and regularly perform at “From the Top”, Music@Menlo, NYO-USA, NYO2, Bowdoin Festival, and Morningside Music Bridge. Recent graduates have been accepted to Harvard University, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, and music institutions including the New England Conservatory, Rice University, Northwestern University, University of Southern California, the Juilliard School, and the Columbia-Juilliard Program; younger students have gone on to attend the Phillips Academy Andover and Juilliard Pre-College. Students have soloed with orchestras throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and won first place in all age groups of virtually every regional competition including Pacific Musical Society, SFCM/Parnassus Concerto Competition, Diablo Valley Concerto Competition, Nova Vista Concerto Competition, KAMSA, USIMC, and United States Open Competition. Elbert's career as an educator began as a teaching assistant at the Oberlin Conservatory, Rice University, and USC Thornton School of Music during his studies at each school.

Elbert maintains an active performing schedule which includes chamber music, recital, and concerto engagements. He is the violinist and founding member of the Verve Trio, and recent solo recitals include performances at the Colburn School for the Performing Arts, Three Rivers Performing Arts Institute, and historic Bridges Hall at Pomona College. As a soloist, Elbert has appeared with the Cambrian Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, Bear Valley Music Festival, and Sacramento Symphony, often performing concertos featuring his own original cadenzas. Additional chamber music concerts include appearances at the Festival Rolland, Santa Cruz Chamber Players, Old First Concerts, and Pleasanton Chamber Players.

In his first year as a professional violinist, Elbert joined the San Francisco Ballet orchestra, where he served as Assistant Principal Second Violin for two seasons. He would later win a position with the San Francisco Symphony, sharing the stage with many of the world's greatest conductors and soloists, touring to internationally-renowned concert halls including the Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, and Royal Albert Hall in London. Elbert also performed for several seasons with the San Francisco Opera and Pacific Symphony in Orange County. He held numerous concertmaster and guest concertmaster positions, including with the Festival Mosaic orchestra, Modesto Symphony, Bear Valley Music Festival, and National Repertory Orchestra. He previously spent summers performing at the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center, and Aspen Music Center as a Fellowship student.

Originally from the Bay Area, Elbert holds degrees from the University of Southern California, Rice University, and Oberlin College, where he majored in violin and computer science and completed a minor in piano performance. His principal teachers and musical mentors include Robert Lipsett, Paul Kantor, Greg Fulkerson, Ken Goldsmith, Anne Crowden, Joel Smirnoff, and Paul Katz.

Elbert is fortunate to perform on an outstanding violin made by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, the “ex-Sophie Hummler.” He owns several bows, his current favorite being an octagonal Voirin mounted with gold and tortoiseshell.