Current Faculty
Telegraph Quartet, quartet in residence
The Telegraph Quartet, consisting of violinists Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violist Pei-Ling Lin, and cellist Jeremiah Shaw, was formed in 2013 with an equal passion for the standard chamber music repertoire as well as contemporary and non-standard repertoire, alike. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle in 2017 as “…an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was most recently awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award. Past prizes include the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. The Quartet has since gone on to perform in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions from Los Angeles and New York to Italy and Taiwan, including Carnegie Hall, San Francisco’s Herbst Recital Hall and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Chamber Masters Series and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. In 2016, the Quartet was invited as one of a handful of emerging professional string quartets from around the world to perform in Paris, France at the Biennale de quatuors à cordes, a showcase for major concert presenters of Europe and Asia taking place at the Philharmonie de Paris.
Del Sol Quartet, quartet in residence
Del Sol began as a thought on the night shift at Fermilab. Charlton Lee, in his pre-viola days, loved the cutting edge of physics research – always looking for the next discovery, pushing boundaries. But he missed the way music connected people, building community by communicating in ways physics never would. What if he could bring that scientific passion for exploration to a string quartet?
Twenty-six years later, they are still sharing music that brings out the endorphins. Music that brings the quartet tradition out of Europe and into the rest of the world, a musical voice for Asia and beyond. Music that asks why not?
Although Del Sol began in New Mexico, the quartet quickly found its home in San Francisco where the city matched their hunger for innovation. They feel drawn to the West Coast tradition of freethinking outsider artists, fascinated by the feedback loop between social change, technology, and artistic innovation.
Del Sol has commissioned and premiered pieces by their heroes like Ben Johnston, Gabriela Lena Frank, Frederic Rzewski, Chinary Ung and Terry Riley. And while they have remained committed to building a community in the Bay Area, their performances take them all over the country, from Boonville Grange Hall in northern California to the Library of Congress in Washington DC, and all over the world, with recent trips to Switzerland and China.
Calvin Wiersma, violin
Calvin Wiersma is Associate Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Ithaca College. He has been on the faculties of the Purchase Conservatory of Music, the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, Florida State University, Brandeis University, and the Longy School of Music, as well as teaching at summer programs including Greenwood and Manchester Music. In addition to his teaching activities, Mr. Wiersma was a founding member of the Meliora Quartet, winner of the Naumburg, Fischoff, Coleman, and Cleveland Quartet competitions, and Quartet-in-Residence of the Spoleto Festivals of the U.S., Italy, and Australia. Additionally, he was a member of the Manhattan String Quartet for 20 years, a founding member of the Figaro Trio, and is a frequent performer with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. A noted interpreter of contemporary music, Mr. Wiersma is a member of Cygnus and the Lochrian Chamber Ensemble, and has appeared with Speculum Musicae, Ensemble 21, Parnassus, Ensemble Sospeso, and the New York New Music Ensemble. He has commissioned countless works with these ensembles as well as for solo violin, has toured extensively with Steve Reich and been featured in solo performances for the International League of Composers of Music.
Daniela Mineva, piano
Hailed by critics as a “vibrant and expressive performer who could steal the show in every concert” (New York Times) and “energetic and lively pianist who displaces power and delicacy in nuanced sensitivity along with virtuoso technique” (The Baltimore Sun), DANIELA MINEVA’s unique approach to standard repertory, combined with the performance and dedication of works by living composers has taken her career throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America.
Daniela has been the winner and finalist in numerous international and national competitions including 2007 Jean Francaix piano competition in Paris, France, 1998 Steinway International Piano Competition, the International Competition " Music and the Earth " Sofia, Bulgaria among many others. During the Piano Meeting Festival 2007 in San Danielle, Italy, she was awarded with the prize “Highest Artistic Level of Performance” for her solo recital at the festival. In collaboration with the composer Vera Ivanova, the 8th International Competition for new music, Orléans, France awarded them with the “Prix André CHEVILLION- Yvonne BONNAUD sous l’égide de la FOUNDATION DE FRANCE” for the solo piano piece “Aftertouch”, written for Daniela Mineva.
Ms. Mineva maintains an active performing career. She has appeared as orchestral soloist, chamber music collaborator and solo artist at some of the most prestigious venues in Bulgaria, USA, China, Italy, France, Greece, Russia, Germany, Thailand and Costa Rica. A strong proponent of new music, Ms. Mineva has collaborated with many young and establishes composers as well as collaborating with new music ensembles like Speculum Musica, New York, NY; Earplay, San Francisco, CA; OSSIA, Eastman School of Music, and Twenty One, Rochester, NY. Dr. Mineva has also served as the president of the International Society for Pianists and Composers in USA from 2011-2016.
A devoted teacher herself, Dr. Mineva has given master classes and workshops throughout USA, Europe, Asia and South America. She has taught at Atlantic Music Festival, Russalka Piano Festival and Music and Earth Festival and Competition (Bulgaria). Currently, she is Professor of Music and Director of Keyboard Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt, California where in 2012 she won the “McCrone promising faculty award.” Previously, Dr. Mineva has taught at Eastman School of Music where in 2007 she was awarded “TA excellence of teaching” and Concordia University- Chicago. From 2013-2018, she was appointed as the Artistic and Executive Director of the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop, Arcata, CA. She is also Co- Director of the North Coast Piano Festival and Competition where she serves on the faculty as well..
As an accomplished and versatile chamber musician, Ms. Mineva has participated in many music festivals and summer programs, including Tanglewood Music Festival, Institute for Contemporary Music, New York and San Danielle Piano Meeting, Italy. Ms. Mineva’s passion for chamber music led to organizing the concert series “Humboldt Chamber Music Concert Series at Morris Graves Museum”, Eureka, CA. Highlights of the season 2018-19 include concert tours in Asia and Europe with program by C. Debussy and O. Messiaen.
Jeffrey LaDeur , piano
Jeffrey LaDeur is known for his “delicate keyboard touch and rich expressivity” (San Francisco Chronicle) and playing described as “deeply moving, probing, felt entirely in the moment” (Eduard Laurel) Much sought after for his rare blend of insight, spontaneity, and approachable, communicative stage presence, Jeffrey has captured the hearts and minds of audiences from the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall to the Shanghai Conservatory and the Orlando Festival in the Netherlands.
Having inherited a rich tradition of pianism and interpretation from Annie Sherter, student of Vlado Perlemuter and Alfred Cortot, LaDeur has established himself as a compelling exponent of the French masters from Couperin to Ravel in addition to a diverse repertoire of canonical and alternative masterpieces. In March of 2018, LaDeur made his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall on the centennial of Claude Debussy’s death, performing the composer’s complete Etudes with works by Couperin and Chopin. His acclaimed solo album, The Unbroken Line[MSR Classics) is devoted to music of Rameau and Debussy and has been hailed as “a masterpiece of understatement, simplicity, and ‘old school’ chord-playing where every note sings out with meaning” (Gramophone). In 2017, LaDeur founded the San Francisco International Piano Festival for which he serves as artistic director.
As a pianist, LaDeur integrates solo performance and collaboration, blending the intimacy of chamber music with the brio of concertante works. As founding member and pianist of the Delphi Trio, Jeffrey toured internationally with the ensemble for a decade and premiered William Bolcom’s first Piano Trio, written for the ensemble. With mezzo soprano Kindra Scharich he recently recorded To My Distant Beloved, an album exploring the relationship between Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -Leben and his epic Fantasy in C for solo piano, to be released on MSR Classics spring of 2020. Jeffrey has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Robert Mann, Bonnie Hampton, Ian Swensen, Axel Strauss, Geoff Nuttall, Anne Akiko Meyers, David Requiro, and Scott Pingel.
Dedicated to the principle that solo pianists thrive together, rather than as competitors, Jeffrey founded New Piano Collective, an artistic alliance of pianists, dedicated to uniquely personal artistry, collaboration, and ground-breaking programming. In 2017, LaDeur expanded the Collective and founded the San Francisco International Piano Festival, now in its fourth season, for which he serves as artistic director. The festival has quickly become of the most exciting and engaging music festivals in the country.
An active educator, Jeffrey enjoys giving regular masterclasses as a visiting artist to universities across the United States. LaDeur coaches gifted pre-college piano and string ensembles at Young Chamber Musicians in Burlingame, California.
LaDeur holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and San Francisco Conservatory of Music in piano performance and chamber music, respectively. Jeffrey counts among his teachers Mark Edwards, Douglas Humpherys, Yoshikazu Nagai, and Robert McDonald.
Kindra Scharich, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo Soprano Kindra Scharich has been praised by The San Francisco Chronicle for her “exuberant vitality”, “fearless technical precision”, “deep-rooted pathos” and “irrepressible musical splendor.” As a dedicated recitalist, she has performed over 200 art songs in 12 languages and given solo recitals at the The American Composer’s Forum, La Jolla Athenaeum, The Wagner Society, Lieder Alive and the acclaimed Sala Cecília Meireles in Rio de Janeiro. In 2018 Ms. Scharich sang the U.S. Premiere of new songs of Anno Schreier as a co-collaboration between Deutsche Oper Berlin and Lieder Alive. She also continued her partnership with Brazilian pianist Ricardo Ballestero in performing and recording the non-Portuguese repertoire of the great Brazilian composer Alberto Nepomuceno.
A great proponent of Lieder and Chamber Music, she and Jeffrey LaDeur recently recorded “To my distant beloved”, music of Beethoven and Schumann, also to be released in 2020. She has collaborated extensively with the Alexander String Quartet, and in 2018 “In meinem Himmel: The Complete Mahler Song Cycles”, a recording of new transcriptions by Zakarias Grafilo, was released on the Foghorn label. In the world of opera, Ms. Scharich has sung over 30 roles ranging from Monteverdi to Philip Glass. She has taught and given master classes at the Yehudi Menuhin Seminar and Festival for Chamber Music at San Francisco State, Point Loma University and the University of São Paolo, among others. See Kindra Scharich for more information and upcoming concerts.
Randy Fisher, viola/violin
Committed to chamber music since 1973 (before CMA!), Randy Fisher’s ensembles bore chamber music traditions from coachings with members of the Juilliard, Cleveland and Budapest quartets as well as Lillian Fuchs and Joseph Gingold. Since moving to California, Fisher has coached regularly at Humboldt, CalCap, SoCal, CMNC, Santa Barbara, Golden Gate and Grand Pacific workshops. Previously, he played in symphonies and string quartets based in seven states and five countries, taught chamber music at colleges in Colorado, Virginia and Hong Kong, and served as Director of Education and Community Outreach for five symphonies.
Gayle Blankenburg, piano
Gayle Blankenburg has performed extensively to great critical acclaim as a solo pianist, chamber musician, and vocal accompanist. She was a roster artist with Southwest Chamber Music from 1996 to 2003. Among nearly a dozen award-winning CDs recorded for Southwest Chamber Music on Cambria Records are her performances of Elliot Carter's song cycle Of Challenge and of Love (with soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson) and the Carlos Chavez Invencion for solo piano. Her recording of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with the LA-based ensemble “inauthentica” has received the highest critical acclaim from Gramophone Magazine, Opera News, and The American Record Guide.
She has performed in venues such as the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, at Cooper Union, the Tenri Institute, the DiMenna Center and the National Opera Center in New York City, the Schoenberg Institute in Vienna, Austria, the Hongtai Concert Hall in Xiamen, China, the ASEAN Festival in Nanning, China, and the Canterbury Performing Arts Center in Christchurch, New Zealand. She has also performed 6 concert tours in China, during which she also gave master classes at various universities.
Recently released is a CD of chamber music and solo piano works of Richard Cameron-Wolfe on the Furious Artisans label. A double-CD set of the flute/piano repertoire by Karl Kohn was released on Bridge Records early in 2022.
The Los Angeles Times has reviewed her playing on numerous occasions, says, “Blankenburg played with elegant power and poise… Her crisp touch and light pedaling produced crystalline, pensive, haunting sequences... This is a gratefully idiomatic piece for a pianist with both power and a palette, requirements Blankenburg met easily.”
Ms. Blankenburg was a student of the distinguished pianists Menahem Pressler (of the Beaux Arts Trio) and Abbey Simon at Indiana University, where she received the Bachelor's and Master's degrees in piano performance, and where she was also awarded the coveted Performer's Certificate. She is currently on the piano faculties at Pomona College and the Claremont Graduate University.
Maggie Parkins, cello
Maggie Parkins is equally at home in chamber music, orchestral music and the avant-garde. She has performed throughout the Americas and Europe and her work currently ranges from concert recitals to multimedia, multi-genre collaborations. Always an advocate for new and experimental music, Parkins, along with the Eclipse Quartet, has commissioned or premiered numerous works from composers, including Carla Kihlstedt, Zeena Parkins and Fred Frith. As a chamber musician, in addition to the Eclipse String Quartet, she also is a member of the Mojave Piano Trio and Brightwork newmusic. In the orchestra world she has performed under the batons of Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle and Andre Previn performing with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Syracuse Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Pasadena Symphony, the Riverside Symphony and the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. She was cello professor and coordinator of chamber music at UC Irvine from 1997-2016.
