Susan Bates, violist, chamber music educator, and creator of chamber music programs for pre-college string players and pianists, holds the 1992 award for "Excellence in Chamber Music Training" from Chamber Music America.  From 1982-2019, she instructed violists and chamber musicians in the Pre-College Division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, guiding many who are now pursuing careers as professionals, as well as playing chamber music "for the love of it".

Ms. Bates is a founding member of the New Age String Quartet (1969-1974) formed and guided by Albert Gillis, violist of the Paganini Quartet.  In 1975, Ms. Bates joined the San Jose State University music department faculty and its San Jose String Quartet where she and her colleagues premiered composer Lou Harrison’s Quartet Set (1978). Ms. Bates also recorded Mr. Harrison's Threnody for Carlos Chavez (1979) for Solo Viola with Gamelan Sekar Kembar for CRI in the same year. 

For thirty years, Susan Bates performed as a tenured member of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra (1979-2009) while pursuing her passion for chamber music education through the creation of notable chamber music programs for exceptional high school musicians.  From 1982-2000, she directed the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Prep Chamber Music Program and from 1992-1995 also directed its Summer Music West program.  In 1995, Ms. Bates co-founded California Summer Music at Pebble Beach with San Francisco Conservatory colleagues. In , and in 2000, she united with the Miró Quartet to establish the Lake Tahoe Music Festival Academy, bringing advanced training to college- age performers while presenting chamber music concerts throughout the Lake Tahoe north shore.  Ms. Bates served on the faculty of the SoCal Chamber Music Workshop for forty years and spent three summers on the faculty of Midwest Young Artists Conservatory in Chicago.  In 2013, she was honored with the Viola Advocate Award from the Northern California Viola Society. 

Susan Bates is currently the Founder & Director of Young Chamber Musicians, an award-winning pre-college chamber music training program whose ensembles have captured Gold Medals at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2019, 2021 and 2025.   For seventeen years, YCM has offered advanced chamber music instruction and exciting performance opportunities to string players and pianists ages 14-19. Since 2010, YCM has fostered learning through listening and performing through its unique collaboration with the Peninsula's premiere presenter Music at Kohl Mansion, giving its students rare access to performances and masterclasses led by their international performing ensembles.  Since 2014, the program has made its home at the Kohl Mansion, on the campus of Mercy High School in Burlingame at Kohl Mansion.

Susan Bates served on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music now InterMusicSF for 20 years, leading the organization as President from 2006 to 2009. During her tenure, IMSF created its signature public event, SF Music Day, held annually in San Francisco's War Memorial Performing Arts Center, and Presidio Sessions, a free Friday night concert series that presented local ensembles and IMSF affiliates in the Officers Club of the San Francisco Presidio.  Ms. Bates has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the Mack McCray Foundation, presenter of the Zephyr International Chamber Music Festival, and served on the Board of Directors of the California Music Center, sponsor of The Klein Competition.

Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient violinist Jennifer Frautschi has appeared as soloist with innumerable orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and St Paul Chamber Orchestra. As chamber musician she has performed with the Boston Chamber Music Society and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and appeared at Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla Summerfest, Music@Menlo, Tippet Rise Art Center, Toronto Summer Music, and the Bridgehampton, Charlottesville, Lake Champlain, Moab, Ojai, Santa Fe, Seattle, and Spoleto Music Festivals.

Her extensive discography includes several discs for Naxos: the Stravinsky Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, conducted by the legendary Robert Craft, and two GRAMMY-nominated recordings with the Fred Sherry Quartet, of Schoenberg’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra , and the Schoenberg Third String Quartet. Her most recent releases are with pianist John Blacklow on Albany Records: the first devoted to the three sonatas of Robert Schumann; the second, American Duos, an exploration of recent additions to the violin and piano repertoire by contemporary American composers Barbara White, Steven Mackey, Elena Ruehr, Dan Coleman, and Stephen Hartke. She also recorded three widely praised CDs for Artek: an orchestral recording of the Prokofiev concerti with Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony; the violin music of Ravel and Stravinsky; and 20th-century works for solo violin. Other recordings include a disc of Romantic Horn Trios, with hornist Eric Ruske and pianist Stephen Prutsman, and the Stravinsky Duo Concertant with pianist Jeremy Denk.

Born in Pasadena, California, Ms. Frautschi attended the Colburn School, Harvard, the New England Conservatory, and the Juilliard School. She performs on a 1722 Antonio Stradivarius violin known as the “ex-Cadiz,” on generous loan from a private American foundation with support from Rare Violins In Consortium. She currently teaches in the graduate program at Stony Brook University.

Praised by Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle for her “elegance and verve,” pianist Elizabeth Dorman enjoys performing music both new and old as a soloist and chamber musician.

A finalist of the 2018 Leipzig International Bach Competition, Elizabeth has been widely recognized as a leading performer for her inquisitive interpretations of Bach’s music on the modern piano. Elizabeth has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Louisville Orchestra, the Leipzig Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the California Symphony, the Vallejo Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Folsom Lake Symphony, the Stanford Summer Symphony, Symphony Parnassus, as a soloist for interdisciplinary projects at New World Symphony, and as a keyboardist at the San Francisco Symphony. She can be heard on Delos records as a concerto soloist with Santa Rosa Symphony’s new album celebrating the music of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and has also recorded for Navona.

She has been presented as a soloist and chamber musician at venues including the Kennedy Center, Davies Symphony Hall, Herbst Theater, Merkin Hall, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Leipzig’s Hochschule für Musik, and her live solo performances have been nationally broadcast on NPR and public radio. Elizabeth is Artistic Director of the San Francisco Chamber Players and also serves as Assistant Artistic Director for Archipelago Collective, a chamber music festival in the San Juan Islands. She has appeared at other festivals including Tanglewood, Britt, Sarasota, Aspen, Toronto Summer Music, Icicle Creek, and the Banff Centre.

Working with the Bridge Arts Ensemble, Stony Brook University, and as a board member of the Ross McKee Foundation, Elizabeth has produced concerts, lectures, and workshops for music students and was honored with the Father Merlet Award from Pro Musicis for her work training high school music students in community engagement.

Elizabeth was awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University in 2019 where she studied with Gilbert Kalish and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is currently on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College.

Jacob Rockower, piano
Euisun Hong, violin
Huisun Hong, cello 

The AVES TRIO is the 2025 Gold Medal winner of the 52nd annual Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (Junior Division) where they also earned the Horszowski Prize for the best piano trio performance.  Formed in the fall of 2023 as part of Young Chamber Musicians, the Trio is coached by Director Susan Bates and pianist Jeffrey LaDeur. The Aves Trio has appeared in masterclasses for pianist Stephen Prutsman and the Miró Quartet, and performed in the “Next Generation” concert of the Rossmoor Chamber Music Society in 2024 and 2025. They are the First Prize and Grand Prize winner of the 11th annual Coltman Chamber Music Competition held in Austin, Texas in 2024; and, as Grand Prize winner, the Trio performed at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Young Musicians Concert in New York City in May 2025. The Aves Trio are students of pianist Hans Boepple, violinist Zhao Wei, and cellist Eric Sung.

Ronny Michael Greenberg is a pianist, producer, and musical visionary whose artistry has illuminated stages from Carnegie Hall to Vienna’s Konzerthaus. As founder and CEO of Taste of Talent, a nonprofit redefining cultural programming through innovative, multi-sensory experiences, he has established himself as a leading figure in the performing arts.

Among his producer credits are Opera Aloha, a Pacific concert tour blending opera with Hawaiian musical traditions; TILT, Grace Cathedral’s annual summer solstice concert; the Bay Area’s iconic Halloween concert Death By Aria; Merola Opera Program’s Gala; and special performances at Filoli Historic House & Gardens.

He curates and emcees the music for San Francisco Opera Guild’s annual Evening on the Stage, which has included tributes to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi, and is excited to return in that role for the 2025 celebration honoring Maria Manetti Shrem.

As a performer, producer, curator, educator, and artistic partner, Ronny has collaborated with institutions including San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, Festival Napa Valley, Merola Opera Program, Hawai’i Opera Theatre, Hawai’i Performing Arts Festival, Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, and Music at Kohl Mansion.

Through all his work, Ronny is passionate about breaking boundaries of genre and culture, creating spaces for connection, collaboration, and artistic freedom.