Session 1 & 2

A graduate of the Juilliard School and Indiana University, violist Craig Bate has appeared as soloist throughout the United States, including a concerto performance in Bloomington, IN, as the winner of Indiana University’s concerto competition. He was also the Grand Prize Winner at the Gee Viola Competition in Aspen, Colorado. While a student at Juilliard, he was invited to tour Europe and the United States with the Juilliard Orchestra. He was also selected to perform on a nation-wide PBS broadcast for Juilliard’s centennial anniversary. Before moving to California, Mr. Bate was a member of the Eykamp String Quartet in residence at the University of Evansville. He has served as Principal Violist of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Owensboro Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Kentucky and Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra. At age 17, he became the youngest member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, where he was offered tenure two years later.

Session 2 ｜ San Francisco Opera Orchestra

Mariya Borozina is a member of First Violin sections of the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet orchestras and a substitute player with the San Francisco Symphony. She is a Conductor of Galbraith Honor Strings of Golden State Youth Orchestra.

Born in Moscow, Mariya Borozina began playing the violin at the age of 5, following in the footsteps of her violinist father. Starting at the Gnessins School of Music, she continued her studies at the Moscow Conservatory, class of Marina Yashvili. After moving to the US, she earned a postgraduate degree at Manhattan School of Music studying with Glenn Dicterow, Lisa Kim, Yoko Takebe, and Albert Markov. She performed around the globe as a Concertmaster of Verbier Festival and Verbier Festival Chamber orchestras.

An avid chamber music player, she has appeared as part of several local groups, including Eos Ensemble and Farallon Quintet. She appears regularly as a concertmaster and soloist for the Russian Chamber Orchestra and performs at various venues in the Bay Area and beyond. As an educator, Ms. Borozina coaches chamber groups and orchestras, performs at outreach programs, and teaches privately. She is frequently invited to judge local music competitions.

Session 1 & 2 ｜ San Francisco Symphony

David Chernyavsky joined the San Francisco Symphony in 2009. Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, he began violin studies at the age of six and at eleven gave his first solo recital. After winning prizes in competitions in Russia and France, he entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. In 1997, Mr. Chernyavsky came to the US to study at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music with the famous Profesor Nelli Shkolnikova and, later, at the Juilliard School. Before joining SF Symphony Mr. Chernyavsky had been a member of the Kennedy Center Opera orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He performed and recorded several CDs with the Saint Petersburg String Quartet and with the Joel Rubin Klezmer Music Ensemble, and he has released a solo CD, Klezmer Violin. He also performs and teaches with the San Francisco Academy Orchestra.

Session 1

Rebecca Hang was born in Germany and began her violin studies at the Peter-Cornelius- Conservatory in Mainz with Helga Waehdel. From 1987 until 1990 she lived in Israel where she studied with the concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Chaim Taub. Rebecca continued her musical education with Atar Arad and Paul Biss at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she received her Bachelors of Music “with high distinction” and a Masters of Music in violin performance. As member of the internationally renowned Felici String Quartet, she won first prize in the 1992 Michael Kuttner Competition at IU, the MTNA Competition in Indianapolis, the Russell Award of the 1993 Coleman Competition and was a prize winner of the International String Quartet Competition in Osaka, Japan, in the same year. In June of 1993 Rebecca gave her New York solo debut in Lincoln Center’s Juilliard Theater performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. As member of the first violin section of the International “Guido Cantelli” Chamber Orchestra in Milan, Italy, she toured throughout Europe and the U.S. before accepting the NEA Rural Residency Grant with the Felici Piano Trio in Mammoth Lakes, CA, in 1998. Rebecca dedicates much of her time to CMU’s Community Music School. Through her pedagogical work she hopes to nurture children’s innate musicality and lay the foundations for a lasting love of great music.

Session 1 & 2

Kevin Hsu is a violist hailing from Saratoga, California. Throughout his storied career, Mr. Hsu has performed throughout the continents with esteemed artists and groups such as Midori Goto, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony and the Classical Music Institute. He has also collaborated with musicians such as Alfred Brendel, Augustin Dumay, members of the Artemis Quartet, Glenn Dicterow, Donald Weilerstein and many more. In addition to his viola performances and activities, Mr. Hsu is also a professional photographer and videographer.

Session 1

TINA MINN, violin, has studied at the Eastman School of Music as a George Eastman Merit Scholar and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music receiving her Bachelor's Degree in Performance. Primary teachers include Andor Toth, Zvi Zeitlin, and Zaven Melikian. Ms. Minn has performed in masterclasses for Yehudi Menuhin, Jorja Fleezanis, and Jerome Lowenthal and coached with Joseph Gingold and members of the Cleveland, St. Lawrence, and Stanford String Quartets. She has taught and performed at the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Italy and participated at the Bear Valley and Mendocino Music Festivals. She was a founding member of Sonnet Ensemble. Currently, Ms. Minn performs with the Symphony San Jose and Monterey Symphony including collaborations with Monterey’s Chamber Players performing at San Francisco’s Old First and Noontime Concert series. Ms. Minn maintains a private teaching studio and is a sought after coach at San Jose Youth Symphony, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, KAMSA, and Lynbrook High