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Gualala Arts
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Archive of past events: 2004 through 2014
Mr. Vinocour joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Violist in 2009, having previously served as principal violist of the Saint Louis Symphony and guest principal of the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig. A native of Rochester, New York, Mr. Vinocour graduated from Princeton University in 2001 with a degree in chemistry and was awarded the university's Sudler Prize in the Arts. He completed his master's degree in 2003 at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Kim Kashkashian. As a soloist, Mr. Vinocour has appeared with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra under maestros Hans Graf and Nicholas McGegan and with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas in Berlioz's Harold in Italy and Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel. His first solo album, featuring works of Britten and Shostakovich, was recorded with the support of the Holland America Music Society after he won the Society's Competition prior to joining the San Francisco Symphony. Mr. Vinocour was also a featured recitalist at the 2012 International Viola Congress and enjoys recital opportunities around the Bay Area each season. As an increasingly active pedagogue, Vinocour has presented master classes at conservatories around the country and abroad. He is a regular coach at the New World Symphony in Miami, an orchestral training academy directed by Michael Tilson Thomas, and is also on the faculty of the newly formed San Francisco Academy Orchestra's Artist Diploma program for orchestral training. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Vinocour can be heard regularly on the Symphony's Chamber Music Series at Davies Hall, and on the Florence Gould Series at the Legion of Honor. He has been a regular participant at the Marlboro Music Festival and has toured extensively with Musicians from Marlboro in past seasons; he has participated in numerous other festivals, including the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival, Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Center.
Appointed to the San Francisco Symphony's first chair in 2009, he succeeded Geraldine Walther who held the position for three decades. He leads a section of 13 violists and performs at least one solo a year with the world-class orchestra. "An orchestra like the San Francisco Symphony has the pick of the top orchestral musicians in the world," says Princeton University Orchestra conductor Michael Pratt, "so this makes Jonathan one of the leading violists on the planet." Vinocour observes that "while some musicians live from gig to gig, orchestral positions are very secure. Gaining one is similar to professorial tenure." Early on Vinocour was drawn to string instruments. As a fifth-grader in Rochester, N.Y. he zeroed in on the viola, in part because he liked the idea that it was unusual since most people played the violin or the cello. He describes the viola's sound as "a little bit more warm and rich versus brilliant and bright," comparing it to the qualities of a violin. At Princeton, where he was section leader for violas in the orchestra while also majoring in Chemistry, it wasn't always easy balancing academics and music. During exam time he had to forgo practice. But summers and breaks were spent playing festivals, and by graduation he had his sights set on making it as a violist. Vinocour developed his musical inspirations from his great chamber music experiences in high school. His favorite composers include Bach, Kurtág, Beethoven, Bartók and Schumann. His favorite works for viola are Berlioz, Harold in Italy, Britten, Lachrymae, and Walton, Viola Concerto. When not performing, Vinocour enjoys tennis, soccer, cooking for friends and backpacking. Although his career is centered on symphony and chamber music, he enjoys listening to Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire and Led Zeppelin on his iPod.
As a recitalist she has performed at the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium at the United Nations in New York City, Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago, Kieller Schloss in Germany, and Stadsgehoorzall in Holland. She also appeared at the Aspen Music Festival and Victoria Music Festival in Canada. She has performed on radio with WNCN in New York City, WPKT in Connecticut, WFMT in Chicago, KQED in San Francisco, as well as on American PBS television, and abroad on Danish National Television (DR). An avid chamber musician, June appears frequently in leading chamber concert series including those presented by the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall and the New York Philharmonic at Merkin Concert Hall. She has performed at Dinkelspiel Auditorium at Stanford University and at St. Mary's College, Holy Names College, Kutstown University (PA), Arrowhead Arts Association, San Jose Chamber Music Series, Berkeley Chamber Series, and a multi-island concert tour of Hawaii through a National Endowments for the Arts Grant. She has given recitals and master classes in Cabrillo College, Napa Valley College, Mendocino College and Mission College.
June was a performer and a faculty member at the Yong Pyong International Music Festival in Korea and Victoria Music Festival in Canada. She also directed the Pacific Music Festival of California from 1996 to 1999, which was held in Stanford University and Santa Clara University. She has taught at the Manhattan School of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is currently the Chair of the Department of Music, Dance and Performing Arts at Dominican University of California.
The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, CA, |
Jonathan Vinocour, the principal violist for the San Francisco Symphony, will perform as part of the Gualala Arts Chamber Music Series. Vinocour is regarded as one of the most exciting and thoughtful violists of his generation.
He will perform selections from Bach, Schubert, Hindemith and Clarke
accompanied by pianist June Choi Oh.
Mr. Vinocour has been a guest of the Boston Chamber Music Society and International Sejong Soloists and collaborated with artists such as Paula Robison, Yefim Bronfman, Gilbert Kalish, Miriam Fried, Yo Yo Ma, Jaime Laredo, and members of the Amadeus, Arditti, Cleveland, Guarneri, Juilliard, Jupiter, Mendelssohn, and Orion string quartets. He is a founding member and regular performer with ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra), a conductor-less chamber ensemble based in New York. Mr. Vinocour plays on a viola made by Lorenzo Storioni in 1784 on kind loan from the San Francisco Symphony.
Pianist June Choi Oh holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Music from the Juilliard School, where she was a recipient of the prestigious Endowments for the Arts Scholarship, and the William Petschek Scholarship Awards. She has performed around the world and appeared as soloist with the New Haven Symphony, Aspen Concert Orchestra and Filarmonica de Jalisco in Mexico, among others.