Barbara Bogatin
SFS member since: 1994
Hometown: Santa Rosa/Philadelphia/Daly City/New York
Music schools you attended: Juilliard School; San Francisco Conservatory of Music, prep division
Began playing music: At age 8
Musical inspirations: Hearing a string quartet perform in my elementary school
If I were not a professional musician, I might be an: Anthropologist
Favorite composers: Schubert, Sibelius, Bernstein
Favorite works featuring my instrument: Mozart’s last three string quartets
When I’m not working, I enjoy: Spending time with my husband and two teenagers; being active in Democratic politics
Recent reading: City of Veils, by Zoe Ferraris; Catherine the Great, by Robert Massie
On my CD player/iPod: My son’s bluegrass band
Favorite things to do in the Bay Area: Explore different neighborhoods, visit museums (in SF), hiking (in Marin), and biking
Plus: I recently did a meditation retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and have also been to India with my family when my husband presented a talk on his research on meditation to his Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Anne Pinsker
Anne Pinsker
Cello
Member since 1982
Hometown: Long Beach, CA
Musical influences:
My mother grew up going to Philadelphia Orchestra concerts. She loved playing piano; I remember falling asleep to her Chopin. She was the musical influence, but later on, my enthusiastic father encouraged me to head for Juilliard with Leonard Rose as my teacher.
Favorite composer:
I always come back to Beethoven. I would have liked to meet him. There is so much intricacy and beauty in his music. For me, his originality is often unmatched. But then there is Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Schumann. . .
Activities:
My dad and I started a chamber music festival in Mill Valley in the ’80s. It began with a small group of colleagues and grew to include musicians from all over the country. I met my husband Jack Vad—the Symphony’s recording engineer—at my own festival. Eventually the festival ended, and we had our two boys
On being in the Orchestra:
The thing that I find so amazing about the Orchestra is that one is amongst so many other talented musicians who have worked incredibly hard and have been so involved in making music. When we all come together doing our own perfected thing on our own instrument, we are able to bring any composer’s music to life, and to create huge multitudes of gorgeous sound. It is spectacular.