Leder Masterclass
Leder Masterclass
Artist: Debra Fong, violin
Artist: Debra Fong, violin
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Sunday, April 19, 2026 - 2:00pm
Sunday, April 19, 2026 - 2:00pm
Location: Cubberley M2
The Leder masterclasses are admission free to the public. Seats are limited so please reserve your seats in advance.
Tickets not yet available.
Violinist Debra Fong is Concertmaster of the Peninsula Symphony, Associate Concertmaster of the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and Principal Second Violinist of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. She spends her summers as a first violinist with the Grammy Award-winning Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.
Also dedicated teacher, Debra is a Lecturer in Music at Stanford University, teaching violin and chamber music, and she maintains a private violin studio. She is a faculty coach for Young Chamber Musicians, a guest conductor for the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, and a judge for several annual young artist concerto competitions. Debra is a former violin faculty member at The College of William & Mary, The Music Institute of Chicago, and New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School.
Debra received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Violin Performance with Honors and Distinction from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she studied with Eric Rosenblith, James Buswell, Eugene Lehner, and Louis Krasner.
Debra has been a featured chamber musician at Toronto Summer Music; Bay Chamber Concerts in Maine; Grand Teton Music Festival; Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival in Vermont; Sarasota Music Festival; and Yale/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Connecticut. She has been a guest artist with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Chicago Chamber Musicians, North American New Music Festival in Buffalo, NY, and the New Music Festival at Santa Clara University. Debra is an avid proponent of contemporary music and has worked closely with composers such as Olivier Messiaen, Thomas Adès, Joan Tower, Bright Sheng, and Kaija Saariaho.
Debra's discography includes recordings with The Santa Fe Opera, indie pop vocalist Vienna Teng, Stanford Chamber Chorale, composer John Luther Adams, Mannheim Steamroller, and she has performed on numerous film soundtracks.
Debra plays a Giuseppe Rocca violin kindly on loan from Stanford University’s Harry R. Lange Instrument Collection. In her leisure time, Debra enjoys reading modern fiction, practicing yoga, playing word games, and seeking out excellent coffee.
About the Leder Masterclass Series
About the Leder Masterclass Series
Founded in 2020, our two-hour masterclass series provides PACO student musicians with an exceptional opportunity to work with outstanding professional string players and educators from around the world. Thanks to the generous support of the Leder family, PACO is able to invite acclaimed musicians to share their love and knowledge of chamber music with our students.
While past sessions featured individual student musicians working with a masterclass professional, our new format highlights chamber music ensembles, with professionals coaching our student groups. This series also supports the mission of the PACO Academy—our Senior Orchestra’s year-long chamber music program—where students form quartets that serve as musical ambassadors for PACO’s core values: a unique blend of high-level chamber music, generosity, and community.
These ensembles bring “PACO out into the world,” embodying our motto to “play well with others.
Masterclass Location: M2
Masterclass Location: M2
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