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For Symphony Parnassus's Spring Concert on April 19, the centerpiece of the program is Saint-Saëns's La muse et le poète — a single-movement work for violin, cello, and orchestra that the composer himself described as "a conversation between the two instruments instead of a debate between two virtuosos." The soloists performing it bring that conversational spirit a personal dimension: violinist Stefan Hersh and cellist Alexander Hersh are father and son.

Alexander Hersh, cello

A top laureate of the Naumburg International Cello Competition, Alexander Hersh is widely recognized as one of the most creative and versatile cellists of his generation. Praised for his 2022 Carnegie Hall debut recital, he has appeared as soloist with major orchestras including the Houston Symphony, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Dallas Chamber Symphony, and Boston Pops, and received top prizes from the Pro Musicis International Award, Astral Artists National Auditions, and Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant.

An avid chamber musician, Hersh has toured with Musicians from Marlboro and performed at leading festivals including Marlboro, Chamber Music Northwest, Ravinia, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, Lucerne, and IMS Prussia Cove. He is co-Artistic Director of NEXUS Chamber Music, an artist-led collective dedicated to breaking down barriers in how classical music is experienced, through intimate performances, multimedia projects, and new commissions.

His debut album ABSINTHE (2023) received critical acclaim, and he was recently featured on PBS's Now Hear This series in an episode exploring the music of Boccherini. A fourth-generation string player, his grandfather Paul Hersh taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for 49 years. He plays a G.B. Rogeri cello courtesy of Guarneri Hall NFP and Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins. In his spare time, he composes original music and creates short films that marry classical music with narrative — you can find them on his YouTube channel at @AlexanderHersh.

Symphony Parnassus audiences may remember Alexander from his 2019 appearance with the orchestra, when he performed Bloch's Schelomo to an enthusiastic response.

Stefan Hersh, violin

Violinist Stefan Hersh has a diverse background, having served as Principal Second Violin of the Minnesota Orchestra, Associate Concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony, and as a member of the Callisto Ensemble, the Chicago String Quartet, and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. He has appeared as a featured guest artist and soloist in venues across North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

Stefan is the founder and Artistic Director of Guarneri Hall NFP, a Chicago organization that produces a curated mix of live performances, original music videos, and digital content. He is also a partner at Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins, where he appraises rare antique string instruments and bows worldwide. He served as Associate Professor at DePaul University before joining the faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in 2003.

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

Alex Zhou, violin

The last time Symphony Parnassus performed with violinist Alex Zhou, he was a fresh-faced 14-year-old just getting used to playing with an orchestra.

 Three years later, while he’s still young at 17, he is a much more seasoned performer, self-assured in his art and finding deeper expression when he plays.

 “I am more aware of all the different subtleties of the music than I was three years ago,” he said. “That’s still something I am working on—listening closely to music and the orchestra, and not being afraid to express how I want to express the music instead of just playing notes. I feel that’s where I’ve matured over past the past three or four years.”

 Alex is the featured soloist for the Korngold Violin Concerto with Maestro Stephen Paulson and Symphony Parnassus for its spring concert on Sunday, April 7, 3 p.m. at Taube Atrium Theater, 401 Van Ness Ave., 4th floor. Also on the program: Chabrier’s Joyeuse Marche, and Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Tickets ($25 for adults; $20 for seniors and $10 for all students): https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4067535?date=2028986

They are also available at the door.

 Alex is a two-time winner (2015 and 2018) of the Parnassus – San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition. The first time, he performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto; this time, he’s playing a piece that is a far cry from the early romantic lyricism of that piece. He looks forward to introducing audiences to the lesser-known violin concerto from the 20th century film composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

 “I’ve fallen in love with it,” Alex said. “It’s very unlike other staples of the concerto repertoire, more film-like. It’s a mix between classical tonality and 20th century, not quite modernist. It’s a lot of fun to play.”

 Over the years, Alex has won many prizes. In addition to winning the 2018 Parnassus – SFCM Music Concerto Competition, his recent honors include:

• honorable mention at the U.S. National YoungArts Competition

• semifinalist at the 2018 International Shanghai Isaac Stern Violin Competition

• quarterfinalist at the 2018 International Schoenfeld String Competition

• 1st place, 2018 International Irving M. Klein String Competition

• 1st place, 2016 Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra Competition

• Fourth prize and Composer’s Prize, 2014 International Menuhin Violin Competition

 Alex lives with his parents James Zhou and June Hu in San Jose and attends The King’s Academy school in Sunnyvale.

 He started piano lessons at age 5 and began playing the violin a year later after seeing a home video of his older sister performing in her elementary school orchestra. Intrigued, he found her old violin and tried to play it, and soon began taking violin lessons, too.

 Now almost through with high school and set to graduate, he spent the earlier part of this year playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto at college auditions and is still waiting to hear which conservatory he might attend.

 Alex says it is “very exciting” to be performing with Symphony Parnassus again. “It feels very different. I feel like I’ve matured a lot musically and grown as a musician and performer.”

Alex Zhou, Violin

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.”