About Us
History
Now in its sixteenth season, the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble started in 1992 as a group of friends who loved to play chamber music together. It has continued for over a decade with engaging, daring and enlightened concerts. By pairing new works with traditional masterpieces, The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble reveals the expressive intent of composers from every age. The group has commissioned over 50 new works, sponsors an annual Composition Contest that draws over 150 applicants each year, and carries on a tradition of performing the very best that the composers of today (whether established or emerging) have to offer.
The Chamber Music Partnership, Inc, formed in 1995 as a 501(c)(3) organization, supports the ensemble and its mission.
Strings
Anna Presler, artistic director, violin
Violinist Anna Presler has played in the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble for over a decade. A faculty member at Sacramento State University, she performs with the ensemble in residence, the Sun Quartet. She is also a member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Presler has participated in programs at the Banff Art Center, the International Music Seminar at Cornwall, and the Tanglewood Music Center. She holds a degree in history from Yale University and studied music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the North Carolina School of the Arts.
Phyllis Kamrin violin, viola
Ms. Kamrin received her B.M. from the Curtis Institute and her M.M. from the New England Conservatory. She is a member of the string quartet within the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and of the Alma Duo, an ensemble with guitar. She has played with the Sierra String Quartet, winners of the Duisberg Prize, the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and Philharmonia Baroque. Ms. Kamrin can be heard on the Kameleon, VQS, and Harmonia Mundi labels.
Kurt Rohde, composer/violist/artistic advisor
Composer and violist Kurt Rohde lives in San Francisco with his partner Tim Allen and labradoodle Ripley. Originally from New York, Kurt attended the Peabody Conservatory, the Curtis Institute and SUNY Stony Brook. He is the recipient of the Rome Prize, the Berlin Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and commissions from the Fromm, Koussevitzky and Barlow Foundations. A member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra and the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, he teaches composition at UC Davis. www.kurtrohde.com
Leighton Fong, cello
Leighton Fong is a longtime member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and serves as Principal Cello with the California Symphony. He joined the San Francisco Contemporary Players in 2006. He plays regularly with the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players and the Empyrean Ensemble. Mr. Fong has taught at University of California, Berkeley since 1997. He studied at the San Francisco Conservatory, the New England Conservatory, the Bern Conservatory in Switzerland, and the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark. An avid chamber musician, he has performed the complete string quartets of Beethoven and Schubert.
Tanya Tomkins, cello
Tanya Tomkins, a virtuoso on both the Baroque and modern cello, is equally at home playing a Bach cello suite in an intimate house concert or anchoring the cello section of the internationally renowned Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra on concert stages around the world. NRC Handelsblad (The Netherlands) describes her as “a cellist with a very special and unusual intensity,” and the Cleveland Plain Dealer calls her “a performer who combines an intense dramatic fire with Apollonian poise.” For more information visit www.tanyatomkins.com
Michel Taddei double bass
Michel Taddei is a founding member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and frequently performs with other ensembles including the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and Earplay. He was principal bassist of the Orchestra of the Opéra National de Lyon for seven seasons, and is currently principal bassist for the Berkeley Symphony and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Taddei toured with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble and has performed at the Aspen, Moab, and Tanglewood Music Festivals.. He has recorded for Decca, EMI, Erato, Nonesuch, Philips, and Virgin Classics. He is a graduate of Columbia University, where he was a John Jay National Scholar, and also studied at Juilliard and UC Berkeley. Mr. Taddei is Administrative Director of Music at the Crowden School in Berkeley.
Woodwinds
Stacey Pelinka, flute
Stacey Pelinka is a member of Worn Chamber Ensemble and has performed and recorded with the Blueprint Festival’s Ensemble Parallèle. She plays principal flute with San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program productions, and second flute with the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Midsummer Mozart Festival. She spent two seasons as piccoloist with the Sarasota Opera in Florida, and from 1995 to 1999 she was principal flutist of the Napa Valley Symphony. She has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Contemporary Chamber Players, Earplay, and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. She received degrees from Cornell University and the San Francisco Conservatory, where she studied with Timothy Day. For more information visit www.staceypelinka.com/flute.html
Andrea Plesnarski, oboe
Ms. Plesnarski has performed regularly with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and appears frequently with the California Symphony and San Francisco Symphony. She was principal oboe with the Sacramento Chamber Symphony. Ms. Plesnarksi is a graduate of the Curtis Institute, where she studied with John de Lancie and Richard Woodhams. She won the Florida Orchestra and Savannah Symphony Young Artist Competitions, and the Carmel Music Society solo instrumentalist competition.
Thomas Nugent, oboe
Mr. Nugent graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied with Marc Lifschey. Mr. Nugent is currently principal oboe with the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, a founding member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and is a member of the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet. He has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, San Jose Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Marin Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, California Symphony, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Sacramento Chamber Music Society, Sierra Chamber Society, San Francisco Camerata, Mendocino Music Festival, Bear Valley Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival, and the Colorado Philharmonic. He has performed as a soloist with the Sacramento Philharmonic, Bear Valley Festival Orchestra, Mendocino Festival Orchestra, Diablo Ballet, San Francisco Choral Artists, and for the American Guild of Organists. Mr. Nugent has performed on television commercials, video and PBS soundtracks. Recent recording projects include the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Centering, the Music of Earle Brown, and Carlos Franzetti’s new opera, Corpus Evita, with the San Francisco Camerata. Mr. Nugent is on the faculty of The University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music and at Mills College in Oakland.
Jerome Simas, clarinet
Jerome Simas is currently substitute principal clarinetist with the San Francisco Opera. For two seasons he was acting second clarinetist with the San Francisco Symphony. He is principal clarinetist with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. As a chamber musician, he studied and performed at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and also represented the New World Symphony in chamber music concerts in Europe and the Eastern US. He won First Prize at the International Clarinet Society’s Young Artist’s Competition, Grand Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and First Prize at the Yellow Springs National Chamber Music Competition. He performed as soloist with the New World Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Modesto Symphony, Iris Chamber Orchestra, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Symphony, where he received his BM and MM. Mr. Simas has recently joined the music faculty at Stanford University.
Piano and Guitar
Eric Zivian. piano, composer
Mr. Zivian is a graduate of the Curtis Institute, the Juilliard School, and the Yale School of Music. He studied composition with Ned Rorem, Jacob Druckman, and Martin Bresnick, and piano with Gary Graffman and Peter Serkin. Mr. Zivian has performed new music with with Alternate Currents, Earplay, and the Empyrean Ensemble, and Beethoven and Mozart with the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Toronto Symphony. He is a member of the Zivian-Tomkins Duo. He attended the Tanglewood Center as both a performer and composer. Mr. Zivian is a frequent guest artist on the San Francisco Conservatory’s faculty chamber music series.
Michael Goldberg, guitar
Michael Goldberg has toured throughout the United States as part of the Alma Duo, an ensemble of violin/viola and guitar. He has recorded on the Arabesque and Kameleon labels. He has been featured with the Santa Rosa Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, Empyrean Ensemble, Diablo Valley Ballet, and many other Bay Area groups. Mr. Goldberg teaches at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, and maintains a private teaching practice in Berkeley. Mr. Goldberg has formerly taught at Cal. State Hayward, Chabot College and Las Positas College. He received his M.M. from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Organizational Information
Through creative programming and professional performances that respect and challenge audiences, the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble is building an increasing audience and funding base. While the groups’ sponsor, The Chamber Music Partnership, Inc. receives support from organizations such as the San Francisco Grants for the Arts/Hotel Tax Fund, Gambs Family Foundation and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, the ensemble also enjoys the support of many individuals and families.
The CMP’s Board of Directors sets general policies, oversees financial decisions and works with the musicians and volunteers to raise money.
The Players’ Committee and Artistic Director, both elected by the musicians, make artistic decisions. The Artistic Director is Anna Presler. The Players’ Committee is Kurt Rohde, Michael Goldberg, and Eric Zivian. Michel Taddei is the alternate.
The organization is supported by operations manager, Phyllis Kamrin, publicist Genevieve Antaky, web designer Charles Fox, concert managers Stacey Pelinka and Jerry Simas, concert production assistant, Martin Gales and many very generous donors and volunteers who help us bring our music to the community.
An Advisory Board provides additional musical expertise.