Hidden Valley String Quartet Master Class at Hidden Valley Music Seminars, Carmel Valley, California

Roy Malan, violin, was educated in London with Yehudi Menuhin, and at Juilliard and the Curtis Institute where he was a student of Ivan Galamian and Efrem Zimbalist. Mr. Malan is concertmaster and solo violinist for the San Francisco Ballet. Mr. Malan is also founder and co-director of the Telluride Chamber Music Festival in Colorado and serves on the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has been a member of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players since 1976.

Jenny Bifano, violin, is a versatile musician who has performed extensively as a violin soloist, chamber musician and symphonic player, with performances throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Austria, Germany, Australia and her native Peru. Ms. Bifano has been heard in music festivals such as the Banff Summer Arts Festival, the Monterey Mozart Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and Kneisel Hall Blue Hill Festival in Maine. She has performed with a variety of chamber groups including the Modern Arts Trio, the Pegasus String Quartet, and Four Strings Tango, as well as with symphony orchestras including the San Francisco Opera, the San Francisco Ballet, the San Francisco Chamber Symphony, and national tours with the San Francisco Western Opera.

Ms. Bifano performs a wide repertoire of music, which includes Classical, Jazz and Argentine Tango, as well as studio work for film, television and concerts/recordings with pop artists. She has been a frequent performer of Contemporary Classical music, was awarded a Meet The Composer grant to work with Garrida Lecca and Lou Harrison, and gave the West Coast Premier of Mr. Harrison's Piano Trio.

Born in Lima, Peru, Jenny Bifano received her early training with her father, Ezequiel Amador (first violinist with the San Francisco Symphony) and at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She continued her studies with Claire Hodgkins (teaching assistant to Jascha Heifetz), and Jacob Krachmalnick, Professor Emeritas at the University of Michigan School of Music. Ms. Bifano's chamber music coaches have included the Beaux Arts Trio and the Vermeer Quartet, as well as Arthur Balsam, Leslie Parnas and Gilbert Kalish. She is a winner of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Award, the American String Teachers Association Competition, and finalist in the Pepsi Cola Young Musicians and Irving Kline Competitions. In addition to her performing, Ms. Bifano has been in demand as a teacher, working with youth and summer programs. She also teaches in Carmel, where she currently resides.

Darcy Rindt, viola, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UC Santa Cruz with honors in both Music and Biology. She then moved to San Francisco and began free lancing while studying for a Masters in Solo Viola Performance from San Francisco State University. To date, Ms. Rindt has performed with the New World Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, New Century Chamber Orchestra, and the San Francisco Contemporary Players to name a few. She has also acted as Principal of the Oakland East Bay, Berkeley, Sacramento, and Santa Rosa Symphonies. Chamber music has played a large role in her performance career. As a member of the Chamberlain String Quartet, she was on the faculty at both SFSU and Cal State Hayward and, through San Francisco Performances, CSQ not only performed but became involved with it's Outreach Program to the public schools in San Francisco. Ms. Rindt has also been active with the MUSE program through Oakland EB Symphony and California Symphony's In-Schools demonstrations. Her major instructors have been Roy Malan (SF Ballet), Paul Yarborough (Alexander String Quartet), and Cathy VanHoesen (SF Symphony).

Vanessa Ruotolo, cellist, grew up in Stanford, California and received her early training with Irene Sharp. She later attended the New England Conservatory, Boston University and San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Bernard Greenhouse, George Neikrug and Bonnie Hampton.

Ms Ruotolo has been principal cellist of the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, under the batons of Michael Tilson Thomas and Christoph Eschenbach, cellist of the Del Sol String Quartet and principal cellist of the San Francisco Western Opera Theater. As a member of these ensembles she toured Japan, Europe and the United States respectively. As cellist of the Worn Chamber Ensemble, she has played and premiered several contemporary music works for both ensemble and solo cello. She has also appeared with Berkeley Contemporary Players, Left Coast Ensemble and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Vanessa has appeared several times with Quartet San Francisco and enjoys playing the Broadway shows here in San Francisco.

As educator, she has participated in San Francisco Symphony's Adventures in Music educational outreach program, been on the faculties of numerous chamber music festivals including Point Counterpoint, Stony Brook Summer Music Festival and Sequoia Chamber Music Festival and is a devoted teacher to several private students. In addition to chamber music and teaching, Vanessa is a member of the Santa Rosa Symphony, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Mid-Summer Mozart Festival Orchestra and plays with several other Bay Area ensembles.