JERRY KRACHT, Artistic Director Emeritus, served as Second City Chamber Series artistic director for twenty-five years--from 1982 to 2007--and as frequent clarinetist on the Series from it inception in 1977 through the close of the 2006-2007 season. During that time he oversaw the programming and production of nearly 150 concerts, performing on some 80 of them himself.

Under his leadership, Series offerings were more than doubled over the years, with venues added at Lakewold Gardens and First Lutheran Church in addition to the original Annie Wright School--all of which are still home to the Series.  He also led the Series to awards for artistic excellence by both the Tacoma Arts Commission and the Pierce County Arts Commission and established an educational adjunct for young musicians, the Young Chamber Players.

Dr. Kracht taught clarinet and conducted the University Symphony Orchestra at Pacific Lutheran University for over thirty years.  He is now emeritus professor of music there, where he was also a founding member of the Camas Wind Quintet and the Regency Concert Series.  In addition to his many performances in the Northwest--both for Second City Chamber Series and Pacific Lutheran University--he has performed in Canada, Japan, The Peoples Republic of China, Hong Kong, Australia, Norway and Germany.  He begins his new advisory role as artistic director emeritus at Second City Chamber Series in 2007. 

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Brittany Boulding, violinist, is currently the concertmaster for the Auburn Symphony Orchestra and the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as a substitute concertmaster for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. She has been a violinist with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Oakland East Bay Symphony. Ms. Boulding received her BM from Rice University as a student of Kenneth Goldsmith and her Professional Studies Certificate from the Colburn School under the tutelage of Robert Lipsett. During the summer season Ms. Boulding performed as Concertmaster of the Tanglewood Music Center, Banff Center, Spoleto USA and Evergreen Music Festival orchestras, and as Assistant Concertmaster of the National Repertory Orchestra and National Orchestra Institute. Ms. Boulding’s violin career also extends far past her experience as a classical musician. Since the age of six she has been performing with her family the internationally acclaimed MAGICAL STRINGS touring throughout the U.S., Canada, Japan and Ireland.

Julian Schwarz was born in Seattle into a musical family and made his orchestral debut at the age of 11 playing the Saint-Saens Concerto No. 1 with the Seattle Symphony with his father, Music Director Gerard Schwarz, on the podium. Since then he has appeared as soloist with many of the Seattle area orchestras including the Bellevue Philharmonic, Philharmonia Northwest and the Port Angeles, Eastern and Sammamish symphonies. Mr. Schwarz was one of the featured soloists on an extensive US tour with the Moscow State Radio Philharmonic Orchestra with appearances at Georgia Tech in Atlanta; the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in New York City; University of Connecticut in Storrs; George Mason University in Fairfax, VA; the Orange County Performing Arts Center, CA; and the performing arts series at UC Berkeley, UC Davis and Cal Poly Arts in San Luis Obispo, among others. He has performed as a chamber musician at the Aspen, Interlochen, Eastern, California Summer and Encore music festivals. In both 2007 and 2008, Mr. Schwarz won the highly regarded Northwest Sinfonietta Youth Concerto Competition. The resulting performances as soloist with Music Director Christophe Chagnard led to his appointment as assistant conductor under Chagnard with Seattle’s Lake Union Civic Orchestra, with which he has conducted Borodin’s Second Symphony and Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice at Seattle’s Town Hall. Julian Schwarz started piano lessons at the age of five and began his cello studies the following year with the late David Tonkonogui; subsequent teachers have included Toby Saks and Lynn Harrell.

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STEPHEN BRYANT, violinist, is known for his enthusiasm and passion for music. He was born in Long Beach, California and studied violin in Southern California with Vera Barstow, Pavel Farkas and Paul Shure. Mr. Bryant was Concertmaster of the YMF Debut Orchestra under Calvin Simmons and a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Neville Marriner. In Canada, he was Principal Second Violin of the Edmonton Symphony for ten years before joining the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra violin section, where he performed as Assistant Concertmaster for four seasons. In 1998-99, Mr. Bryant ventured to Asia to perform in the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra's inaugural season as Principal Second Violin under Music Director, Kees Bakels. He also performed in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2000/01 season as Principal Second Violin under Edo deWaart. Presently in his fourth season with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Bryant has performed with the St. Helens String Quartet, Seattle Chamber Players, and the Metropolitan and BeauMetro String Quartets.

SUE JANE BRYANT, violist, was born in New York and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She studied violin in California with William Whitson, Kenneth Goldsmith, Glenn Dicterow and Manuel Compinsky, who interested her in playing viola. Ms. Bryant is a graduate of California State University at Fullerton with a Bachelor of Music in Performance. As a member of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, she performed two seasons as a violinist, before switching to viola for the following eight seasons. In 1989 she became a member of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and held the position of Assistant Principal Viola to 2003. In 1998, Ms. Bryant performed as Sub-Principal Viola with the newly formed Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra during their inaugural season under Music Director Kees Bakels. She has a wealth of chamber music experience extending from the Los Angeles based Ysaye Quartet, to the Debut Quartet in Edmonton which participated in the 1986 Banff International String Quartet Competition. Presently, she is violist of the Beau Quartet. Recently, Ms. Bryant has relocated with her family to the Seattle area, and has since performed with the Seattle Symphony, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Chamber Players, the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, and the BeauMetro Quartet.

RACHEL PEARSON

CHARLES ROBERT STEPHENS has enjoyed a career spanning a wide variety of roles and styles in opera and concert music. He has sung on numerous occasions at Carnegie Hall in a variety of roles with Opera Orchestra of New York, the Oratorio Society of New York, the Masterworks Chorus, and Musica Sacra, as well as a guest soloist with most of New York’s premiere ensembles including Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, Ascension Music, L’Opera Francais de New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, and many others. Now based in Seattle he has sung with Seattle Symphony, Tacoma and Spokane Symphony and Opera Companies, Portland Chamber Orchestra and many other the orchestras and opera companies in the Pacific Northwest. He joined the roster of Seattle Opera in 2010 for the premiere of Amelia by Daron Hagen. Locally he sings Carmina Burana, Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly. A native of New London, Connecticut, Mr. Stephens is the recipient of a Sullivan Grant and was a finalist in both the Washington International Competition and the Zachary Society Auditions. He is a Liederkranz Competition winner where he sang Scarpia, Silvio, and Don Giovanni. He received his training at the University of Connecticut, Boston University, the Goldovsky Opera Institute, and the Santa Fe Opera.

RICHARD TREAT, cellist, joined the Regency String Quartet and the string faculty of Pacific Lutheran University in September, 2006. A native of Los Angeles, Richard earned both Bachelors and Masters Degrees from California State University at Los Angeles, where he studied with Stephen De'ak, Eleonore Schoenfeld, and Lucien LaPorte. Mr. Treat has worked with several orchestras in greater Los Angeles, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Pasadena, Long Beach, and Glendale Symphonies. In addition, Richard has been principal cellist of the Santa Barbara and South Coast Symphonies, the Mozart Camerata, and the Pasadena Chamber Orchestra and played for many years with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and the Deodara String Quartet. He is now a member of the Max Aronoff Institute faculty in Kenmore, and is regularly featured in performances of solo and chamber music in the Northwest.

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MARI CORPUZ

REGINA YEH has delighted audiences with her dynamic performances throughout the United States and abroad, including France, the UK, Slovak Republic, and on tour in her native Taiwan. She has been featured soloist and in recital at major venues throughout the United States, including Benaroya Hall in Seattle and New Mexico’s Popejoy Hall, at the Chicago Cultural Center for the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago and with the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jersey Semkov. Her performances have also appeared on KING radio in Seattle, WFMT radio and channel 25 television in Chicago and televised in the Slovak Republic and on North American Chinese Television. Ms. Yeh has won first prizes at the Pacific International Piano Competition, the National Federation of Music Club’s Biennial Student Awards Competition, and was the grand prize winner of the Allegro Music foundation/BAJ Classics competitions in New York. She was also the recipient of scholarships from the Chopin Foundation of the United States. An active collaborative artist, Ms. Yeh has appeared at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, performed as a guest artist with the Adirondack Ensemble in New York, and served as accompanist of the Harlem Boys’ Choir. Her many chamber performances included unusual programming such as concerts featuring music for piano six hands at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. Ms. Yeh was accepted at age thirteen as a pupil of the renowned Hungarian pianist and pedagogue, Bela Siki, with whom she eventually completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Washington, graduating with a Magna Cum Laude distinction. She then attended the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where she received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2003. A devoted Artist-Teacher, Ms. Yeh teaches master classes at colleges and universities while maintaining a rigorous performing and teaching schedule across the United States and abroad. Having served on the keyboard faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle since 2001, where she was frequently featured as a soloist and chamber musician, Professor Yeh was recently named the Director of Piano Studies at Pacific Lutheran University.