St. James Concert Series
Presents

Karra Duchi

Cello

March 4, 2007

Home town girl makes good - very good! This talented cellist has her roots right here in Sonora.

The concert program is:

      Suite No. 3 in C Major                 J. S. Bach
      Fantasy Pieces, Op. 73                Robert Schumann
      Sonata in A Major, op. 69           Ludwig van Beethoven    
      Suite Popular Española                Manuel DeFalla

Karra Duchi began studying piano at the age of seven, but from the first time she heard the sound of an orchestra she knew she was meant to play a stringed instrument.  She began her cello studies at the age of 11 and gained acceptance to the San Francisco Conservatory and the San Francisco School of the Arts 3 years later.  Ms. Duchi is a graduate of the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts (now known as the Idyllwild Arts Academy), where she was a student of John Walz.  She went on to earn a Bachelor of Music degree from San Francisco State University (where she studied extensively with the Alexander String Quartet), an Artist Diploma from Brandeis University, and a Master of Music degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Her teachers have included Irene Sharp, Laurien Laufman, Rhonda Rider, Sandy Wilson, Carol Rice, and Ira Lehn.
 
 Ms. Duchi’s performances have taken her to several countries and many of the finest concert halls in the world.  She served as an American representative to the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra, a group dedicated to promoting world peace, for the 1998-99 season and toured Taiwan, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Germany, and Luxemburg.

Ms. Duchi spends most of her time on cello related subjects, such as teaching private lessons to a highly varied and vibrant group of students, performing with many local musicians in chamber music or orchestral settings, or in the recording studio recording back up tracks for bands.  She is a Suzuki certified cello teacher and also teaches the traditional method. She is currently teaching at the San Francisco Community Music Center.

 In her spare time she likes to sing, study German, and scope out the local restaurants.

Accompanying Ms. Duchi is Lori Lack, who has performed as a soloist and chamber musician  throughout Europe and the United States.  As a collaborative artist, she has performed in recital with many artists including the Alexander String Quartet, the Stamic Quartet, Robin Sharp, Jassen Todorov, Gary Gray, Stephen Paulson and Matt Haimovitz.  She received her degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Hochschule fuer Musik in Vienna, and San Francisco State University.  In addition to serving on the faculty of CSU SummerArts and California Summer Music, she has worked as an instrumental accompanist at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and San Francisco State University.  She now freelances in the Bay Area while raising her two musical, magical children.