Alison & Isaac in Concert
Sunday, August 23, 4:00pm
SDA Church, 12 CA-89, Mt. Shasta
$20 Suggested Donation
ALISON LEE made her unofficial recital debut at the age of two when, while waiting for a concert to start, she climbed onstage to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to confused and scattered applause. Now, decades later, she is a pianist and teacher based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Alison is equally at home as a solo and collaborative pianist, and her main goal as a musician is to learn as much of her favorite repertoire as she can. She has been a concerto soloist with Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony and Coeur d’Alene Symphony, and has also performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Marin Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and Earplay. She is in demand as a collaborative pianist all year round and is a staff pianist at the SFCM Pre-College program. She and her husband, cellist Isaac Pastor-Chermak, frequently perform together and are planning a recording of the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Cello and Piano in 2027. Stay tuned!
Alison earned her doctorate in piano performance from the University of Minnesota and is also an alumna of Rice University and Oberlin Conservatory. Her teachers include Lydia Artymiw, Jon Kimura Parker, Angela Cheng, Hans Boepple, and Jed Galant. alisonthepianist.com
ISAAC PASTOR-CHERMAK enjoys a diverse and varied career in symphony and opera orchestras, chamber music, and solo and recording engagements; he’s also deeply engaged in mentoring the next generation of musicians as a multifaceted educator. He is Principal Cellist of Vallejo Symphony and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony; Assistant Principal Cellist of Opera San Jose and Fresno Philharmonic; and a member of Berkeley Symphony, California Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Marin Symphony, and Monterey Symphony. In 2023, he was guest principal cellist of the Britt Festival Orchestra.
His commercial discography includes The Shadow Dancer with Auriga String Quartet; Backlash Bach with Red Cedar Chamber Music; Preludes and Prologues with pianist Alison Lee; The Year 1948 with Ms. Lee and pianist Miles Graber; and Brahms: Cello Sonatas and Songs, also with Ms. Lee. His recording of both Haydn cello concertos is due out in late 2026.
Pastor-Chermak is Adjunct Professor of Music History at San Francisco Conservatory of Music; at home, he teaches an award-winning cello studio. A ‘recovering conductor’, he is Founder and Music Director Emeritus of Solano Youth Chamber Orchestra. Isaac and his wife, pianist Alison Lee, live in a 105-year-old house in the Berkeley Hills with their cat, Waffle. isaacpastorchermak.com