Leor Maltinski has been a member of the SFS since 2003. Born in Tel Aviv in 1976, he began playing violin at age six. He studied with Igor Polesitsky in Florence from 1985 to 1993 and then moved to the United States to continue his musical education, first at the Curtis Institute and then at Indiana University. He has also studied at the Juilliard School and the Peabody Conservatory. Mr. Maltinski has won prizes at several competitions, including first prize at the 1999 Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition, an award that enabled him to present violin recitals and perform with orchestras throughout the US and Europe.

(September 2018)

Dan Carlson joined the SFS in 2006. He currently serves as Principal Second Violin, occupying the Dinner & Swig Families Chair. He previously served as rotating concertmaster for the New World Symphony and he has made solo appearances with the Phoenix Symphony, Chicago String Ensemble, New World Symphony, and the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra. A graduate of the Juilliard School, he has performed chamber music extensively throughout New York. Mr. Carlson performs and teaches with the San Francisco Academy Orchestra. 

(November 2019)

Melissa Kleinbart, occupant of the Katharine Hanrahan Chair, joined the SFS in 1998 after serving as associate concertmaster with the San Francisco Opera orchestra and assistant concertmaster with the Vancouver Symphony. In addition to solo appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, and New York Symphonic Ensemble, Ms. Kleinbart has been a participant at the Marlboro and Tanglewood music festivals and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A graduate of the Juilliard School, she performs and teaches with the San Francisco Academy Orchestra.

(September 2018)

Pianist Julio Elizalde enjoys a multifaceted career as a soloist, collaborator, curator, and educator. He has performed at Walt Disney Concert Hallin Los Angeles, Alice Tully Hall in New York, Seoul Arts Center, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, National Concert Hall in Taipei, and the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore. For nearly a decade, he has been a recital partner to violinists Ray Chen and Sarah Chang. He has also collaborated with Pablo Ferrández, Kian Soltani, Pamela Frank, Robert McDonald, and members of the Juilliard, Cleveland, Takács, Kronos, Brentano, St. Lawrence, and Dover string quartets. As a founding member of the N-E-W Trio, he won the grand prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and received the Harvard Musical Association’s Arthur W. Foote Prize.

Originally from the Bay Area, Mr. Elizalde is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he earned a bachelor’s degree with honors as a student of Paul Hersh. He holds master of music and doctor of musical arts degrees from the Juilliard School. Since 2014, he has served as the artistic director of the Olympic Music Festival outside Seattle, and is associate chair of strings and piano chamber music at SFCM. He made his San Francisco Symphony Great Performers Series debut with Ray Chen in November 2019.