Violinist Pierce Wang looks forward to mixing up some mischief when he performs the Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 with Symphony Parnassus at its Jan. 26 concert.

“When I get to express this ‘devilish’ side, it’s really fun for me,” he says, “where I get to be different characters in the music.”

He especially loves the humorous, “twisted giddiness” of the concerto’s fast and furious middle section. “It has so many really fantastically funny moments,” he says. “There’s a part where it sounds like a bumble bee and is really nasty in such a funny way.”

Pierce joins Maestro Stephen Paulson and the Parnassus orchestra in a concert that also includes “Psalm Without Words,” by composer-in-residence Preben Antonsen, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F Minor. The 3 p.m. concert is at Taube Atrium Theater, 4th floor, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco.

Pierce, 16, will be familiar to fans of Symphony Parnassus; two years ago, he performed the Conus Violin Concerto with the orchestra. He returns as a 2019 winner of the Symphony Parnassus / San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition.

Pierce, who lives with his parents Evan and Karen Wang in the East Bay city of Fremont, is in the middle of his junior year with Stanford Online School, and he is also in the SFCM Pre-College Program, where he studies violin with Alena Tsoi-Barantschik.

He keeps himself busy with music and coding, sharing computer projects with his brother Austin, 21, who studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Pierce also has another brother, Ryan, 23. Both brothers play guitar and Ryan also plays piano.

A new pursuit for Pierce is conducting lessons. “It’s really hard but really fun,” he says. “I did it partly because a friend was doing it, and it’s really helping me grow in my appreciation for all kinds of music.”

Pierce is a member of the Bach Piano Trio, named not for the composer, but for their first coach, Tim Bach. The trio performed the Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2 last year at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in Indiana.

He is, of course, studying new violin repertoire. Besides Prokofiev, he is learning pieces by Bach, Paganini, Saint-Saëns and perhaps the granddaddy of them all, the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. “I’ve wanted to play it for a long time,” he says.

He started listening to the Prokofiev in a bid to expand his musical knowledge and became “obsessed” with the piece, asking his teacher to learn it. “I love going crazy with this piece. It’s so fun,” he says.

The concert with Parnassus will be his second time performing the Prokofiev concerto; in November, he played it with the Sonoma County Philharmonic. “I hope I can contribute something new to the piece for sure,” he says. “I hope the audience will be walking away from the concert smiling.”

Tickets for the Jan. 26 concert are $25 for adults; $20 for seniors and $10 for students 26 and under with I.D. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4363762

On Sunday, November 17, cellist Alexander Hersh looks forward to performing Ernest Bloch’s “Schelomo: Rhapsodie Hébraïque for Violoncello and Orchestra” with Symphony Parnassus in the first concert of its 30th season.

“‘Schelomo’ is a great piece of repertoire that you grow up hearing a lot if you’re a cellist,” he said. “I’ve heard it my whole life, but I’ve never performed it with an orchestra, so this is exciting for me. It’s a fascinating work. It’s wondrously profound and very moving.”

Alexander finds playing this piece with a full orchestra to be both technically and musically fulfilling. 

“You learn a piece so much better when you play with an orchestra,” he said. “It’s so different than rehearsing with a piano, in how much more you have to project, not just volume, but your ideas. In a way, it teaches you the piece so much better because you have to be cognizant of so much more. It’s a thrilling experience.”

When he performs on the stage at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Alexander will celebrate deep family roots and a sense of music history: His father, Stefan Hersh, a violinist, and uncle, Julian Hersh, a cellist, both graduated from the conservatory where their father (and Alexander’s grandfather) Paul Hersh is currently a professor of viola and piano.

Another local connection is the composer: Bloch, a Swiss-born American whose music reflects Jewish cultural and liturgical themes, was the first artistic director for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1925-1930. He also taught at UC Berkeley from 1939 to 1952.

A 4th generation string player, Alexander traces his musical past back to his great grandfather, Ralph Hersh, who was a member of the WQXR and Stuyvesant string quartets and principal violist of the Dallas and Atlanta Symphony orchestras. His mom, Roberta, is also a professional violinist (now playing in the orchestra for “Hamilton” in Chicago); his dad performs all over and teaches at Roosevelt University.

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Playing cello since he was 5, the now-26 Alexander grew up in Chicago, where he still lives, though he travels a lot to perform, mostly in New York and Philadelphia. In September alone, he did 11 concerts; in October, six concerts. A passionate chamber musician, Alexander is co-artistic director of NEXUS Chamber Music, a collective of international artists who present a two-week chamber music festival across the city of Chicago each August.

Already considered one of the most exciting and versatile artists of his generation, Alexander has performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony and Boston Pops, and has won many top prizes at competitions  worldwide, including the 2019 Astral Artists National Auditions, National Federation of Music Clubs Biennial Young Artists Competition, New York International Artists Association Competition, Friends of the Minnesota Orchestra, Ima Hogg Competition, Schadt String Competition, Artist Concerts Series National Solo Competition, and the Luminarts Classical Music Fellowship, to name a few.

He has both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the New England Conservatory of Music and did additional master’s training in Berlin.  

Alexander comes to the Bay Area at least twice a year. While here, he looks forward to seeing friends, hanging out with his grandfather and going to the Marin County Farmers Market. And practicing, of course. “I will mostly be practicing,” he said. “I have a really busy schedule, so I’m forever cramming for the next performance.”

Maestro Stephen Paulson, artistic director of Symphony Parnassus, will lead the orchestra in a concert that also includes Beethoven’s Overture to “The Ruins of Athens” and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, Opus 29.

Advance tickets for Sunday’s concert at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall), 50 Oak St., San Francisco, are available now from BrownPaperTickets. (Tickets are also available at the door.) Please note: The concert starts at 2 p.m.

Sean Mori, violin

The violin cast an early spell on Sean Mori, who began taking lessons at age 3 after seeing a violinist in concert in San Francisco.

He doesn’t recall the exact details of that first experience, but he remembers the feeling: “I thought it looked cool. I wanted to play the violin,” he said. His parents listened, got him into lessons, and two years later, he gave his first solo performance.

Sean, 16, lives in Palo Alto, Calif., with his parents Takeshi and Sachiko, and younger sister Jennifer, 13, who studies the cello; neither of their parents are musicians. Sean does high-school coursework through the School of Independent Learners in Los Altos, and attends the Pre-College Program at the SF Conservatory.

He enjoys bicycle riding for a hobby, and though he admits it’s a little bit dangerous, he finds it “a good way to let off steam.”

Sean says he says he is drawn to the way music, and especially the violin, can express emotion and stories, particularly in the towering Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, which he will perform with Maestro Stephen Paulson and Symphony Parnassus at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, at the Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco. (Purchase Tickets)

“Tchaikovsky had the ability to put in all these different colors and conflicts, and it has so many difficult emotions intertwined,” he said.   

His appearance with Symphony Parnassus marks the first time Sean has performed with an orchestra. He is a 2018 winner of the Symphony Parnassus / San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition.

“It’s a great honor to be selected to play,” he said. “It’s a big risk to bring in someone who has never performed the Tchaikovsky concerto with an orchestra before. I’m honored that they had the trust in me.” 

Though it’s his first time performing as soloist with an orchestra, he’s no stranger to the concert stage, having played throughout the world, from Prague to New York to Japan, and is a scholarship student of Ian Swensen and Elbert Tsai at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

This past year, he was a quarter-finalist in the under-15 division of the 2018 International Menuhin Competition in Geneva, Switzerland. He has won many first-place prizes as well: the United States International Music Competition, DVC/HNU Young Artist String Competition, Pacific Musical Society competition, Galante Music Festival, Nova Vista Concerto Competition, and was invited to perform at Steinway Society of the Bay Area’s Young Artists Concert.

Sean admits to being “a little nervous” about his upcoming performance with Symphony Parnassus, but looks forward to “showing people what I can do.”

Dustin Breshears, violin

Dustin Breshears in rehearsal

Dustin Breshears looks forward to performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Symphony Parnassus this coming Sunday.

It’s just the second time he will have played the concerto in concert with an orchestra, and he relishes the challenge. “You have to fit in, as well as lead the orchestra,” which is more complex than practicing with piano accompaniment or alone, he said.

Dustin, 11, is the winner of the 2018 Symphony Parnassus / San Francisco Conservatory of Music Competition, an annual event that features some of the brightest upcoming talent in classical music.

In addition to the Mendelssohn, Dustin is also performing a violin solo within Hindemith’s “Symphonia Serena” with the orchestra. (Also on the program is Khachaturian’s Waltz from “Masquerade.”)

The concert, led by guest conductor Emil de Cou, is on Sunday, Nov. 18 at the Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco. (The concert is at 3 p.m. and tickets are available here.)

Symphony Parnassus has the honor of once again showcasing a talented member of the Breshears family; last season, Dustin’s younger sisters Starla, 10, a cellist, and Valery, 9, a violinist, both had won the Parnassus / SFCM competition and were soloists with the orchestra, performing Haydn and Mozart concertos, respectively.

“I was sort of jealous,” Dustin says with a smile, though he did get to perform with his sisters during an encore at the January concert. The trio of young musicians perform as Little Stars Trio, and frequently busk for tourists in San Francisco’s Union Square.

The trio has toured internationally to festivals and events in Mexico, Argentina and England. This past year in Los Angeles, they performed on “Little Big Shots,” an NBC-TV variety show hosted by Steve Harvey that showcases youth performers ranging from musical virtuosos to martial arts experts. The show aired in March this past year.

 Dustin and his sisters also participate in the Pre-College Program for up-and-coming classical musicians at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and all attend the Crowden School, a music school for grades 4-8 in Berkeley.

The Breshears parents Dustin Sr. and Julie—both pianists and teachers—along with their six children formerly resided in Chico but relocated to San Pablo this past summer to be closer to music opportunities in the Bay Area. Two of the three youngest, Colin, 6, and Delilah, 3, are already taking lessons on the violin and cello, respectively. Serenity, at 19 months is the youngest Breshears, will take up the violin, according to Dustin Sr.

Dustin Jr. says he likes living in the Bay Area and being close to all of the music opportunities for his growing career. He’s enjoying his new school and having fun at the conservatory, where in addition to studying violin performance, he is learning to compose. He also enjoys drawing when not playing the violin.

This Sunday’s concert will be special for Dustin, not only because of his performance of the Mendelssohn concerto, but because it is his 12th birthday. Happy birthday, Dustin!