BRESHEARS STRING QUARTET
Sibling Ensemble
BIOGRAPHIES
Dustin Breshears, violinist
Dustin, age 17, is a violinist and violist studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Pre-college Division. He studies violin with Nancy Zhou and viola with Jonathan Vinocour. Dustin has soloed with eight different orchestras since the age of six. He has won numerous solo awards, including winner Parnassus-San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition, 1st Place MTAC State VOCE Competition, winner Palo Alto Philharmonic Concerto Movement Competition, 1st Place Bay Philharmonic Young Artist Competition, 1st Place Mary Jane Beck Young Artist Competition (Nova Vista Symphony), 1st place California Youth Symphony Young Artist Competition, 1st Place U.S. International Music Competition, 1st Place U.S. Open Music Competition, 1st Place ASTA-San Francisco Competition, 1st Place ASTA-Sacramento Competition, 1st Place CAPMT-Sacramento Competition, 1st Place DVC-HNU Strings Competition, 1st Place Classical Masters Competition, and 1st place Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Competition. Dustin is a recipient of the 2021 Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.
Starla Breshears, cellist
Starla, age 16, is a pre-college student and a Joseph Chan Full-Scholarship recipient at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying cello with Jean-Michel Fonteneau. Starla has been coached by Christine Walevska and Sergei Riabtchenko and has performed for masterclasses with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Alisa Weilerstein and Amit Peled. Starla has soloed with 18 different orchestras since the age of 6 including the California Youth Symphony, Kalamazoo Junior Symphony, Palo Alto Philharmonic, Symphony Parnassus, and the Nova Vista Symphony. Starla was the 2023 Stulberg International String Competition Bronze Medalist and has also won 1st prize in over a dozen solo competitions including 1st Place ASTA State Solo Competition, 1st place Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Competition and Grand Prize in the Diablo Valley College / Holy Names University Young Artist Competition. As one of the youngest Beares International Violin Society Artists, Starla was the loan recipient of a 1/2 size 19th century Hill cello and a 3/4 size 1808 Lorenzo Ventapane. Starla was a Yellow Barn Young Artist in 2022 and 2023.
Valery Breshears, violinist
Valery, age 15, began violin lessons at age 2 with David Mallory. By the age of 5 Valery started studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Pre-college Division under William Barbini, and currently studies with Zhao Wei. Valery has soloed 12 times with orchestra since the age of six including Fremont Symphony Orchestra, Nova Vista Symphony, Parnassus Symphony, South Valley Orchestra, Prometheus Symphony, and California Youth Symphony.. She has won numerous solo competitions, including 1st Place California Youth Symphony Young Artist Competition, winner Parnassus-San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition, Fremont Symphony Nafisa Taghioff Award, winner Livermore-Amador Symphony Concerto Competition, 1st Place U.S. International Music Competition, 1st Place ASTA-San Francisco Competition, 1st Place ASTA-Sacramento Competition, 1st Place CAPMT-Sacramento Competition, 1st Place DVC-HNU Strings Competition, 1st Place Classical Masters Competition, and a winner of the 2021 Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Competition. Valery is a recipient of the 2021 Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.
Colin Breshears, violist
Colin, age 12, began violin lessons at age 3 with David Mallory and Ayke Agus. At age 6, Colin began studying viola with Madeline Prager at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Pre-college Division. As a soloist, he has won 1st Place American Viola Society National Junior Solo Competition, 1st Place CalASTA San Francisco Solo Competition - Novice Division, 1st Place in the Classical Masters Music Festival Competition, 1st Place in the CAPMT Sacramento Go For the Gold Competition, 1st place Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Competition and 1st place Diablo Valley College / Holy Names University String Competition - Viola Division. Since 2018 Colin has performed as a soloist and with his sibling quartet at Iguazú en Concierto festival in Argentina and at Festival Alfonso Ortiz Tirado in Mexico.