Biography

Founded in 1994 by Toby Perlman, and with a world-class faculty led by Itzhak Perlman, the Perlman Music Program (PMP) welcomes gifted young string players into a richly supportive musical community. The program ensures that the very best musicians can take advantage of this opportunity, regardless of economic background or financial means. Every summer, forty young string players come together for PMP's signature program, the seven-week Summer Music School in Shelter Island, NY. Once accepted, students have a place in the program every summer until graduation at age eighteen. Beyond the Summer Music School, students may apply for PMP's Chamber Music Workshop directed by Merry Peckham. The heart of PMP’s teaching philosophy lies in the growth of the whole person—not just the musician. With outstanding instruction, a nurturing teaching environment, and a supportive network of students and more than 600 alumni, PMP represents a new model of classical music education for today’s young musicians and music educators. Alumni perform as part of PMP's Stires-Stark Alumni Recital Series, take part in PMP travel residencies in Florida and Tel Aviv, and serve as fellows and faculty throughout the year. The Perlman Music Program is proud to represent the next generation of classical music leaders.

An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and winner of the Walter W. Naumburg Competition, violinist Kristin Lee has performed as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Kennedy Center. She is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Artistic Director of Emerald City Music. Ms. Lee holds a master’s degree from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Itzhak Perlman and Donald Weilerstein, and taught as Mr. Perlman’s assistant as a Starling Fellow. She makes her San Francisco Symphony debut at this performance.

Recipient of Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Career Grant, violinist Sean Lee has performed as a soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony and Utah Symphony, and in recital at Vienna’s Konzerthaus and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Originally from Los Angeles, he studied with Robert Lipsett and Ruggiero Ricci before his studies at the Juilliard School with Itzhak Perlman. This performance marks Mr. Lee's San Francisco Symphony debut.

Doori Na took up the violin at age four at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and gave his first performance with orchestra at age seven as the first prize winner of the Peninsula Youth Symphony’s concerto competition. He holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School where he studied with Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, and Donald Weilerstein. He was concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra and is currently working at the school as a teaching assistant to Catherine Cho. Mr. Na makes his San Francisco Symphony debut at this performance.

Highlights for violinist and composer Michelle Ross include her Carnegie Hall debut with Harry Bicket, playing and directing the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, leading the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and serving as concertmaster with Teodor Currentzis’s MusicAeterna. She tours frequently with Musicians from Marlboro and is Artistic Director of the Music in the Mountains Festival in Utah. Her debut album Discovering Bach: Complete Sonatas and Partitas of J.S. Bach was recently released by Albany Records.  She is also the recipient of the 2012 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund, and a New Music USA Grant for composition.  Ms. Ross studied with Dorothy DeLay, Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, and Ronald Copes, at Juilliard and Columbia University. This performance marks her San Francisco Symphony debut.

Violinist Eric Silberger is a prize winner of the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition and the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. He has performed as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, including solo performances with the Mariinsky Orchestra, London Philharmonia, Danish National Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de México, and Munich Chamber Orchestra, among others. Mr. Silberger plays on a rare J.B. Guadagnini violin from 1757 on loan from the Si-Yo Music Society Foundation Sau-Wing Lam collection. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut at this performance.

Violinist Hannah Tarley has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Detroit Symphony, Academy of Conducting at Aspen Orchestra, Lynn Orchestra, Kiev Soloists, and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. At age twelve, Ms. Tarley was appointed the youngest concertmaster in the history of the SFS Youth Orchestra. She studied with Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School, and holds a bachelor’s degree from the Royal College of Music in London. A student of Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, and Catherine Cho, she recently graduated with a master’s degree from the Juilliard School, and is a winner of the Astral Artists 2018 National Auditions. Ms. Tarley made her San Francisco Symphony debut in 2005.

(September 2018)