Karen Shinozaki Sor, Violin; Kayo Miki, Violin; Elizabeth Prior, Viola; Tyler DeVigal, Cello
Hector Villa Lobos: Quartet No. 1
Anton Webern: Langsamer Satz
Florence Price: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor
Philip Glass: String Quartet No. 3, “Mishima”
A familiar face on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene, Karen Shinozaki Sor is the Principal Second Violin of the Santa Rosa Symphony. She also performs with the Marin Symphony and is a regular substitute for the San Francisco Ballet and Opera Orchestras. As a founding member of the Grammy-nominated New Century Chamber Orchestra, she has concertized across Europe and the United States. Karen is a frequent chamber music collaborator, appearing with diverse groups including the Santa Rosa Chamber Players, Music at the Mission, and the Sor Ensemble.
A Bay Area native, she received her BA from UC Berkeley as a student of Serban Rusu of Tiburon, then continued her studies as a recipient of a Hertz Traveling Fellowship at the Konservatorium für Musik Bern, Switzerland with Professor Igor Ozim. In her free time, Karen likes to relax with her cellist husband Eugene Sor, son Kenji, and dog Jerry, and indulge in her addiction to the Times crossword puzzles.
Two-time Grammy nominee, Kayo Miki is a violinist originally from Vancouver Island. She attended the Interlochen Arts Academy for high school and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Violin Performance and Literature. She has performed with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony’s AIM program, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, San Francisco’s Candlelight Concerts, Skywalker Symphony Orchestra, and in many Broadway shows including Hamilton and alongside Stevie Wonder, The Who, Joni Mitchell and Barbra Streisand.
She enjoys coaching music students via Music at Kohl Mansion, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and maintains a private violin studio. Her primary teachers include Denes Zsigmondy, William Preucil, Charles Castleman, and Camilla Wicks.
An active Bay Area violist, Elizabeth Prior is the principal violist with the Santa Rosa Symphony and a member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra. Prior is also a season substitute with the San Francisco Ballet and is the associate principal violist with the Marin Symphony. She performs regularly with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Other orchestral credits include Freiburg Philharmonic (Associate principal) and Cape Town Symphony. She has worked with the Pittsburg Symphony, Südwestfunk, Stuttgart Radio, Basel Symphony, and the Mannheim Opera Orchestras
A native of South Africa, she was a prizewinner in the International String Competition in Pretoria and made her debut at Carnegie Hall with the Russian Chamber Orchestra.
She toured regularly as a soloist with the Chamber Ensemble of Cologne in France and was recently featured with the Santa Rosa Symphony.
Other solo and chamber music engagements include Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival; Sun Valley Summer Symphony, Midsummer Mozart, and “Chamber Music San Francisco” She is a member of the Farallon Quintet. She performs regularly on solo recitals in the San Francisco Bay Area and performed internationally for more than a decade with Maestro Donald Runnicles on the piano.
Prior recently launched her new album, “Viola Romance” with Miles Graber, piano.
Tyler DeVigal, cello, is an active performer and teacher in the Bay Area. He plays in several Bay Area orchestras, including Symphony San Jose, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Marin Symphony, and Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera. As a teacher, he is on faculty at the Crowden School, where he teaches cello and coaches chamber music, and often leads sectionals for the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra and Peninsula Youth Orchestra. Tyler takes great joy in coming to the Mendocino Music Festival every summer, where he directs the Emerging Artists Program. His major teachers and mentors include Stephen Harrison, Mark Kosower, Robert DeMaine, and Bonnie Hampton.