From Mark, your concert co-host: One of my most vivid memories from the height of the COVID pandemic is of sitting, masked, in the far end of Amy Zanrosso’s living room as she practiced a Beethoven concerto on her grand piano. I’ve heard much great classical music in my life, but never in so intimate a setting. I’m thrilled to offer you a similar experience in my own living room as Amy joins violinist Iris Stone in playing a Beethoven sonata and preludes by Auerbach and Shostakovich. (Alas, our piano is not nearly as grand as Amy’s.)

A native of Berlin, Germany, Iris Stone has been a member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra since the 1995/96 season under Stuart Canin and has been performing with the orchestra since 2001. As part of the Stone-Zimmermann violin-piano duo and chamber musician in various ensembles, Iris has performed all over Europe and the United States. As a member of the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Iris performed in the great concert halls of Europe, Asia, and America on prestigious series such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York and San Francisco Performances. She has also been a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Assistant Concertmaster of San Francisco’s Women’s Philharmonic and Principal 2nd Violin of the Monterey Symphony Orchestra.

Amy Zanrosso’s playing has been hailed as expressive, magnetic and masterful, but since no one at the New York Times has said this, she’s not allowed to put it in quotes. Thanks to her attentive Italian immigrant mom, piano lessons started at the age of 6 and by the age of 15, Amy had made the decision to make music her life. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Symphony of the Kootenays, the Russian Chamber Orchestra, Contra Santa Rosa Symphony, the Symphony of the Kootenays, the Russian Chamber Orchestra, Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra, the Symphony of the Redwoods and the Kensington Symphony Orchestra. Amy is a faculty member and chamber music coach at the Pre-College Academy of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as at The Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA. Many thanks to Beethoven and Brahms for inspiring her to come this far — she wouldn’t change a thing.