Alexandra Mena October 20, 2012

Alexandra Mena, mezzo-soprano, was born in San José, California to Argentine-Italian parents. She made her Davies Symphony Hall debut as Elizabeth Bennet in excerpts of Kirke Mechem’s new opera Pride & Prejudice, a world premiere with the San Francisco Choral Society. Alexandra has also appeared as Ottavia in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Second Witch in Dido and Aeneas, and Carmela in La vida breve. This coming fall, Alexandra will be the featured soloist in De Falla’s El amor brujo with the Palo Alto Philharmonic.

In concert, her solo work includes Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Solennes de Confessore, Pergolesi’s Magnificat, Bach’s Magnificat, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse and The Creation, Carson Cooman’s A Kingdom of Justice, and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music. She has also been a featured soloist with Mission City Opera and the NATS Recital Series.

Alexandra is the recipient of the Charlene Archibeque Choral Endowment Scholarship Award at San José State University, where she is completing a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance. She currently studies with mezzo-soprano, Layna Chianakas.

Christina Mok December 8, 2012

An active performer, violinist Christina Mok has become a familiar figure in the classical music scene in Northern California. She devotes herself equally to solo performance, chamber recitals, and orchestral leading. She appeared as a soloist with the Russian Federal Symphony Orchestra, the Janacek Philharmonic, Symphony Silicon Valley, the Stockton Symphony, the Suwon Philharmonic and the Seoul Symphony Orchestra, among others.

The San Jose Mercury said of a recent concerto performance, "She was a spellbinder as she dug in and let it fly...There was no need to long for Itzhak Perlman or Gil Shaham." As a chamber recitalist, she was a founding member of the Laurel Ensemble, which played recently at the Musicarama festival in Hong Kong. She frequently gives duo recitals with pianist Miles Graber and piano trio recitals with Lori Lack and Joanne Lin.

She has played recitals in Korea, Japan, England, Norway, Hong Kong, and the United States. Her recitals have been broadcast on the BBC and RTHK, Radio Television Hong Kong. She is currently the Concertmaster of the Stockton Symphony and the Monterey Symphony and the Associate Concertmaster of Symphony Silicon Valley.

She continues to appear as guest concertmaster in many of the orchestras of Northern California. She is the winner of numerous competitions including the BBC Young Artists' Forum Audition, the Sutton Chamber Music Competition, the Warshaw Violin Competition, the Korean Music Association Scholarship, and was named Young Promising Performer of the Year by the Seoul Arts Center in 1997. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with the full scholarship and was also honored with a British Council Fellowship. Her principal teachers include Soon-Chung Suh, Yfrah Neaman, Rodney Friend and David Abel.

Sandra Wright Shen February 16, 2013

Sandra Wright Shen has been described as a classical "pianist of the first order" and a "heartstopping beauty". With her passion, musicality, and inspiration, she aims to move hearts through music.

Sandra has appeared at the Kennedy Music Center in DC, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Frankfurt Cultural Center in Germany, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, and the Taiwan National Concert Hall. Sandra won first prizes in the International Piano Competition of France, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the Mieczyslaw Munz Piano Competition, the Taiwan National Piano Competition, and the Peabody Frances M. Wentz Memorial Prize. She has recorded 3 CDs, debuting with her Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto. Sandra is a Steinway Artist.

Sandra received her BM and MM in Piano Performance from the Peabody Conservatory, under Ann Schein. Sandra currently teaches at the Brevard Music Institute, and previously taught at Southern Illinois University.

Mixing music and philanthropy, Sandra has played benefit concerts for disaster victims, foster children, and music education. An ambassador of classical music, Sandra filmed a 4-part series titled "The Movements of the Master Pianists" for Hong Kong TV. She also hosted a classical radio program in Taiwan. She has taught music appreciation to young and old, from CEOs to mentally challenged children, and orphans. Because of her ability to touch people's hearts with music, and through her sweet, positive spirit, audiences throughout the world have declared her "an angel".

Marc Teicholz April 6, 2013

Guitarist Marc Teicholz was awarded first prize at the 1989 International Guitar Foundation of America Competition, the largest, most prestigious contest of its kind in the United States. He was also a prize winner at the 1991 New York East-West Artists Competition.

Described by Gramophone as "arguably the best of the new young guitarists to have emerged," and by Soundboard magazine as "among the best we have ever heard," Teicholz’s performances throughout the world include tours of the United States, Canada, Russia, Poland, Switzerland, Southeast Asia, New Zealand and Fiji. His recitals and master classes have received critical acclaim, and he has been featured in concert with orchestras in Spain, Portugal, California and Hawaii.

He has also had new works written specially for him. Teicholz tours the United States extensively with The Festival of Four. He is featured on the pilot soundtrack for George Lucas’ Young Indiana Jones, and has recorded solo CDs for Naxos, Sugo, Menus and Music, and most recently, Guitar Salon International. His latest disc, Valseana, presents works performed on historic guitars of the period of each musical selection.

For Naxos, Marc Teicholz has made his mark with two collections of Sor's music already committed to disc. In a show of his versatility, he has also recorded the fifth volume of the collected works for guitar by the 19th Century French virtuoso guitarist and composer Napoleon Coste.

Teicholz, currently on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory, teaches in the summer at the California Summer Arts Festival and the Weatherfield Music festival in Vermont. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Yale School of Music, and holds a J.D. from the University of California Berkeley Boalt School of Law.