CHAMBER MUSIC AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL

November 5, 2023

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Overview

Experience intimate chamber music programs curated and performed by small ensembles of SF Symphony musicians. In this concert: music by California composers Samuel Adams, Reena Esmail, and Sarn Oliver, followed by Johannes Brahms’s String Quartet in A minor. This concert is presented as part of the California Festival: A Celebration of New Music.

This concert is part of the California Festival: A Celebration of New Music

The California Festival at the San Francisco Symphony is made possible by Sakurako and William Fisher.

Artists

Percussion

Percussion

Violin

Cello

Piano

Violin

Cello

Clarinet

Piano

Violin

Violin

Viola

Cello

PROGRAM

Urban Cityscapes

Jason Hainsworth

Saans (Breath)

Reena Esmail

Self Portrait

Sarn Oliver

String Quartet No. 2

Johannes Brahms

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CHAMBER MUSIC AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL

November 5, 2023

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Sunday

November 5, 2023

2:00PM

Davies Symphony Hall

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Jacob Nissly

Percussion

Jacob Nissly joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Percussion in 2013. Previously, he was principal percussion of the Cleveland Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony. He also spent two years as a fellow in the New World Symphony.

Nissly is chair of the Percussion Department and professor of percussion at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is also a regular coach at the New World Symphony. He previously taught at the Eastman School of Music and Cleveland Institute of Music. He has served as a percussion coach for the Aspen Music Festival since 2019, National Youth Orchestra-USA, Verbier Festival, and others.

Nissly can be heard on recordings with the San Francisco Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. He also played drum set on the St. Louis Symphony's Grammy award-winning recording of John Adams's City Noir.
In 2019, Nissly premiered Adam Schoenberg’s percussion concerto Losing Earth with the San Francisco Symphony. He has performed the piece with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Omaha Symphony and will perform it with the Nuremberg Symphony in 2026.

Nissly holds a Bachelor of Music and Jazz Studies degree from Northwestern University and Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School. He endorses Vic Firth drumsticks, Zildjian cymbals, Kolberg percussion, and Remo drumheads.

For more on Jacob Nissly, visit sfsymphony.org/jacobnissly.

Stan Muncy

Percussion

Stan Muncy joined the San Francisco Symphony percussion section in fall 2024 after serving as a frequent extra musician since 2010. He was previously a member of the Honolulu Symphony and Santa Rosa Symphony. He has also toured with the contemporary music ensemble Eighth Blackbird, participated in the Spoleto Festival and Music Academy of the West, and recorded film and video game scores at Skywalker Sound, Capitol Records, and Warner Brothers Studios.

A native of California, Muncy grew up in the Central Valley and moved to the Bay Area for college, earning a bachelor’s degree from California State University, East Bay, where he studied with Artie Storch, and a master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Jack Van Geem. During that time, he was also a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he received a professional studies certificate from the Colburn School.

Muncy is currently a faculty member at the SFCM Pre-College and previously taught at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and California State University, Stanislaus. He has also coached many youth orchestra percussion sections, including the SFSYO.

Raushan Akhmedyarova

Violin

Raushan Akhmedyarova is a native of Kazakhstan and comes from a family of musicians. She won first prize at the National Violin Competition of Kazakhstan, the International Competition of Asia in Tashkent, the UNISA International Competition in Pretoria, and the Geneva International Competition. She graduated from the Kazakh State Conservatory and studied privately at the Moscow Conservatory, and in 1994 she received a full scholarship to study at Southern Methodist University. Ms. Akhmedyarova was previously associate concertmaster of the New Century Chamber Orchestra and on the faculty of the San Francisco Academy Orchestra. She joined the San Francisco Symphony in 2006.

(September 2018)

Barbara Bogatin

Cello

Barbara Bogatin joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1994. Previously she was principal cello with the Milwaukee and New Jersey symphonies and played as a substitute with the New York Philharmonic for ten years. She studied cello in the preparatory division of the San Francisco Conservatory, and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School. Along with her neuroscientist husband, she has led workshops on meditation and music practice at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, the Esalen Institute, Stanford University, and in Italy and South Africa. She is a proud parent of two University of California graduates.

Elizabeth Schumann

Piano

Elizabeth Schumann has performed in the Kennedy Center, Ravinia’s Rising Stars Series, Vienna’s Bösendorfer Saal, Australia’s Huntington Festival, Toronto’s Koerner Hall, and on National Public Radio’s Performance Today. First place winner of the Bösendorfer International Piano Competition and Pacific International Piano Competition, she was honored with the Gilmore Young Artist Award. Ms. Schumann founded Piano Theatre, an artist group formed to engage with innovative combinations of music, theatre, literature, art, and technology. She also devised and directed Piano Carnival, a project to introduce music to children without access to arts education. The PianoCarnival Interactive Ebook is available for free on iTunes.

(May 2016)

Sarn Oliver

Violin

Violinist and composer Sarn Oliver has performed as soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist throughout the US, Russia, Europe, and Japan. He has recorded violin concertos with Montpellier Chamber Orchestra in France as well as numerous CDs in the US. His performances have been broadcast in New York, Sacramento, Hawaii, and Japan. Before joining the SFS in 1995, he was concertmaster of the Santa Cruz Symphony and principal second violin of the Sacramento Symphony. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Oliver founded the Tilden Trio with cellist Peter Wyrick and pianist June Oh and created Tangled Duo with San Francisco Symphony violinist Mariko Smiley. He has performed with the Craftsbury Chamber Players, Elko Chamber players, Ebb and Flow Arts in Maui, and has been active in supporting arts organizations by donating performances to such organizations as the Open String and Música Marin. Mr. Oliver created the record label SarnWorks to promote contemporary classical music as well as chamber music and has produced, engineered, and performed on numerous CDs produced by SarnWorks. In the Bay Area, he often performs with his symphony colleagues on the SFS chamber music series, Chamber Music Sundaes, and at UCSF’s Cole Hall. An active composer, Mr. Oliver’s works have been performed in the United States, Japan, and Russia; a new commission for a solo piano work will be performed in Seoul, Korea. Mr. Oliver began his violin studies with Elmar Olivera and Ron Neal. He went on to receive his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School where his teachers included Sally Thomas, Ivan Galamian, Felix Galimir, and others. He taught at the Juilliard Pre-College and at Meadowmount as an assistant to Sally Thomas as well as instructing violin at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UOP Stockton, and privately. Mr. Oliver is also an active painter as well as a violin and bow maker.

(September 2018)

Peter Wyrick

Cello

Peter Wyrick was a member of the San Francisco Symphony cello section from 1986–89, rejoined the Symphony as Associate Principal Cello from 1999–2023, and retired from the Orchestra at the end of last season. He was previously principal cello of the Mostly Mozart Orchestra and associate principal cello of the New York City Opera. He has appeared as soloist with the SF Symphony in works including C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto in A major, Bernstein’s Meditation No. 1 from Mass, Haydn’s Sinfonia concertante in B-flat major, and music rom Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Concerto.

In chamber music, Wyrick has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yefim Bronfman, Lynn Harrell, Jeremy Denk, Julia Fischer, and Edgar Meyer, among others. As a member of the Ridge String Quartet, Wyrick recorded Dvořák’s piano quintets with pianist Rudolf Firkušný on an RCA recording that received the Diapason d’Or and a Grammy nomination. He has also recorded Fauré’s cello sonatas with pianist Earl Wild for dell’Arte records. Born in New York to a musical family, he began studies at the Juilliard School at age eight and made his solo debut at age 12.

Jerome Simas

Clarinet

Jerome Simas joined the San Francisco Symphony as bass clarinet in 2012. Prior to that, he was principal clarinet with the California Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Modesto Symphony, Monterey Symphony, and IRIS Orchestra. He has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, Sun Valley Summer Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony, and Naples (Florida) Philharmonic.

Mr. Simas is a member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and performs with the Sierra Chamber Society and on the SF Symphony chamber music series. He won grand prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, first prize at the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition, and first prize at the International Clarinet Association’s Young Artist Competition, and participated in the Marlboro Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, and Tanglewood Music Center. Previously a fellow at the New World Symphony, he is featured in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto on the New World Symphony’s RCA Victor Red Seal recording New World Jazz with Michael Tilson Thomas.

A dedicated music educator, Mr. Simas is professor of clarinet and chamber music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is a coach with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Cleveland Orchestra principal clarinet Franklin Cohen.

Marc Shapiro

Piano

MARC SHAPIRO is Principal Keyboard of the California Symphony and from 1984 to 2003 was San Francisco Symphony Chorus accompanist. Mr. Shapiro performs frequently with Composers, Inc., Chamber Music Sundaes, Sierra Chamber Music Society, Mainly Mozart Festival, and the Mohonk Festival.

Wyatt Underhill

Violin

WYATT UNDERHILL joined the San Francisco Symphony as Assistant Concertmaster in 2018. He was previously assistant concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony, substitute concertmaster with the New Haven Symphony, and associate concertmaster of Symphony in C. Founding first violinist of the Blue Hill String Quartet, he was a top prizewinner in the Irving M. Klein International Competition for Strings.

Jessie Fellows

Violin

Jessie Fellows is Assistant Principal Second Violin with the San Francisco Symphony. Prior to her appointment, she performed frequently with the Saint Louis Symphony and New York Philharmonic. Born into a musical family, she began her studies at the age of three under the direction of her mother in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Katie Kadarauch

Viola

Katie Kadarauch joined the San Francisco Symphony in 2007 as Assistant Principal Viola. A native of the Bay Area, she was principal viola of the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra and earned a bachelor’s degree and graduate diploma from the New England Conservatory. She also studied at the Colburn School, during which time she performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and recorded film scores. She plays on a Peter Rombouts viola ca.1720, on loan from the SF Symphony.

Rainer Eudeikis

Cello

Rainer Eudeikis joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Cello in 2022 and hold the Philip S. Boone Chair. He was previously principal cello of the Atlanta Symphony and Utah Symphony, as well as for the Mainly Mozart Festival and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.

Recent performances include Shostakovich and Haydn concertos with the Atlanta Symphony, Schumann’s Cello Concerto and Strauss’s Don Quixote with the Utah Symphony, and numerous solo, recital, and chamber music performances across the United States and abroad. He makes his San Francisco Symphony concerto debut with this program.

Born in Texas, Eudeikis began cello studies at the age of six. Following studies in Colorado with Jurgen de Lemos, he attended the University of Michigan as a student of Richard Aaron, completing his bachelor of music in three years with highest honors. He received his master of music from Indiana University, where he studied with Eric Kim, and subsequently completed his artist diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Carter Brey and Peter Wiley. He has been invited to serve as artist-faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and Brevard Music Center, and is a dedicated teacher and coach.