CSM Faculty

Richard Andaya, Cello, Chamber Music

Richard Andaya is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory and Yale University, and has studied with Irene Sharp, Aldo Parisot, Gabor Rejto and Zara Nelsova. He has served as Principal Cello with the Sacramento Symphony, the Colorado Philharmonic and National Repertory Orchestra and held positions with the Oakland, San Jose and New Haven Symphonies. He performs regularly with the San Francisco Symphony and has appeared as soloist with the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, the Colorado Philharmonic, the National Repertory Orchestra, the California Youth Symphony, the Vallejo Symphony and several times with the Sacramento Symphony . He has been a Fellow at Tanglewood and has received full scholarships from The Banff Centre, the Blossom Festival and the Music Academy of the West. He has appeared in the masterclasses of Janos Starker, Paul Tortelier, William Pleeth and Joel Krosnick. Mr. Andaya is former Principal Cello with the Honolulu Symphony and has been on the CSM faculty since 1997. He lives in Sacramento with his wife, Lena (also a cellist) and his two daughters, Natalie and Sarah.
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Timothy Bach, Piano, Chamber Music

Timothy Bach is a Faculty member and the Director of Collaborative Piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM). Currently he coaches chamber music in the Preparatory Chamber Music Program of the SFCM, and has served as that program co-coordinator. He has been a member of the Piano Faculty of Music Academy of the West. Mr. Bach earned a DMA with honors from the University of Southern California as a student of Gwendolyn Koldofsky and Brooks Smith. He was for many years a solo pianist for the Carmel Bach Festival, and can be heard in recordings of the complete Brahms Violin Sonatas
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Arne Balk-Møller, Violin, Chamber Music

Arne Balk-Møller trained in Copenhagen and Vienna, and has been guest leader of Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and solo violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra. However, it is as a chamber musician that he has won international recognition, with concerts all over Europe as well as in the USA, Australia and New Zealand. He has performed on many European radio and TV channels and on many important festivals such as Salzburg, Lockenhaus and Bergen. He has recorded several higly acclaimed CDs and received a succession of music prizes including the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, Hafnia Prize, The Läkerol Prize, Frederiksborg Culture Prize, and a Grammy nomination.

Arne Balk-Møller teaches violin and chamber music at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense and is regular guest teacher at the Sibelius Academy, the Royal College of Music in London, the Akademy of Music in Riga, Vilnius, Malmø, Cracow and Rostock. In recent years Arne Balk-Møller has also conducting engagements at the Funen Opera with Danish and international chamber orchestras and several symphony orchestras in Denmark and Russia.
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Hans Boepple, Piano, Chamber Music

Hans Boepple has been presented as guest soloist with many distinguished American orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Long Beach Symphony, Denver Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra. Awarded First Prize in the J. S. Bach International Competition (Washington, D.C.), Hans Boepple is the recipient of awards that include the Coleman Chamber Music Award (Los Angeles) (six times), the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition, and the MTNA National Collegiate Competition. Active in solo recital as well as with symphony Orchestras for over thirty years, Hans Boepple has been listed on the Steinway International Artist Roster since 1982. His performances have been broadcast by National Public Radio and Voice Of America and he has recorded for Kjos and Orion Master Recordings. A former member of the piano faculty at Indiana University, Hans Boepple has been Professor of Music at Santa Clara University since 1978 and Chair of the Music Department since 1995. In demand as an adjudicator, lecturer and master class clinician, he continues to balance his performance activities with those of a dedicated and successful teacher. His students have won more than a hundred state, national and international awards.
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Sheila Browne, Viola, Chamber Music

A dynamic and versatile artist, violist Sheila Browne has concertized in many of the world's major halls as a soloist, chamber musician, and as principal of several orchestras. A finalist at Carnegie Hall in the Pro Musicis International Solo Awards, she has also been a prizewinner as a member of the Arianna and Gotham string quartets.

Ms. Browne was Karen Tuttle's teaching assistant at The Juilliard School for four years, where she received her B. M. degree and a Naumburg scholarship, among others. She was awarded a German Academic Exchange Grant (DAAD) for studies with soloist Kim Kashkashian at the Freiburger Hochschule, where she received an Aufbau degree, and also received an M.M. at Rice University's Shepherd School, where she was Karen Ritscher's teaching assistant while she was in Paul Katz's Quartet Residency Program. She has been an artist/teacher-in-residence at the University of Missouri with the Arianna Quartet, as well as assistant professor of viola at The University of Tennessee. She has taught at the Green Mountain, Killington, Knoxville and American Festival of the Arts summer festivals.
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Lori Lack, Piano, Chamber Music

Pianist Lori Lack has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe and the United States. As a collaborative artist, she has performed in recital with many artists including the Alexander String Quartet, the Stamic Quartet, Robin Sharp, Jassen Todorov, Gary Gray, Stephen Paulson and Matt Haimovitz. She received her degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Hochschule fuer Musik in Vienna, and San Francisco State University. In addition to serving on the faculty of CSU SummerArts and California Summer Music, she has worked as an instrumental accompanist at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and San Francisco State University.
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Zaven Melikian, Violin

Zaven Melikian is recognized nationally as an artist, teacher and a leading expert in string pedagogy. As professor of violin at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1969, and now Professor Emeritus, he trained an extraordinary group of violinists at the Preparatory and Collegiate level who may be found among the ranks of major symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles in the United States and abroad. Mr. Melikian began playing the violin at age seven. As an accomplished artist he graduated with a License de Concert from Ecole Normale de Music in Paris, France, where he studied with Yvonne Astruc. Before coming to the United States, he performed extensively throughout France, Italy, Egypt, Lebanon and his native Yugoslavia. Mr. Melikian was a member of the San Francisco Symphony for twenty-three years, serving as Assistant Concertmaster for the last fifteen years of his tenure. In 1977 he was appointed Concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, the post from which he retired in 1994. On that occasion he was awarded the prestigious San Francisco Opera Medal. In May 1998, he retired from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, receiving an honorary Doctor of Music degree.
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Julie Nishimura, Staff Pianist

Described as "a marvelous pianist, with real musical understanding," "… able to elevate even the lowliest of pieces to lofty heights," "a real jewel," and "unbelievable," pianist Julie Nishimura has been Faculty Accompanist for the Department of Music at the University of Delaware since 1988. As newly appointed Secondary Faculty, she teaches the Accompanying and Sightreading courses, is the rehearsal and performance pianist for the Opera Workshop and serves on the New Music Delaware committee, regularly performing 20th and 21st century works. A much sought-after collaborative artist, she has performed on the chamber music series’ of Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Delaware Symphony and the Music at Whim Concerts on St. Croix. Along with Timothy Clinch, oboe and Cynthia Carr, horn, she is a founding member of Trio Arundel, regularly commissioning and premiering new works. Ms. Nishimura has been a guest artist with the Delaware Chamber Music Festival, the Serafin String Quartet, the Academy and the Hildegard Chamber Players. She keeps busy during the summer months as accompanist for the International Strings Festival in Bryn Mawr, the Irene Sharp Cello Seminar in Scarsdale, NY and California Summer Music at Pebble Beach, CA. As Co-Artistic Directors of Wilmington-based Distant Voices Touring Theatre, she and her husband, writer/director/acting teacher Danny Peak, are currently touring two documentary theatrical pieces with piano: Distant Voices (based on her father’s WWII Japanese American Internment Camp diary) and September Echoes, chronicling the events of and following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Their latest project together is five-year-old Miranda.
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Irene Sharp, Artistic Director, Cello, Chamber Music

Irene Sharp, a teacher at the Mannes School of Music and University of California, Berkeley, has been acclaimed internationally for her teaching. Ms. Sharp led the Margaret Rowell String Seminar for nine years and now gives the Irene Sharp Cello Seminar each June at the Mannes College. She has given master classes for American String Teachers Association, European String Teachers Association, Australian String Teachers Association, and the Suzuki Association of America, and has worked with students in cities such as New York, London, Salzburg, Hamburg, Sydney, Tokyo and Taipei. She has taught at the Meadowmount School for Strings, at the Bowdoin (Maine) Summer Music Festival, and at Indiana University’s String Academy. Ms. Sharp is a founder and Artistic Director of California Summer Music, a festival for young string players, pianists and composers held in Pebble Beach, California. She has been an invited speaker at the national meetings of the Music Teachers’ National Association and the Music Educators’ National Conference, has given numerous teacher workshops and in 1992 received an award for her teaching from ASTA. She studied with Margaret Rowell, Eugene Eicher, Theo Salzman and Gabor Rejto, and performed in the Pablo Casals master class.
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Robin Sharp, Violin, Chamber Music

Violinist Robin Sharp, a native of California, is in demand as a solo performer, chamber musician, concertmaster, and teacher. In addition to maintaining private teaching studios in San Francisco and Palo Alto, Ms. Sharp performs as concertmaster of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra with conductor Benjamin Simon. Ms. Sharp also served as concertmaster for the Berkeley Symphony with conductor Kent Nagano for six seasons, and was a guest concertmaster for a concert in Germany under conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy. She is currently on the Artistic Advisory Board of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and teaches violin at UCBerkeley. She is also on the faculty of California Summer Music in Pebble Beach, California where she played a special Tenth Anniversary Celebration Art and Music recital in 2006 with pianist Lori Lack, featuring the works of painters Tiffany Graham and Kathleen Lack.

Ms. Sharp has participated in music festivals worldwide, including the Musikalischer Sommer Festival in Germany, the Marlboro Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Sandor Vegh masterclasses at Prussia Cove, and the Isaac Stern Seminar in New York. She has formerly served as first violinist of the Ives String Quartet, which toured nationally, and has played several seasons with the San Francisco Symphony. Ms. Sharp has been a professor of violin at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in both the Preparatory and Collegiate divisions, at Santa Clara University, and at Sacramento State University of California. Among her collaborators in performance have been such artists as Dimitri Ashkenazy (clarinet), Jon Nakamatsu (piano), Lori Lack (piano), and conductors such as Raymond Leppard, Peter Oundjian, and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Ms. Sharp is a Laureate prize winner of the 1994 Indianapolis Violin Competition and is featured in a documentary about the competition.
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Wendy Sharp, Violin, Chamber Music

Wendy Sharp, award winning violinist, performs frequently as a violinist and chamber musician. In demand as a teacher and chamber music coach, she is on the faculty of Yale School of Music and maintains a private studio. For nearly a decade Ms. Sharp was the first violinist of the Franciscan String Quartet. As a member of the quartet, she toured the USA, Canada, Europe and Japan and was honored with many awards, including first prize in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Press and City of Evian International String Quartet Competition. A native of the San Francisco Bay area, she attended Yale University, graduating summa cum laude with Distinction in Music and received her Master of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Ms. Sharp has served on the faculty of Mannes College, Dartmouth College, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Choate Rosemary Hall, and has participated in the Aspen, Tanglewood, Chamber Music West, Norfolk and Music Academy of the West Festivals. In 2000 Ms. Sharp toured as first violinist of the Cassatt String Quartet and she is currently a member of the Blue Elm Trio.
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David Tcimpidis, Composition

David Tcimpidis received his education at the Cincinnati College - Conservatory of Music, the University of Cincinnati, the Mannes College of Music, and Queens College of the City University of New York. A Ford Foundation fellow, he has written in nearly every genre, and his compositions have been performed in the Americas, Europe, and the Orient. He has been published by Carl Fischer, GIA publications and Willis Music. In addition to concert music he has provided scores for WABC, CBS Network Television and the New York Theater. Mr. Tcimpidis has taught at various New York City Colleges, and is a long-time member of the Mannes College faculty, where he directs the Extension Division, and is also the Coordinator of Non-Performance Studies, a job that includes the oversight of all composition and New Music Activities. He has served on numerous new music panels and is a long-time judge and Trustee for New Music For Young Ensembles. He is also a founding member of the ascendant New York-based composers group, Music Under Construction.

Stylistically, Mr. Tcimpidis has sometimes been referred to as a "Neoimpressionist," because of the evocative colors and effects he employs. His music has received critical acclaim for its "originality and broad appeal." It often employs impressionistic and allusive elements that have earned praise for their "delicate touches of orchestration," "subtle and subdued effects of color" and "frank touch(s) of sensuality." His Symphony at a Time of Peace, which has received frequent performances on the East Coast, has been described as a promising staple of contemporary music.
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Milan Vitek, Violin (On leave 2008)

Mr. Vitek is currently professor of violin at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He has been a professor of violin at the Royal Music Academy in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Music Academy in Goteberg, Sweden and McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Before moving to Denmark in 1968, Milan Vitek had been a founding member, concertmaster and soloist of the Prague Chamber Soloists, and a member of the Czech Nonet and the piano trio "Pro Camera". In Denmark, he was alternate concertmaster at the Danish Royal Opera. Mr. Vitek offers master classes at festivals throughout the world as well as judging international competitions. He frequently performs as a guest conductor with the Symphony Orchestra of Czech Radio. His students are winners and laureates of many international violin competitions such as the Carl Nielsen, J. Kocian, Heino Eller, the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, Washington International String Competition, Yehudi Menuhin, and the Jan Sibelius.
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Scott Woolweaver, Viola, Chamber Music

Scott Woolweaver graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan School of Music before moving to Boston for graduate work with the violist Walter Trampler. He was a founding member of the Boston Composers String Quartet, which won the silver medal at the 1993 String Quartet and Chamber Music Festa in Osaka, Japan, and with the Quartet, performed across the United States and in Europe. He is violist of the award-winning New England Piano Quartette, Boston's Handel & Haydn Society and Boston Baroque, and spends his summers at the Rocky Ridge Music Center and the Telluride Chamber Music Festival in Colorado, and the Adult Chamber Music Seminar at the Interlochen, Michigan Arts Camp. Mr. Woolweaver formally joined the Ives Quartet in 1998 after performing with the other members for seven summers as quartet-in-residence at the Rocky Ridge Music Center and Telluride Chamber Music Festival. A champion of 20th century music, he has premiered numerous works for viola, many of which were written for him. He is a faculty member of the All Newton Music School, Tufts University and the University of Massachusetts, as well as Artist-in-Residence at Williams College in Williamstown, MA. Mr. Woolweaver has recorded for the Orion, Koch International, Teldec, Audiofon, Albany Records, Decca and Northeastern labels.
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