Meet the Musicians: Alexander Fiterstein

Name: Alexander Fiterstein
Nickname: Alex
Instrument: Clarinet
Friday night libation: Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon (if I can afford it).
Favorite piece that's being performed at PCMF 2017 and why: Ravel Introduction and Allegro - great textures and colors thanks to the unique combination of instruments.
What are you looking forward to most about spending a week in the Bay Area? Haven't spent much time in the Bay Area before. Looking forward to exploring it more.
What's the craziest or most memorable thing that's happened to you during a performance? A page turner fell off the stage during a recital I was playing. I never saw anything like that before or since. Luckily he got up and gave us a thumbs up. The pianist and I didn't stop, we just kept playing... it was a very dramatic performance.

Meet the Musicians: Julie Smith Phillips

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Name: Julie Smith Phillips
Nickname: Jules is pretty standard, though I have a few others: my daughter calls me "Mama" and sometimes my husband calls me "Judy," but that's another story...
Instrument: Harp
Friday night libation: A classic gin & tonic usually fits the bill, although if cucumbers are in season, they're lovely in a martini!

Favorite piece that's being performed at PCMF 2017 and why: The Ravel Introduction and Allegro is such a beautiful work for harp and I'm really looking forward to sharing the experience with the Formosa Quartet, Joshua, and Alexander!

What are you looking forward to most about spending a week in the Bay Area? The beautiful weather, smelling the salt water, and exploring the City. I haven't spent much time in San Francisco so I'm looking forward to getting to know the neighborhoods and eating great food!

What's the craziest or most memorable thing that's happened to you during a performance? Of course we know that when we perform live music, anything can happen, especially with the harp and 47 strings! Once during an orchestra concert playing a Mahler symphony, I had a lower string break right before a solo moment. Any time a string breaks it's noisy, but especially lower strings, and it echoed in the hall! Fortunately, the 2nd harpist was also on her toes and we quickly traded seats so that I could play her harp for my solo. Sometimes crazy things really do happen!

Meet the Musicians: Joshua Smith

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Name: Joshua Smith
Nickname: No nickname that I know of, unless you include Josh. Joshie only for my mother.
Instrument: Flute
Friday night libation: Negroni in spring/summer. Manhattan in fall/winter.

Favorite piece that's being performed at PCMF 2017 and why: I'm a huge fan of the Debussy Trio - the colors achieved by these three instruments used together are remarkable.

What are you looking forward to most about spending a week in the Bay Area? Sea lions.

What's the craziest or most memorable thing that's happened to you during a performance? Once, the front page of an accordion-folded part that seemed about 100 pages long flopped off the edge of my stand and trailed into the second violin section, with the tail staying behind on my stand. I had to haul it back and keep playing, all while a spotlight was shining on me and the rest of the flute section was doubled over in laughter.

Meet the Musicians: Che-Yen Chen

Name: Che-Yen Chen
Nickname: Brian
Instrument: Viola
Friday night libation: Gin and tonic

Favorite piece that's being performed at PCMF 2017 and why: The Brahms Clarinet Sonata in E-flat (even though it sounds better on the viola). I'm not playing it this time so I get to sit back and enjoy!

What are you looking forward to most about spending a week in the Bay Area? Playing music with friends and coming to participate in Wayne and Juliana's passion project!

What's the craziest or most memorable thing that's happened to you during a performance? This happened to Joseph Lin (a former member of the Formosa Quartet and current first violinist of the Juilliard Quartet) during a performance of the Debussy Quartet: his bow flew out of his hand, bounced off the stand, and ricocheted back into the same hand. He kept playing without missing a beat.

We've been terrible

...at updating the news section. But we're a little better about sending out regular newsletters! Click here to read our latest (and learn how YOU can support world-class chamber music performances in a neighborhood setting), and click here to see our past issues.

Meanwhile, we will repost our latest musician profiles in this section. We've already published Che-Yen Chen's and Joshua Smith's profiles, and you can expect to see two more leading up to this year's festival in August!

...and that's a wrap!

PCMF 2016 is on the books! We could not be happier with our inaugural season. We were thrilled by the turnout, by the reception to the performances, and by the new friendships between musicians and local community. While we would stop short of calling the festival "perfect," as this newspaper did, we certainly had a great time, and we hope you did too. Thank you again to our wonderful musicians and documentarian for your artistry and commitment, and to all the community leaders, volunteers, donors, and audience members for your support. We can't wait to share a new week of music with you next summer. 

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