Piano Quartet featuring
Rachel Kim, piano
Angiezcka Peszko, violin
Paula Karolak, vlola
Natalie Raney, cello
~ Program ~
Meditation de Thais, Jules Massanet (1842-1912)
Agnieszka Peszko, violin
Rachel Kim, piano
Salut D’Amour, Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Agnieszka Peszko, violin
Rachel Kim, piano
Viola Concerto in D major, op. 1, Carl Stamitz (1745-1801)
Paula Karolak, viola
Rachel Kim, piano
Violin Sonata in G Major, op. 78, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Agnieszka Peszko, violin
Rachel Kim, piano
Between Tides, Toro Takamitsu (1930-1996)
Agnieszka Peszko, violin
Natalie Raney, cello
Rachel Kim, piano
***
ABOUT THE MUSICIANS
Paula Karolak is a San Francisco based violist who is currently a 2016/2017 fellow at the San Francisco Academy Orchestra. She moved to the Bay Area from Southern California to pursue a MM at SFCM with Paul Hersh and Jodi Levitz. Paula has performed as part of the Dilijian and Music Guild’s chamber series. She has appeared as a soloist with the Academy Orchestra and the UCLA philharmonic. Currently she is a core member of the Trinity Alps chamber players and performs regularly with numerous ensembles up and down the west coast. Paula presently studies with Joy Fellows.
Natalie Raney fell in love with the cello when she was nine years old after her coolest, childhood role model began playing it in the house next door. Her journey has led her across the country and landed her in San Francisco in pursuit of her ultimate love, chamber music.
She has had the opportunity to perform chamber music with such musicians as Kim Kashkashian, Menahem Pressler, Norman Fischer, Geoff Nuttall, Bonnie Hampton, Roberto Diaz, Ian Swensen, Paul Hersh, and the Arianna String Quartet. While in her graduate studies, her quartet was invited by the Muir String Quartet to participate in the Emerging Quartets and Composers Program, where she worked closely with composer Joan Tower. After moving to San Francisco, her quartet was invited to perform at the Kennedy Center on the Millennium Stage, and later that year was a finalist for the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. She has studied chamber music under members of the Tokyo, Pacifica, Brentano, Vermeer, Muir, Arianna, and Alexander String Quartets.
Natalie recently graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory receiving an Artist Certificate in Chamber Music studying under Jean-Michel Fonteneau. She received her Master of Music degree at Boston University under Marc Johnson, former cellist of the Vermeer Quartet and received a Bachelor of Music under Kurt Baldwin and the Arianna Quartet at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Rachel Kim, born in Seoul, South Korea, began her formal piano studies with Helen Smith Tarchalski at the age of 11. Throughout her early years, she has been a top prizewinner in numerous solo and ensemble competitions around the Washington, D.C, Metropolitan area and was presented with the Distinguished Music Achievement Award by the Maryland State Music Teachers Association and the Music Teachers National Association. She has participated in numerous summer festivals around the US and in Europe, including Aspen, Brevard, and the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy, and has performed in master classes by Leon Fleisher, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Bonnie Hampton, and Abby Simon. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Catholic University of America studying with Marilyn Neeley and a Masters degree from the San Francisco Conservatory, where she continues her studies with Paul Hersh. Currently she maintains a busy performance schedule throughout the Bay area, serves as a performing member of the Berkeley Piano Club, works as staff accompanist at the San Francisco Conservatory, and is on the music faculty at Branson High School in Ross, CA.
A native of Poland, Agnieszka Peszko, is an active recitalist and a chamber musician, making San Francisco her current home. She performed solo, chamber concerts and as a member of orchestra in the United States, Europe, and China. In her home country, her appearances include solo performances at the President’s Gallery and the Warsaw Music Society as well as chamber concerts at Warsaw Philharmonic and the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. In the United States she was a founding member of The Cali Piano Trio, the only pre-formed chamber group selected to participate in 2014 Young Artist Program in Manchester, Vermont. In 2016, she was invited to join Shanghai International Youth Orchestra for the concert tour in Shanghai and Beijing where she performed as a member of orchestra under maestro Xu Zhong. Most recently, she has been collaborating extensively with her newly founded piano trio with pianist, Rachel Kim, and cellist, Natalie Raney.
A laureate of many national competitions, Agnieszka won several awards, including 2nd prize at the Concerto Competition at Montclair State University, 2nd prize at the J. Garscia National Competition in Stalowa Wola, 2nd prize at First National Young Violinist Competition in Plock, 4th prize at the G.F. Telemann Competition in Poznan, and 1st distinction at the G. Bacewicz Competition in Wroclaw. She has also received 2nd prize at the chamber competition with her string quartet at the First Regional Chamber Music Competition in Sierpc, Poland.
Agnieszka began playing the violin at the age of seven, and soon music became an essential part of her life. Her principal teachers include Wei He, Weigang Li and Laurie Smukler. She completed her Master’s of Music in violin performance at San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as she has received an Artist Diploma and Performance Certificate at John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, and Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and Bachelor of Arts in Italian Studies at Bard College Conservatory of Music.
WEDNESDAY NOON CONCERTS
The community is invited to our complimentary Wednesday Noon Concert series. As part of our ongoing mission to use the transformative power of the arts to inspire and enrich our community, we have opened our doors for the past two years, every Wednesday at Noon, and presented concerts performed by talented musicians that are free of charge to the public. These free noon performances offer listeners the opportunity to discover the beauty of music in an intimate accessible setting, while providing the community with cultural enrichment and exposure to talented performers.
Concerts are in a one-hour format and performances take place in the intimate Tivoli or Crescendo where both audience and musicians can sit in vibrant, close proximity. Musicians often stay after the performance to informally speak about the program and their upcoming concerts.
