Duet by Diablo Symphony Orchestra violinists Sara Usher (concertmaster) and Dawn Harms.

Sara Usher, violin, has been a successful freelance performer, chamber musician and teacher since moving to the Bay Area in 1977. She has a BA from CalStateEastBay and the MM from Yale Graduate School of Music. Ms. Usher has served on the board of the Cazadero Performing Arts Camp, and is Grants and Special Projects Director for the SF Chapter of the American String Teachers Association. She directs the HOUSE program in the Oakland Public Schools and is General Manager for the popular RTSO, a bay area orchestra for RT adult amateur string players. She also supports OUSD string programs as a substitute teacher. Sara is in her seventh season as concert master for the Diablo Symphony.

Dawn Harms' diverse career ranges from being a chamber musician, violin soloist, and concertmaster, to being a music director and conductor. She is a first violinist in the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Associate Concertmaster for the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and Co-Concertmaster with the Oakland Symphony. She also records regularly at Skywalker Studios for movies and video games. She teaches at Stanford University, and is the conductor of the pre-college string orchestra at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Dawn is in her seventh season as Music Director and conductor of the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony. Harms was chosen as a Fellow at the exclusive American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival, where she worked with some of the top conductors of the world. She has conducted the San Francisco Opera orchestra twice in concert. Her guest conducting engagements include appearances with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, the Livermore Amador Symphony, Fremont Symphony, the Paradise Symphony, and the Grass Valley Summer Music Festival Orchestra.

Read more about Dawn here.