Guests - Current Season
Jennifer Choi, violin
Jennifer Choi has charted a career that breaks through the conventional boundaries of solo violin, chamber music, and the art of improvisation. Hailed by The New York Times as an “excellent violinist”, “soulful, compelling,” and “spectacular, virtuosic play” by the San Francisco Chronicle, she has performed worldwide in venues such as the Library of Congress in Washington D. C., the RAI National Radio in Rome, Hong Kong National Radio, and the Mozartsalle in Vienna since giving her debut recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall in 2000. A prominent chamber musician, Jennifer was a former violinist of the Miró String Quartet. With her involvement, the group won Grand Prize at Fischoff National Competition and First prize at Coleman chamber music competition. She has performed for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan and Guggenheim Museums, MOMA Summer Garden Series, Ravinia Festival, Barge Music, Caramoor Music, Strathmore Mansion series, Ridotto, and numerous other chamber music series across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. She joined ETHEL during their 2011-2012 season, and previous to that, was member of the Sirius String Quartet, and Classical Jam. Jennifer has premiered dozens of new works by composer/performers like MacArthur genius grant winner John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith, Susie Ibarra, Sergio Assad, and Richard Carrick and can be heard on numerous recordings on New World Records, TZADIK, New Focus, and Starkland record labels. Jennifer will be performing on the 1718 “Firebird” Stradivarius. www.jenniferchoi.com
JESSICA CHANG, VIOLA
Taiwanese-American violist Jessica Chang leads a versatile career as a chamber musician and educator. As the Founder and Executive Director of Chamber Music by the Bay, Jessica directs and performs interactive concerts for diverse communities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area which reach over 2,000 young audience members annually. Her work as a teaching artist has led to concert residencies with Project 440, the Savannah Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, and Music Beyond the Chamber. She has also served as violist of the Afiara Quartet, with whom she toured North America, including a visiting faculty residency at The Banff Centre in Alberta and residency as the Glenn Gould School Fellowship Quartet-in-Residence at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada.
Jessica has performed as a chamber musician in concert tours throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Her performances have been broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today, WYNC, WHYY, and WQXR Public Radio. Highlights include collaborations with Roberto Díaz, Pamela Frank, Scott Yoo, Christoph Richter, William Bennett, Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Silverstein, Toby Appel, James Campbell, members of the Orion and Guarneri Quartets, and members of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Berlin Philharmonic. Her festival appearances include Festival Mozaic, Juneau Jazz and Classics, Bard Music West, Music from Angel Fire, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, Open Chamber Music Prussia Cove, Perlman Chamber Music Workshop, Tanglewood Music Center, Taos School of Music, Verbier Festival, the National Arts Centre of Canada, and Aspen Music Festival.
Jessica is a graduate of Yale University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors and distinction. She also holds an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music as the recipient of the William A. Loeb Fellowship, and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. Jessica maintains a private studio in the San Francisco Bay Area, performs frequently with ensembles including Ensemble Illume, the Ives Collective, Ensemble SF, Chamber Music Silicon Valley, and has also performed as principal viola with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and the Santa Cruz Symphony. She also leads a dual career in information security and is an industry-recognized speaker and presenter globally on building and scaling security culture.
JESSie Fellows, VIOlin
Jessie Fellows is Assistant Principal Second Violin with the San Francisco Symphony. Previously, she also performed frequently with both the St. Louis Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. She has enjoyed touring and performing both chamber and orchestral music throughout the USA, Europe, and Asia. Ms. Fellows has appeared at numerous festivals including the Lakes Area Music Festival, BRAVO Vail, the Aspen Music Festival, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, and Spoleto USA. Born into a musical family, she began her studies at the age of three under the direction of her mother in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ms. Fellows received her bachelor’s degree from the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University and then received her master’s degree as a Jerome Greene Fellow at The Juilliard School.
Guests - Past Seasons
Polina Sedukh, violin
Born to a family of musicians in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ms. Sedukh began studying violin at the age of four with her father Grigory Sedukh, and Savely Shalman. She is a graduate of Special Music School of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory, where she studied under the guidance of Lev Ivaschenko and Vladimir Ovtcharek. She also holds Artist Diploma from Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA, where she studied with Laura Bossert and Malcolm Lowe.
Prizewinner of the International Spohr Competition in Weimar, Germany, Ms. Sedukh made her solo debut at the age of seven with the Chamber Orchestra of Liepaya, Latvia, followed by recital tours in USA, Germany and Austria. She has since appeared as soloist with St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Boston Virtuosi Orchestra, St.Petersburg Capella Symphony Orchestra, Newton Symphony Orchestra and Weimer State Capella Orchestra. Ms. Sedukh with cellist, Terry King, presented the world premiere of Vladimir Uspensky’s Double Concerto at the International St. Petersburg Spring Music Festival in 2001.
Following her passion for symphonic music, Ms. Sedukh pursued career in major American orchestras, serving as a member of Boston Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2007, and collaborating with San Francisco Symphony since 2007. Ms. Sedukh has joined San Francisco Symphony as a member of 2nd violin section in 2009, where she is serving to the present time. In 2016 Ms. Sedukh has been appointed Principal Second violinist of Sun Valley Music Festival.
In 2014 her engagements included collaboration with pianist Kirill Gerstein and members of San Francisco Symphony in a performance of Shostakovich Piano Quintet in Davies Symphony Hall. In 2015 Ms. Sedukh was featured in San Francisco Symphony subscription series concert as the second violinist in Beethoven Quartet op. 74. A year later, Ms. Sedukh joined Edgar M. Bronfman Quartet of Sun Valley Music Festival as the second violinist. In 2019, Ms. Sedukh has participated in joint project by Metallica and San Francisco Symphony, S&M2, and has been displayed as member of the orchestra in S&M2 movie released in theaters worldwide.
Frequent soloist with Russian Chamber Orchestra and San Francisco Academy Orchestra, Ms. Sedukh’s recent solo engagements included Sibelius Concerto with Ukiah Symphony Orchestra and video presentation of Missy Mazzoli’s “Vespers” for the launch of SFSymphony+ at SoundBox, performance of which was described in SF Chronicle as one of a “fierce mastery”. During pandemic, Ms. Sedukh participated in multiple video projects, including the recordings of Mazzoli’s Vespers at the Grace Cathedral and Debussy Quartet at the Kohl Mansion for Sun Valley Music Festival, as well as a video recording of Enescu “Ménétrier” for the SF Botanical Garden gala concert. She has also performed thirty four live solo “1:1” concerts for the San Francisco Symphony.
Wyatt Underhill, violin
Violinist Wyatt Underhill is the Assistant Concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony. He was previously assistant concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony, substitute concertmaster with the New Haven Symphony, and associate concertmaster of Symphony in C. He has won top prizes in the Irving M. Klein International Competition for Strings and the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition, and has performed as soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony, Concord Chamber Orchestra, and the Oberlin Orchestra, and in recital at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and the Gualala Arts Center in California. Mr. Underhill has appeared at festivals such as the Lakes Area Music Festival in Minnesota, the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego and Arizona Musicfest in Scottsdale. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and the Juilliard School.
Sayaka tanikawa, piano
Pianist Sayaka Tanikawa has received more than 20 top honors in national and international piano competitions, including Joanna Hodges Piano Competition, Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin International Competition, and Hilton Head International Piano Competition. She has appeared as a soloist with the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic, Richardson Symphony, and the Philharmonia Virtuosi, among others, and has given numerous recitals, at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (for its Showcase Series), Davies Hall in San Francisco, and Suntory Hall in Japan.
Tanikawa holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from Columbia University, a master’s degree and an artist diploma from Yale School of Music, and a doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music. She has served as an artist-in-residence at South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville and has taught at the Manhattan School of Music and Purchase College at the State University of New York. She is currently on the faculty at Hunter College in New York. Tanikawa joined the MAP faculty in 2017.
Sébastien Gingras, cello
Sébastien Gingras, a native of Québec, Canada, joined the San Francisco Symphony in 2010 after being a member of the Saint Louis Symphony for two years. Sébastien received his Bachelor of Music at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec in Chicoutimi and completed his Master of Music and Graduate Diploma at the New England Conservatory with Laurence Lesser.
As a fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami, Florida, Sébastien appeared as a soloist performing Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto and Jacques Ibert's Concerto for cello and winds. As an avid chamber musician, Sébastien has been invited to perform at the Steans Institute at Ravinia Festival and Festival de Musique de Chambre du Larzac in France, and has collaborated with members of the Cleveland, Takács, and Borromeo String Quartets as well as Menahem Pressler and Thomas Adès.
Sébastien can be heard playing regularly at the SFS chamber music series in Davies Symphony Hall, Berkeley’s Chamber Music Sundaes, and the Chancellor’s Concert Series of UCSF.
Yuri Cho, violin
Recently having relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, Edmonton born violinist, Yuri Cho, has had the privilege of performing on 4 continents as a chamber, orchestral and solo musician. Notable performance venues include Wigmore Hall, Esterházy Palace, the Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall.
Yuri received her Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, as well as an Artist Certificate in Chamber Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
As a founding member of the Afiara String Quartet, Yuri has won 2nd prize and the Székely prize for the best performance of Beethoven at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and 2nd prize at the Munich ARD String Quartet Competition. The quartet has also won Concert Artists Guild, was the first ensemble to win the Young Canadian Musicians Award and has recorded works by Mendelssohn, Schubert, Bartók and Beethoven.
Yuri enjoys teaching and has served as faculty at the University of Auckland School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory Preparatory and Extension Divisions, and as visiting faculty at the University of Alberta, Stanford University and the Glenn Gould School. She has also taught at Indiana University's Summer String Academy, Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute and has performed at Ravinia Festival, The Banff Centre, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Festival of the Sound and Ottawa Chamberfest.
Until early 2021, Yuri was based in Auckland, New Zealand, where she was a member of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and taught at the University of Auckland. Prior to that, she was based in Scandinavia, spending a season with Ensemble MidtVest in Denmark and a season with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Norway. Yuri enjoys a variety of non-musical activities that include, but are not limited to, eating, knitting, running, traveling, and exploring the local burrito and craft beer scene.
Eric Gaenslen, cello
Cellist Eric Gaenslen has performed as a chamber musician, recitalist and guest soloist in venues across North America and Europe. Eric has performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, the Berlin Konzerthaus, and at the Spoleto Italy, Maverick and Vail Bravo Music Festivals, with such artists as Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Eugenia Zuckerman, Gautier Capuçon and Pepe Romero. Recent solo highlights include the world premiere of Siddartha for cello and string orchestra by Laura Carnibucci, and a performance of Bloch's Shelomo at New York's Avery Fisher Hall. From 2009-2011, Eric held the position of Acting Principal Cellist of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
A devoted educator, Eric, has given master classes in cello and chamber music across the country, including University of Missouri, Kansas City; State University New York at Purchase; California State Universities at Fresno, Northridge and Long Beach; Univerty of Western Washington and Brevard Music Center. He has held faculty positions at the Mannes College in New York and at the University of California, Santa Cruz and maintains a private studio.
Eric holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and a Master of Arts degree from the Juilliard School of Music. His teachers have included Joel Krosnick, Robert Mann, Felix Galimir, Aldo Parisot, William Pleeth and Irene Sharp.
He is Bay Area native, raised in Burlingame, CA and now lives in Millbrae, CA with his wife, Jessica, an oboe player and their beautiful and brilliant son, Theo.
alina kobialka, violin
Alina Kobialka has been praised as a remarkable violinist due to her beautiful tone, effortless precision, and musical maturity beyond her years. After her first guest solo appearance with orchestra at the age of ten, she has toured and performed with many ensembles throughout the world. The San Francisco Classical Voice described her as a “jaw-droppingly assured” soloist, who “made present and future converge.” The Las Vegas Review Journal wrote, “Watch for her name. She appears to be bound for greatness.”
Alina began her studies at the age of five with Li Lin. She continued on to the San Francisco Conservatory Preparatory Program, where she studied with Wei He. Leaving San Francisco at age 16, she attended the Colburn Music Academy in Los Angeles, where she studied with Robert Lipsett and Danielle Belen. Most recently, Alina graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music with her Master’s in Violin Performance, under the tutelage of Ilya Kaler.
At age 14, Miss Kobialka made her solo debut with the San Francisco Symphony at their 100th Anniversary Reunion Concert in Davies Symphony Hall, where she has since returned three times as a soloist. Soon after, she was featured live on the nationally acclaimed radio show NPR’s From the Top. Since then, Alina has performed with various American orchestras, including the Las Vegas Philharmonic, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, California Symphony, the Colburn Academy Virtuosi Orchestra, and others.
In 2015, Miss Kobialka made her performance debut in Asia with the Macau Youth Symphony for their New Years’ Concert. She returned in 2016 to tour Japan with the Kagawa International Youth Orchestra, and in 2017 to perform in the Shanghai International Arts Festival gala concert.
Alina was awarded second prize as the youngest competitor of the 2017 Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition. Other competition accolades include being a laureate of the 2016 Irving M. Klein International Competition and receiving the Grand Prize at the Mondavi Center National Young Artists Competition.
Recent concert highlights include performing with world-renowned conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony and making her debut with Vadim Gluzman and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. She also performed a guest artist recital at Southwestern University in Texas, and Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with cellist Oliver Herbert & the California Symphony.
An avid chamber musician, Alina has been an artist at the Marlboro Music Festival for the last few years. During her time there, she had the great honor of performing with acclaimed pianist Mitsuko Uchida. Other celebrated musicians she has worked with include pianist Jonathan Biss, violist Kim Kashkashian, cellist Peter Wiley, and violinist Scott St. John. Future concerts include performing Nielsen Violin Concerto with the Camellia Symphony, embarking on a Marlboro National Tour, and returning to the Marlboro Music Festival next summer.
JAMES AUSTIN SMITH, OBOE
Praised for his “virtuosic,” “dazzling" and “brilliant” performances (The New York Times) and his “bold, keen sound” (The New Yorker), oboist James Austin Smith performs new and old music across the United States and around the world. Mr. Smith is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and Decoda, co-principal oboist of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Artistic and Executive Director of Tertulia, a chamber music series that takes place in restaurants in New York and San Francisco He is a member of the oboe and chamber music faculties of Stony Brook University and the Manhattan School of Music.
Mr. Smith’s festival appearances include Marlboro, Lucerne, Music@Menlo, Spoleto USA, Bowdoin, Bay Chamber Concerts, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Orlando; he has performed with the St. Lawrence, Parker, Rolston and Orion string quartets and recorded for the Nonesuch, Bridge, Mode and Kairos labels.
Mr. Smith received his Master of Music degree in 2008 from the Yale School of Music and graduated in 2005 with Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) and Bachelor of Music degrees from Northwestern University. He spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Leipzig, Germany at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” and is an alumnus of Ensemble Connect, a collaboration of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, the Weill Music Institute and the New York City Department of Education. Mr. Smith’s principal teachers are Stephen Taylor, Christian Wetzel, Humbert Lucarelli and Ray Still. Follow him on Instagram @jaustinsmith.
DANIEL STEWART, VIOLA
Daniel Stewart, Conductor, Composer, and Violist, is the Music Director of the Santa Cruz Symphony, and former Assistant Conductor with The Metropolitan Opera. Mr. Stewart’s first three seasons in Santa Cruz have led to great critical acclaim, including the Peninsula Reviews’ assertion that “the Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Stewart has now developed into the finest musical ensemble South of San Francisco and North of Los Angeles.”
Since 2012, when Mr. Stewart was invited by James Levine to become the first conductor of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, he has conducted the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and soloists in a comprehensive range of repertoire. In 2013, he made his acclaimed Lincoln Center debut in a Metropolitan Opera produced concert of comic operas by Stravinsky, Mozart, Donizetti and Berlioz.
The recipient of the 2010 Aspen Music Festival’s James Conlon Conducting Prize, Mr. Stewart has conducted orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Hessischer Rundfunk Orchester, the Frankfurt Opern Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the Saint-Louis Symphony. He has previously served as Cover Conductor with the Atlanta Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Company of Philadelphia, and the Saint-Louis Symphony, assisting conductors including Thomas Adès, Charles Dutoit, James Levine, Kurt Masur, David Robertson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Mr. Stewart has worked closely with contemporary composers such as the late Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Adams, and particularly Thomas Adès, whom he assisted in preparing the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Aspects of Adès” festival in 2011. An avid composer himself, Daniel Stewart’s compositions have been performed at venues including the Aspen Music Festival, Tribeca New Music Festival, and Verbier Festival. A selection of his music can be found at youtube.com/danielpatrickstewart.
Mr. Stewart is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller, with additional studies with Sir Simon Rattle, Christoph Eschenbach, and Alan Gilbert. As a violist, Mr. Stewart has has concertized frequently as soloist, and served as principal violist of numerous ensembles, including the New World Symphony, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, and for six years with the Verbier Festival and Chamber Orchestras. He has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, recorded for EMI with Maxim Vengerov, and toured extensively in over 40 countries.
LAURA ALBERS, VIOLIN
Violinist Laura Albers is the Associate Concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera. She, as well as her sisters, began studying Suzuki violin with their mother, Ellie LeRoux, at the age of two. Laura went on to receive her Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from The Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, where she studied with Donald Weilerstein and Ronald Copes. She has performed and taught on both violin and viola throughout the United States and in Canada and Mexico. She has also participated in the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Rhode Island’s Newport Music Festival, the Sarasota Opera Festival in Florida and an Orpheus Chamber Orchestra tour. In addition to her music, Laura heads a San Francisco chapter of Dining For Women, an international giving circle who’s mission is to empower women and children living in extreme poverty. During the Opera’s off–season, she enjoys traveling, preparing gourmet meals with her husband and racing as an age group triathlete.
KIMBERLY BRAYLOCK, BALLERINA
Born in New York, New York, Kimberly Braylock trained with Charla Genn, Studio Maestro, Ballet Hispanico, and San Francisco Ballet School (including one year as an SF Ballet School Trainee) prior to being named an apprentice in 2009. She joined the Company in 2010. Braylock has danced featured roles in Tomasson’s Nutcracker (Arabian), Wheeldon’s Cinderella (Spanish Princess), and Caniparoli’s Ibsen’s House (Ellida Wangel).
Her repertory also includes Tomasson’s Giselle, Romeo & Juliet, Swan Lake, Criss-Cross, and Prism; Tomasson/Possokhov’s Don Quixote; Ashton’s Symphonic Variations; Balanchine’s Coppélia, Divertimento No. 15, The Four Temperaments, Scotch Symphony, Serenade, Finale in Stars and Stripes, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Symphony in C, and Theme and Variations; Cranko’s Onegin; Fokine’s Petrouchka; Forsythe’s Artifact Suite; Lifar’s Suite en Blanc; Morris’ Sandpaper Ballet; Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid; Page’s Guide to Strange Places; Possokhov’s Francesca da Rimini and The Rite of Spring; Robbins’ Glass Pieces; and Zanella’s Underskin.
Braylock performed the Act II pas de deux from Giselle (Petipa) with Anthony Spaulding at the Youth in Action Gala, “Les Danses de L’Amour,” in Bozeman, Montana, in June 2012.
BETANY COFFLAND, MEZZO-SOPRANO
Betany Coffland, mezzo-soprano, has had her performances hailed by Opera News as “extremely fine” and the San Francisco Classical Voice describes her voice as “plush”. A graduate of The Juilliard School and New England Conservatoy, she attended the Aspen School of Music and she was a Resident Artist with Opera San Jose from 2008-2012. As a soloist, she has performed in prestigious venues such as Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and Boston's historic Jordan Hall. Ms. Coffland recently debuted with The Juneau Symphony, The Sacramento Philharmonic and toured in recital with guitarist, Aaron Larget-Caplan. She also debuted as a soloist with the San Francisco Choral Society, and she was a guest performer with the acclaimed chamber group, Ensemble SF. Last season, Ms. Coffland sang with Festival Opera in Ariadne auf Naxos and she returned as a soloist with the SF Choral Society to sing the alto soloist in Stacy Garrop's new work and Handel's Dixit Dominus. 2016 begins with Ms. Coffland performing the role of Sprechstimme in Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire with the chamber orchestra Espressivo and singing the alto soloist in Bach's B Minor Mass.
JOY FELLOWS, VIOLA
Joy Fellows joined the San Francisco Opera in 2008, and was recently appointed Assistant Principal of the San Francisco Ballet. Previously, she was Associate Principal Viola of the Indianapolis Symphony, and has also been a member of both the St. Louis Symphony, and the New World Symphony in Miami. While growing up in Oklahoma, she began her orchestral career at the age of 14 with the Oklahoma Sinfonia, and later the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
Joy has been a resident chamber musician at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Italy, and was also selected to participate in the Juilliard String Quartet seminar. She has also participated in the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, Central City Opera (Colorado), Pacific Music Festival (Japan), and has participated and taught at the Bowdoin International Music Festival. Joy has performed as chamber musician and as a soloist across the US, Europe and Asia.
Ms. Fellows holds a Bachelor degree from the University of Oklahoma and a Master's degree from The Juilliard School. Joy studied chamber music with Robert Mann, Nicholas Mann, Earl Carlyss, Joel Smirnoff, and Sam Rhodes. Her principal teachers included Wayne Crouse, Matthew Dane, and Samuel Rhodes of the Juilliard String Quartet.
MARCEL GEMPERLI, VIOLA
Marcel Gemperli began studying the viola at the age of eight in his native New York state. He continued his musical education while earning his B.A. at Harvard University and furthered his viola studies in Germany and Switzerland as a Henry Russell Shaw Fellow in 1995 and 1996. He was also a founding member of the Linnaean String Quartet, and performed with the National Repertory Orchestra during the 1995 season.
Since relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1997, Marcel has performed extensively throughout the region. He currently serves as Principal Viola of the California Symphony, and performs on a freelance basis with many orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet and Opera Orchestras, the New Century Chamber Orchestra, the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, as well as the orchestras of Marin, Modesto and Santa Rosa. Marcel performs frequently in touring Broadway productions and also records film and television soundtracks through the Skywalker Sound Studio. In the summer months, he has performed at the Telluride Chamber Music Festival, the Mendocino Music Festival, and as part of the Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra.
JOANNA GOLDSTEIN, FLUTE
Flutist, Joanna Goldstein has performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra, Santa Rosa Symphony, Portland Symphony (ME), Rhode Island Symphony, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and the Granite State Symphony, among others. She has participated in the Tanglewood Music Center Contemporary Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival. Joanna was a founding member of the woodwind quintet, Vento Chiaro, a position she held from 1997-2013 until relocating to the west coast. While with Vento Chiaro, she had the opportunity to mentor some of the country’s most talented musicians as the Quintet in Residence at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. As a member of Vento Chiaro, Joanna also held teaching/performance residencies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Providence College, and Longy School of Music. Joanna was a part-time faculty member at Boston University from 2006-2013 as the founding director of Boston University Music Organization Flute Ensemble. She held the position of Director of Chamber Music at the Beaver Country Day School (Chesnut Hill, MA) from 2000-2013. As the recipient of three degrees, a Bachelor of Music from Boston University, a Masters of Music from the Peabody Conservatory, and an Artist Diploma from the Longy School, Joanna has had the privilege of working with some of this country’s finest flutists including Alice Weinreb, Doriot Anthony Dwyer, Mark Sparks, Robert Willoughby, Geralyn Coticone, Cindy Meyers, and Elizabeth Rowe. Currently Joanna is the director of the Peninsula Youth Orchestra Flute Ensembles and is on faculty at The Harker School in San Jose, CA. Aside from her interest in music, Joanna is an avid soccer player, having played with the Division I Boston University Women’s Soccer team while in college.
JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ GRANERO, CLARINET
Born in Iznatoraf, a small village in the south of Spain, José González Granero joined the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in 2010 and holds the position of Principal Clarinet. He began studying the clarinet at the age of eight. Both his father and grandfather are band directors. Mr. González Granero received his Bachelor Degree from Granada Superior Conservatory (Spain) and G. Verdi Conservatory (Italy). In 2007, he moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California and The Colburn School of Music to study with renowned clarinet teacher Yehuda Gilad.
Mr. González Granero has won numerous competitions and awards, including Grand Prize for exceptional talent and musicianship in the Pasadena Instrumental Competition (2009), First Prize in the Burbank Philharmonic Concerto Competition (2009), Second Place in the Downey Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition (2009) and Second Prize in the Pasadena Instrumental Competition (2008).
Mr. González Granero was Principal Clarinet of the Andalucia Philharmonic Orchestra (Spain) from 2005-2007. He has also performed as Principal Clarinet with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Norway), Odense Symfoniorkester (Denmark), Young Musician Foundation Debut Orchestra, Galicia Symphony Orchestra (Spain), City of Granada Orchestra (Spain), Orchestre des Jeunes de la Mediterranee (France), and the European Union Youth Wind Orchestra (Luxemburg).
Mr. González Granero enjoys composing music for concert band and wind ensemble. He won Second Prize in the Ville de Comines-Warneton composition competition in Belgium, and some of his works have been published in Spain and Italy.
ALEXANDRA LEEM, VIOLA
Alexandra Leem, viola, is a graduate of Eastman School and Yale University where she was a member of the Yale quartet in residency under the tutelage of the Tokyo Quartet. She is former Principal Viola of Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and Concerto Soloists, The Opera Company of Philadelphia, Orchestra 2001, and a substitute for the Philadelphia Orchestra for many years. She has participated in the Heidelberg Festival, International Orchesterinstitute Attergau, the Holland Music Session, and has performed for the Royal Ballet, the Pennsylvania ballet, and Network for New Music with members of the Philadelphia orchestra. Recently she has appeared with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Santa Fe Concert Association. Ms. Leem has recorded extensively for Larry Gold studio in Philadelphia and currently serves as a member of the Santa Fe Opera and Principal Viola of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra.
STEVE LIN, GUITAR
Steve Lin has concertized throughout the United States, Italy, the Philippines, and Taiwan. He is praised by Classical Guitar Magazine as “a confident player with a powerful sound, quick hands, and a solid musical memory” and was the first prize winner at the Boston GuitarFest Competition and the East Carolina Guitar Competition. He has two albums on VGo Recordings: Eliot Fisk Series Vol. 1 and Imagen.
He founded Boston Guitar Project, which organized over 20 community performances annually throughout Greater Boston. Now living in the San Francisco Bay Area, he continues outreach and educational performances through South Bay Guitar Society.
Steve is the guitar area coordinator at San Jose State University. He earned his masters from Yale School of Music and is completing his doctorate from New England Conservatory under Eliot Fisk. During his free time he spends many hours in the kitchen and plays a lot of badminton competitively.
TAMARA MUDARRA, BALLERINA
Tamara Mudarra is a Cuban ballerina trained at the National School of the Arts in Cuba. Since 2006, she has danced as soloist for Laura Alonso’s company in Cuba and as principal for the National Ballet of Ecuador and the National Ballet of Panama. A prizewinner of the International Ballet Competition of Havana, her performances of the Nutcracker, Don Quixote and Sleeping Beauty have been met with critical acclaim.
JOHN NAVA, PERCUSSION
John has been playing percussion for over 30 years. He is an experienced recording and performing artist, clinician, and band leader. He has shared the studio and the stage with John Wineglass, Patt Casion & IOC, Kim Stone, Joseph Lucido, Weber Iago, Mike Shanon, and many more.
His current project is Latin Jazz Collective with John Nava. With this project, John performs all over the Monterey Peninsula and the South Bay areas.
SCOTT PINGEL, BASS
Principal Bass of the San Francisco Symphony since 2004, Scott Pingel previously served as Principal Bass of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and as Guest Principal with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada. As a chamber musician, he can often be heard on radio programs including NPR’s Performance Today. Formerly active as a jazz musician, Pingel performed in venues from New York to Stockholm. Currently, he is a faculty member of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
LIVIA SOHN, VIOLIN
Hailed by Opus Magazine as “a stunning musician”, violinist LIVIA SOHN performs widely on the international stage as concerto soloist, recitalist, and festival guest in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand. The Strad Magazine says, “Livia Sohn possesses a remarkably lithe and transparent tone of exceptional purity. [Her] virtually blemishless accounts are nothing short of remarkable. Even when under the most fearsome technical pressure at high velocity, every note rings true with pinpoint accuracy.”
This past season saw Livia performing in the cities of Rome, Madrid, New York City, Los Angeles, and Ottawa, among others. In March 2015, a recording of the Saint-Saens piano trios was released, featuring Livia on the Eloquentia label. This coming season will also see Livia in the release of “Opera Fantasies”, a recording of opera transcriptions for violin and piano (including two world premieres), to be released on the Naxos label.
Livia gave her first public performance at age eight. In 1989, at the age of 12, she won First Prize in the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition. She attended the Juilliard Pre-College Division from the age of seven, at which time she began her studies with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. She continued under their tutelage at the Juilliard School, where she also studied chamber music with the legendary Felix Galamir. Livia plays on a J. B. Guadagnini violin crafted in 1770 and a Samuel Zygmuntowicz made in 2006. She has been on faculty at the Music Department of Stanford University in California since 2005, and makes her home in the Bay Area with her husband, Geoff Nuttall, and their two young sons Jack and Ellis.
EMMA VOTAPEK, VIOLIN
Violinist Emma Noël Votapek has been a member of the Honolulu (now Hawaii) Symphony since 2004. She recently performed for several seasons as principal 2nd violinist of the Tucson Symphony, and as the violist of the Kingfisher String Quartet. Emma completed her undergraduate studies with Sergiu Luca at Rice University, and received her master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, where she was a student of Jorja Fleezanis. During the summer, she performs at the Mammoth Lakes and Britt music festivals.