Rimsky-Korsakov String Quartet, St. Petersburg, Russia

Porter Munro (mezzo-soprano).
Date & Time: Tuesday October 10, 7:30 p.m. Venue: 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco Tickets: $20 General, $15 Seniors/Students All ticket sales are final
For full program details click here.

Mikhail Bondarev (violin) graduated in 1983 from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory where he studied violin with Elena Komarova and quartet performance with Vladimir Ovcharek. Previously, he graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov Specialized Music School where he studied violin with Lev Rankov and Boris Gutnikov. He has been a member of the Rimsky-Korsakov Quartet since 1981.
Ekaterina Belisova (violin), born in Saint Petersburg, started learning the violin at the age of 7 under the supervision of L. A. Ivaschenko. She graduated from the Specialized Music School in 1981 and enrolled at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory where she studied violin with Professor E. A. Komarova, chamber music with Professor T. L. Fidler, and quartet with Vladimir Ovcharek. In 1984, while being a 3rd year student at the Conservatory Ms. Belisova joined the Rimsky-Korsakov quartet. She also performs with other chamber music groups including a piano trio and a piano quartet.
Alexei Popov (viola) finished his education at the Rimsky-Korsakov Specialized Music College in the class of G. M. Hoserova before studying at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in the classes of Professors Kramarov and Stopichev. He studied quartet performance with Professor Ovcharek, and chamber music with Professor Fidler. At his last year at the Conservatory, in 1985, A. Popov was invited to play at the Rimsky-Korsakov quartet where he is playing at present. Mr. Popov does not limit himself to performances with the quartet, and he often plays chamber music in other ensembles. Mr. Popov’s repertoire comprises of works by J. S. Bach, F. Schubert, M. Glinka, J. Brahms; trios by F. Haydn, works by Mozart, Schumann, and works by 20th century composers. For several years Mr. Popov taught classes for string quartet performance at the Saint-Petersburg State Conservatory, however, during the last years he fully returned to the concert activity.
Anton Andreev (cello) has been a member of the Rimsky-Korsakov quartet since 2008 and has studied cello at the Saint-Petersburg Conservatory with Professor A. P. Nikitin. He is a winner of the Saint-Petersburg Cello Competition (1993), the all-Russia competition (Ryazan, 2000), a diploma winner of the Dotzauer International Competition for Young Cellists (Dresden, 2001), the Mravinsky International Competition (Saint-Petersburg, 2003), and he is a winner of the Shostakovich competition (Saint-Petersburg, 2006). Andreev participated in the Berg master class (Salzburg, 2007, 2008), and the music festivals of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany), and Salzburg (Austria).

Sally Porter Munro (mezzo-soprano) is a native of London, England and a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, England. While living in England she sang with the English National Opera, Royal Opera de la Monnaie in Brussels, and as an oratorio soloist in Europe. She also performed with the BBC Singers on radio and television. She relocated to New York City to continue her studies. Since moving to San Francisco, Ms. Munro has sung as a soloist with Pocket Opera, Berkeley Opera, North Bay Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, and Lake Tahoe Festival. Ms. Munro has performed as a soloist with the Oakland East Bay Symphony Orchestra, the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Russian Chamber Orchestra, Master Works Chorale, the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. She is a full time member of The San Francisco Opera Chorus and has covered and sung a number of small roles. Ms. Munro teaches singing and the Alexander Technique and was a faculty member of the San Francisco Girls’ Chorus for twenty years. Since four years, she has been a faculty member of The Young Women’s Choral Project.

Winner of numerous awards, including the 1975 Ravel Prize at the Marguerite Long International Competition in Paris, pianist Robert Schwartz has performed extensively in the U.S. and abroad. Of his performance of the Shostakovich first piano concerto with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, the Scranton Times wrote: “His playing was crystal clear and his poetic insights remarkable.” Mr. Schwartz made his formal New York debut in 1983 at the Merkin Concert Hall, having already appeared in New York City on the concert series’ of the American Landmarks Festivals, Trinity Church and the Maison Française at N.Y.U. Musical appearances on radio have included the WNYC “Americathon” broadcast live from Merkin Hall, WQXR in New York, NPR affiliates KXPR-Sacramento and WGBH-Boston. Klavier Records has released his recording of Romero’s Spirals for piano and orchestra, with the San Francisco Camerata and a CD of Schwartz performing French piano music will be released in early 2009. Mr. Schwartz has recently given recitals and master classes at the Young International Pianists Festival in Vienna, Austria the Chautauqua Institution, the Beijing Conservatory in Beijing, China and, last summer presented a lecture recital on Albéniz’s Iberia at the Portland International Piano Festival in Portland, Oregon. Schwartz has appeared in the Bay Area on the concert series’ of Old First Church, The Steinway Society, Noontime Concerts, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Sacramento Chamber Music Society and San Francisco Performances, and has appeared as soloist with the Redding Symphony, the Memphis Symphony, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the San Francisco Camerata and the Orquesta de Cámara Municipal de Rosario, Argentina. Schwartz has taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Skyline College and Santa Clara University and is currently on the piano faculty at Mills College in Oakland, CA. He was featured on the California Arts Council Touring Roster for two seasons 2003-2005. Mr. Schwartz holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Indiana University, a Masters Degree from Juilliard, and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the Manhattan School of Music.

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