Concerto Competitions are an opportunity for students to showcase their abilities and win the opportunity to perform with the SFCM Orchestra conducted by Edwin Outwater. 

Collaborative Artists

Amy Chiu, piano

Program

Dmitri Shostakovich: Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 77
     I. Nocturne: Moderato 
     II. Scherzo: Allegro
     III. Passacaglia: Andante – Cadenza
     IV. Burlesque: Allegro con brio – Presto
Zeke Sokoloff, violin

Béla Bartók: Concerto No. 2, Sz. 112, BB 117
     I. Allegro non troppo 
     II. Andante tranquillo
     III. Allegro molto
Adrian Wu, violin

Maurice Ravel: Tzigane
Mathea Goh, violin

Judge Bios

Robyn Ballinger
Daring, versatile, and charismatic, American violinist Robyn Bollinger was appointed Concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra by Music Director Jader Bignamini at the end of the 2021-22 season. Currently the youngest female Concertmaster in the country, she is a frequent Guest Concertmaster with the Pittsburgh Symphony and has made Guest Concertmaster appearances with the Indianapolis Symphony and St. Bart’s Music Festival Orchestra. She is a former
member of the Boston-based, democratically run chamber orchestra, A Far Cry, and she has appeared on commercial recordings with both the Pittsburgh Symphony and A Far Cry, all of which were nominated for GRAMMY® awards.

Ms. Bollinger has been recognized for both her innovation and entrepreneurship with a prestigious 2016 Fellowship from the Lenore Annenberg Arts Fellowship Fund for her multimedia performance- and recording project, entitled “CIACCONA: The Bass of Time.” She was previously awarded an Entrepreneurial Musicianship Grant from New England Conservatory for her ground-breaking “Project Paganini,” a performance project featuring all twenty-four Paganini Caprices. More recently, she was awarded an historic 2019 Early-Career Musician
Fellowship from Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Washington, D.C., to research and prepare her next multimedia project, entitled “ENCORE: Just One More."

Having made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut at age twelve, Ms. Bollinger regularly performs as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across the United States. Recent highlights include solo engagements with the Boston Pops and the symphony orchestras of California, Charleston, Knoxville, and Symphony in C. She is a returning participant at the storied Marlboro Music Festival in Marlboro, VT and has been featured in numerous national tours with the acclaimed Musicians from Marlboro. She has also appeared at the chamber music festivals of Lake Champlain, Orcas Island, Highlands-Cashiers, Monadnock, and others, and she has performed in recital at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, National Sawdust, Osaka’s Phoenix Hall, Tokyo National Arts Center, and other venues. She regularly appears with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble in Boston, the Boston Chamber Music Society, Mistral Music, Spruce Peak Chamber Music Society, and Glissando Music, among others.

Ms. Bollinger is a devoted educator, having presented masterclasses at Cincinnati Conservatory, the Longy School of music, University of California Bakersfield, and the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. She is a former faculty member at New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Boston. She plays a 1697 G. B. Rogeri on generous loan from a private collector.

Martin West
Martin West is acknowledged as one of the foremost conductors of ballet. Born in Bolton, England, he studied math at Cambridge University before studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music and London’s Royal Academy of Music.

In 1997, West made his debut with English National Ballet and was immediately appointed resident conductor. In recent seasons, he has worked with many of the top companies in North America and Europe including New York City Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and The Royal Ballet.

West joined SF Ballet in the fall of 2005, having been a frequent guest since his debut two years earlier. He has made a number of critically acclaimed recordings with the SF Ballet Orchestra, including the complete score of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and an album of suites from Delibes’ Sylvia and Coppélia. In addition, he conducted on the award- winning DVD of Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid, as well as SF Ballet’s production of Nutcracker for PBS.

Melissa Kleinbart
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.