1st Season, 2017

March 12, 2017     Del Sol String Quartet

Hailed by Gramophone as “masters of all musical things they survey,” the Del Sol String Quartet is a leading force in 21st-century chamber music, vibrantly exploring the stories and sounds of the Pacific Rim. Founded in 1992 and based in San Francisco, Del Sol has released eight critically-acclaimed recordings, and performed on prominent concert series nationwide, including the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Symphony Space, NYC; Chautauqua, NY; and internationally in Switzerland, France, China, South Korea, Canada and Mexico. 

April 23, 2017     Beethoven sonatas for cello and piano

Isaac Pastor-Chermak and Alison Lee have embarked on the amazing mission of performing all five of Beethoven's compositions for this beautiful combination. The sonatas span Beethoven's compositional career, from the formative years before he took Vienna by storm, to the self-declared "New Path" of his middle period, to the sublime and challenging experiments of his late period. The duo will perform Sonatas No. 2, 3, and 4 on April 23.

Isaac Pastor-Chermak is Principal Cellist of  Portland Opera and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony and Associate Principal Cellist of  Stockton Symphony. He is the Beelard Foundation Artist in Residence at the Young Artists Conservatory of Music in Vacaville, and founder of the Solano Junior Strings, the first youth orchestra in Vacaville. Isaac holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (MM).

 Alison Lee is the winner of multiple piano competitions, including the Pacific Musical Society Competition in San Francisco and the Graves Music Competition in Ohio. Most recently she won second place in the 2016 Midwest International Piano Competition, where she performed Beethoven's Emperor Concerto. Alison holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Rice University, and is currently completing her doctoral degree at the University of Minnesota.