Bios

Shain Carrasco.  Shain Carrasco began playing the cello 25 years ago. After completing High School and College at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Shain moved to San Francisco in 1999 for the Masters Degree program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Since completion of school, he has become the Principal Cellist for the Oakland Opera, a member of the Santa Cruz Symphony, and frequently plays with the Monterey Symphony, California Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Berkeley Symphony, Modesto Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, Napa Valley Symphony, San Francisco Sinfonietta, and others. Shain enjoys teaching Cello and playing chamber music with the Presidio Quartet.
 
Deborah Katz.  Deborah Katz likes to dress up as a banana and tickle her nephew. She is an active member of the bay area's music community, playing both contemporary and traditional classical forms as well as teaching violin and viola. She performs solo recitals and plays regularly with some bay area local orchestras such as Oakland East Bay and California Symphonies. During the summers, Deborah coaches student string quartets at the Zephyr Point chamber music camp.

Deborah received her Bacchelor’s of music degree from Indiana University in 2002 where she studied with Henryk Kowalski, Nelli Shkolnikova, Yuval Yaron and Ilya Kaler. She received her Master’s of Music from New England Conservatory in 2004 where she studied with Malcolm Lowe. In Boston she was involved with the edgy and avant-garde new music group called the Boston Callithumpian Consort directed by Steve Drury as well as on the Harvard Composers’ Series.

Summer festivals she has attended include the Oregon Bach Festival, Festival Ensemble of Stuttgart, Round Top Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, Jerusalem International Symphony, and Burningman where she helped weld together a fire-shooting lighthouse.

In addition to performing and working with the Presidio String Quartet and cracking jokes she works at Ifshin Violins. Deborah enjoys camping, cooking, dancing, working for social justice, trying to keep her plants alive, and rolling down grassy hills.
 
Ilana Matfis.  Ilana Matfis is a freelance violist and teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a Masters degree in viola performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a B.A. in music from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She is a member of the Sacramento Philharmonic and appears frequently with other Bay Area ensembles including the Berkeley, Oakland, Marin, Modesto and Silicon Valley Symphonies. Ilana is the violist of the Presidio String Quartet, a group that is dedicated to the performance of new music and frequently collaborates with local composers. An enthusiastic teacher, Ilana maintains a private studio of violinists and violists and coaches chamber music for the Villa Sinfonia Foundation. She is a strong believer in the importance of public school music and is highly involved with the Berkeley Symphony’s Music Education Program, giving demonstrations and performances in all eleven of the Berkeley public elementary schools. Ilana is the violist for the Berkeley Youth Orchestra’s Artist in Residence string quartet; she spends her Saturday mornings coaching viola sectionals, chamber music, and teaching a viola class for violinists. Ilana has studied with Catherine Van Hoesen, Jodi Levitz, Don Ehrlich, Jeffrey Irvine, and Kathy Kalogeras. Originally from Massachusetts, Ilana now resides in Berkeley with her boyfriend (an accomplished trombonist) and her cat.
 
David Ryther.  Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "Vivid and Extraordinary" Violinist David Ryther has brought his interpretive powers as a soloist to such festivals as the Darmstadt Summer Festival of New Music, the Banff center, and the Green Umbrella Series at the Bing theater in Los Angeles. He has been featured playing new music with adventurous ensembles sf sound group, Earplay, San Francisco Contemporary Players, the Berkeley New Music Ensemble, Sonor, and Octagon. He is a founding member of the Presidio String Quartet, a group that specializes in contemporary music. A composer and improvisor in his own right, he is composer and core member with the modern dance troupe, Dandelion Dance Theater and was chosen to be resident composer for a Magge Allsee residency at the University of Florida, Tallahasee with the New York based dance troupe Kate Weare and Company. His string orchestra piece "Scenes from Costa Rica" was commissioned by the Villa Sinfonia and was performed on their recent tour of Scotland and England. David Ryther graduated with highest honors in music from UC Santa Cruz and recently received his doctorate in contemporary violin performance from UC San Diego. Important mentors of his have included Janos Negyesy, Roy Malan, Roy Oakley, Ravi Shankar, and George Lewis. David Ryther can also be found playing in the Berkeley Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet orchestra and teaching violin at the Crowden School for Music.