Chamber Music at Davies Symphony Hall
Brahms, Schumann, and Shostakovich
January 17, 2027
Overview
Experience intimate chamber music programs curated and performed by small ensembles of SF Symphony musicians.Artists
Violin
Violin
Kingston Ho
Violin
Viola
Viola
Cello
Cello
Piano
Piano
Program
Johannes
Brahms
Horn Trio in E-flat major, Opus 40
Robert
Schumann
Piano Quartet, Opus 47
Dmitri
Shostakovich
Piano Quintet in G minor, Opus 57
Yvette Kraft
Violin
Yvette Kraft joined the first violin section of the San Francisco Symphony in the 2025–26 season, and holds the Isaac Stern Chair. She was the winner of both the 2024 Aspen Music Festival Violin Concerto Competition and the 2024 DeLay Fellowship Award. Internationally, she placed second at the 2020 Grumiaux International Violin Competition in Brussels, was a semifinalist in the 2019 Louis Spohr International Violin Competition in Weimar, and was a 2023 Frances Walton Competition solo winner. She is an NPR From the Top Fellow and has collaborated with artists such as Augustin Hadelich, Gil Shaham, Arnaud Sussman, Jon Kimura Parker, and Jeremy Denk. Kraft was the concertmaster of the 2024 New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall. She has soloed with numerous orchestras including the Seattle Symphony, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, and Spokane Symphony. After studying with Simon James, she completed her studies as a student of Robert Lipsett at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, winning the 2025 Frances Rosen Prize upon graduation.
Jessie Fellows
Violin
Jessie Fellows is Assistant Principal Second Violin with the San Francisco Symphony and holds the Audrey Avis Aasen-Hull Chair. Prior to her appointment, she performed frequently with both the Saint Louis Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. Her summer festival appearances include Bravo! Vail, Lakes Area Music Festival, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto USA, and the Aspen Music Festival. Fellows received her bachelor’s degree from the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University and her master’s degree as a Jerome Greene Fellow at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Ida Kavafian.
Katarzyna Bryla
Viola
Katarzyna Bryla joined the San Francisco Symphony viola section beginning with the 2022–23 season and is currently Acting Assistant Principal. She was born into a family of musicians and has earned more than two dozen prizes and awards in the US, France, and her native Poland. In 2019 she became a co-principal violist of Orchestra of St. Luke’s and a member of St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble. She has also been a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and the New York Pops. She has performed at Classical Tahoe, Napa Valley Music Festival, and Music@Menlo.
Leonid Plashinov-Johnson
Viola
Leonid Plashinov-Johnson joined the San Francisco Symphony viola section at the beginning of the 2022-23 season. Previously a member of the St. Louis Symphony, he is a laureate of multiple competitions, most recently the Primrose International Viola Competition, and has participated in the Yellow Barn, Ravinia, and AIMS festivals. Born in Russia, he graduated from New England Conservatory, where he won the concerto competition.
Davis You
Cello
Davis You joined the San Francisco Symphony cello section at the beginning of the 2024–25 season and holds the Lyman & Carol Casey Second Century Chair. He earned his bachelor of music from New England Conservatory, where he studied with Laurence Lesser and Paul Katz, and regularly appeared as principal cello of the NEC Philharmonia. He was a member of Quartet Luminera, which won the silver medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. A Bay Area native, You began his cello studies with Irene Sharp and Jonathan Koh. He has appeared on NPR’s From the Top, San Francisco International Piano Festival, Wellesley Chamber Players Series, Taos Chamber Music Festival, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.
Sarah Chong
Cello
Sarah Chong joins the San Francisco Symphony cello section, holding the Elizabeth C. Peters Cello Chair, in the 2025–26 season. A Bay Area native, she began her musical studies at age nine under Jihee Kim. She has appeared as a soloist with the Prometheus Symphony Orchestra as well as the FilAm Music Foundation and was a prizewinner at the MTNA Competition, United States Open Music Competition, and American Fine Arts Festival Competition.
An avid chamber musician, Chong performed on the stages of the St. Paul String Quartet Competition and Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Other notable chamber appearances include the Meadowmount School of Music, Music@Menlo, and Musique Dans le Gers. Chong was the cellist in residence of Nova Linea Musica’s 2024–25 season, focusing on new music and commissions. She spent years under the guidance of the Dover Quartet and has shared the stage in performance with the Takács Quartet. Other chamber influences include Rainer Küchl, Kikue Ikeda, David Geber, and Julia Lichten.
Chong received her bachelor’s degree in cello performance and a minor in psychology from Northwestern University, where she studied under Hans Jørgen Jensen and Wei Yu.
An avid chamber musician, Chong performed on the stages of the St. Paul String Quartet Competition and Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Other notable chamber appearances include the Meadowmount School of Music, Music@Menlo, and Musique Dans le Gers. Chong was the cellist in residence of Nova Linea Musica’s 2024–25 season, focusing on new music and commissions. She spent years under the guidance of the Dover Quartet and has shared the stage in performance with the Takács Quartet. Other chamber influences include Rainer Küchl, Kikue Ikeda, David Geber, and Julia Lichten.
Chong received her bachelor’s degree in cello performance and a minor in psychology from Northwestern University, where she studied under Hans Jørgen Jensen and Wei Yu.
Elizabeth Dorman
Piano
Elizabeth Dorman is a prize-winner of the 2018 Leipzig International Bach Competition and the 2017 Pro Musicis Father Merlet Award. She has appeared as a soloist with the Louisville Orchestra, Leipzig Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, Santa Rosa Symphony, California Symphony, Vallejo Symphony, San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, Folsom Lake Symphony, Stanford Summer Symphony, Symphony Parnassus, and in interdisciplinary projects at New World Symphony. She also appears frequently as a keyboardist at the San Francisco Symphony. She has recorded for Navona and Delos Records, including as a soloist with Santa Rosa Symphony. She was awarded a doctor of musical arts from Stony Brook University, where she studied with Gilbert Kalish.
Parker Van Ostrand
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Piano
Parker Van Ostrand performed last season with the San Diego Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, Symphony Parnassus, and Evansville Philharmonic. Previous highlights include performances with the Fort Worth Symphony, Camellia Symphony, Symphony Parnassus, South Arkansas Symphony, Shreveport Symphony, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra as winner of their 2023 Concerto Competition. This past summer, he performed at the opening of the Michael Milken Institute in Washington DC, and has upcoming performances with the San Diego Symphony at the Rady Shell, Auburn Symphony, and a tour to Japan with the California Youth Symphony. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut with this performance.
Van Ostrand was also a winner of the 2023 PianoTexas Academy Concerto Competition and received the Gold Medal in the 71st Wideman International Piano Competition. In November 2022, he collaborated with Yuja Wang in a two-piano performance at the SFCM Gala. That summer, he toured with the California Youth Symphony across Central Europe. In 2020, he won third place and the Best Sonata Award at the 10th National Chopin Piano Competition.
Born in Sacramento, California, Van Ostrand is a student of Yoshikazu Nagai and Garrick Ohlsson at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and also been mentored by Michael Tilson Thomas since 2023. His previous teachers include Sarah Chan, Natsuki Fukasawa, Linda Nakagawa, and Jon Nakamatsu.
Van Ostrand was also a winner of the 2023 PianoTexas Academy Concerto Competition and received the Gold Medal in the 71st Wideman International Piano Competition. In November 2022, he collaborated with Yuja Wang in a two-piano performance at the SFCM Gala. That summer, he toured with the California Youth Symphony across Central Europe. In 2020, he won third place and the Best Sonata Award at the 10th National Chopin Piano Competition.
Born in Sacramento, California, Van Ostrand is a student of Yoshikazu Nagai and Garrick Ohlsson at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and also been mentored by Michael Tilson Thomas since 2023. His previous teachers include Sarah Chan, Natsuki Fukasawa, Linda Nakagawa, and Jon Nakamatsu.
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