Pianist Alison Lee and cellist Isaac Pastor-Chermak are among Northern California’s most prominent musical “power couples” of their generation. They have performed as a duo since 2016, making appearances throughout California and beyond. Among many recital programs, Isaac and Alison have given multiple performances of the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas, including an online performance on Beethoven’s 250th birthday in December 2020. Most recently, they performed the complete Brahms Cello Sonatas for the first time in January 2022. Their debut CD, Preludes and Prologues, was released in January 2021, and is available online. Isaac and Alison are very excited to be expanding the repertoire for cello and piano with a commissioned work by East Bay composer Jean Ahn, to premiere July 2023.
ALISON LEE
A native of Fremont, California, Alison Lee is a pianist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the first prize winner of several competitions including Thursday Musical’s Scholarship Competition and the Dorothy Van Waynen Piano Competition, and second prize winner at the Midwest International Piano Competition. Her concerto appearances include performances with Coeur d’Alene Symphony and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony. Besides performing as a soloist, Alison enjoys playing and coaching chamber music. Along with playing in a piano-cello duo with her husband Isaac Pastor-Chermak, she has also performed with ensembles including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Da Camera of Houston, and Earplay. She currently serves on the board of East Bay Music Foundation as director of the East Bay Chamber Music Festival and Ensemble Matching Program. Alison holds a doctoral degree in piano performance from the University of Minnesota, and her previous teachers include Lydia Artymiw, Jon Kimura Parker and Angela Cheng. alisonthepianist.com
ISAAC PASTOR-CHERMAK
Cellist Isaac Pastor-Chermak enjoys a diverse and varied career in symphony and opera orchestras, chamber music, and solo and recording engagements, as well as engaging deeply with his community as a conductor, educator, and nonprofit board member. He is Principal Cellist of Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony and Eisenstadt (Austria) Classical Music Festival; Assistant Principal Cellist of Opera San Jose, Fresno Philharmonic, and Stockton Symphony; and a member of Berkeley Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony, and Reno Philharmonic. Pastor-Chermak is Adjunct Professor of Music History at San Francisco Conservatory of Music and teaches an award-winning private cello studio. He sits on the Board of Directors of East Bay Music Foundation and Calliope East Bay Music and Arts, and is Founder and Music Director Emeritus of Solano Youth Chamber Orchestra. Isaac and his wife, pianist Alison Lee, live in a 100-year-old house in the Berkeley Hills with their cat, Waffle. isaacpastorchermak.com