Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Wednesday Noon Concerts presents Karen Shinozaki, Violin; Michelle Maruyama, Violin/Viola & Eugene Sor, Cello
Program:
Four Duos for Two Violins Durwynne Hsieh
String Trio Op 9 #1 Beethoven
Karen Shinozaki (violin) is familiar to Bay Area audiences as a soloist, guest concertmaster, and member of several orchestras in the region. In recent seasons she has been featured with the Symphony of the Redwoods, the Santa Rosa Symphony, and the Berkeley Symphony. Karen is a member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Rosa and Marin Symphonies, the Sun Valley Symphony, and performs as a regular extra in the San Francisco Opera and Ballet Orchestras. She is also a frequent chamber music collaborator, appearing with diverse groups including the Santa Rosa Chamber Players, the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players, the Sor Ensemble, the Worn Ensemble, and the Adorno Ensemble. A longtime student of Serban Rusu of Tiburon and a graduate of UC Berkeley, she continued her studies at the Konservatorium fhr Musik Bern, Switzerland as a recipient of a Hertz Traveling Fellowship. In her free time, Karen likes to relax with her cellist husband, Eugene Sor, her cats Ellie and Bass, and indulge in her addiction to the Times crossword puzzles.
Eugene Sor (cello) a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, enjoys a variety of musical endeavors. His chamber music career began as a co-founder of the Chamberlain String Quartet, with whom he shared teaching assistantships at San Francisco State and Cal-State Hayward Universities. Later, as cellist for the Volta String Quartet, he appeared as a semi-finalist in the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and in several concerts in the U.S. and Canada. In 2003, eager to explore an even greater body of chamber music masterpieces, he helped to establish the Sor Ensemble, a group devoted to performing chamber works for combinations other than the string quartet.
In addition to his work with the Sor Ensemble, Eugene currently serves as Principal Cellist of the Stockton Symphony and performs frequently with the Santa Rosa Symphony and San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. He is a longtime faculty member of the Crowden School of Music in Berkeley and is Music Director of the Fremont Youth Symphony. He also conducts the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra’s Debut Strings. During his leisure time Eugene avidly plays tournament bridge and annually allows the San Francisco Giants to disappoint him bitterly. He and his violinist wife Karen Shinozaki Sor live happily in Richmond with their son Kenji and their two cats Ellie and Bass.
Michelle Maruyama (violin/viola) has performed throughout the Bay Area, serving as principal Second Violin with the Napa Valley and the Stockton Symphonies, and Assistant Principal Second Violin with the Santa Rosa Symphony. She has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Marin Symphony, and New World Symphony. The holder of Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Ms. Maruyama is an experienced teacher, and currently String Coach for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Young People’s Ensemble.
ABOUT Wednesday Noon Concerts 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 most performances take place in the intimate Tivoli 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.
