Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra (PACO) members are the most advanced and mature musicians, with up to ten years of experience in other PACO ensembles. Their performances receive outstanding critical acclaim; four regular season Palo Alto concerts are supplemented with 3 popular Bach Celebration Concerts in March, an annual tour to Ashland in June, and regular international tours. Soloists are nationally renowned artists, frequently famous PACO alumni who have established major careers. Chamber ensembles from within the orchestra are given numerous opportunities to perform in venues around the Bay Area, and a strong community service program ensures that every PACO member gives the gift of music to those who might not otherwise be hearing it. Volunteer PACO members also form the core of the Sara Doniach Ensemble, a string program for disadvantaged youngsters at the Willow Oaks Elementary School in East Palo Alto.
"The Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra 25 young string players, none older than 18 can and do. Its full-house concert at the Spangenberg Theater in Palo Alto last weekend was flawless."
[San Mateo County Times]
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Benjamin Simon
"Benjamin Simon... has burnished the orchestra with a new precision and elegance."
--San Mateo County Times
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Benjamin Simon, a native of San Francisco, has performed around the world as a violist with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Music from Marlboro, and the Naumberg Award-winning New World String Quartet. He has served as principal violist with the Buffalo Philharmonic as well as the Los Angeles and New Century Chamber Orchestras. Mr. Simon studied with Raphael Hillyer at Yale College and was a graduate student of Lillian Fuchs at the Juilliard School. He has studied and performed chamber music with members of the Budapest, Guarneri, Amadeus, and Juilliard Quartets. Mr. Simon has recorded for MCA Classics, Vox, Musical Heritage Society, Centaur, CRI, and Laurel Records, and was awarded Grand Prix du Disque in 1991 with the New World String Quartet. He has taught at Harvard University and joined the faculty of Stanford University in 1992 as a member of the Stanford String Quartet.
He is currently on the chamber music faculty at UC Berkeley, the Music Director of the professional San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and Music Director of the Bay Area premier training orchestra, the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra.
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