Collaborator

Amy Chiu, piano

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Violin Concerto in D
     I. Toccata                                    
     II. Aria I    
     III. Aria II
     IV. Capriccio
Mathea Goh, violin
Amy Chiu, piano

Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840)
Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6  
     I. Allegro maestoso
     II. Adagio    
     III. Rondo: Allegro spiritoso
Yvette Kraft, violin
Amy Chiu, piano

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957)
Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
     I. Moderato nobile
     II. Romance: Andante 
     III. Finale: Allegro assai vivace
PoYu Lee, violin
Amy Chiu, piano

About the Judges

Anna Kruger, a native of Columbus, GA, is Associate Principal Viola for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, Principal Viola for the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and viola professor at CSUS Sacramento. As founding violist of the Lark Quartet from 1985 through 1998, she toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, to Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, and Russia.  Among many competition prizes awarded the Lark were the Gold Medal in the 1991 Shostakovitch International String Quartet Competition and the 1990 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In 1998, the Quartet’s commission and premiere of a work by Aaron Jay Kernis won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. 
Highlights of Ms. Kruger’s seasons with the Lark include performances at the Lockenhaus Festival in Austria at the invitation of Gidon Kremer, the Beethoven Festival at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, (under the direction of Sviatoslav Richter), Lyon’s Musicades Festival in France, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Northern Germany, and Mexico’s Festival de Musica de Camera.  Major centers where she has performed include NY’s Lincoln Center, the National Gallery and Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, St. Paul’s Ordway Theater, San Francisco’s Herbst Theater, and in the cities of Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Houston, Honolulu, Chicago, Atlanta, and Indianapolis.  She has concertized abroad in the major cities of London, Paris, Basel, Stockholm, Munich, Hamburg, Vienna, Shanghai, St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Teaching residencies with the Lark Quartet include positions as Quartet-in-residence at Ohio University, Dartmouth College, Florida State University, Florida Atlantic University, and San Diego State University.
Previous to the Lark Quartet, Anna played for two years as principal violist of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Kruger received her Bachelor’s Degree with High Distinction from Indiana University and her Master’s Degree from the Manhattan School of Music.

Jeremy Preston is the principal second violinist of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and a was recently granted tenure in the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Previously he was the Associate Concertmaster of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and before that a member of the North Carolina Symphony. He has performed with many orchestras throughout the U.S. and in the Bay Area, including the San Francisco Symphony and the New Century Chamber Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, he has played at venues throughout the Bay Area and was previously a member of the North Carolina String Quartet, the Mallarme Chamber Players, the Peace College Manning Chamber Players, New Music Raleigh, and the Eastern Music Festival Chamber Players.
Trained at the New England Conservatory of Music, Rice University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, Jeremy’s teachers include Marylou Speaker Churchill, Lynn Chang, Kathleen Winkler, Sally Thomas, and William Preucil. His chamber music coaches include Norman Fisher, Pamela, and Claude Frank and members of the Cleveland and Juilliard Quartets.Jeremy maintains a private teaching studio and loves living and hiking in the beautiful city of San Francisco.

Lauded as one of today’s probing musical voices, Nancy Zhou harbors a robust media presence that seeks to invigorate appreciation for the art and science of the violin. The violinist’s thoughtful musicianship resonates with a global audience in such a way that brings her on stage with leading orchestras around the world. The past seasons saw Nancy collaborating with the Kansas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, among others. Highlights for the upcoming season include Würzburg Philharmonic, China Philharmonic, in addition to recital tours in Italy and Belgium. The violinist is equally committed to chamber music and providing guidance to young musicians. She has taught at the Encore Chamber Music Festival and performed at the Tanglewood Festival, Verbier Festival, Marvão Festival, among others. Born in Texas to Chinese immigrants, Nancy began violin studies with her father. She went on to study at the New England Conservatory while pursuing a Bachelor’s of Arts in Literature at Harvard University. The violinist is a former scholar of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation and is an Associated Artist at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel.

About SFCM'S Violin Department

Transform your playing in the heart of the Bay Area music scene. About 50 students study violin at SFCM, learning from world-class faculty members, including the concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony. As a violinist at SFCM, you’ll perform with your peers, explore new possibilities for your instrument, and develop your voice through music from the baroque to the new.

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