Great Composers Chamber Music Series
May 3, 2026, 2:00 p.m.
Scott-Skillman Recital Hall, Harris Center, Folsom
Featuring violinist George Hayes, violist István Polónyi, and cellist Susan Lamb Cook
and special guest clarinetist Sandra Moats McPherson
Program
String Trio in B Flat Major, D471 by Franz Schubert
String Trio in G Major, Op. 53, No. 1 by Joseph Haydn
Allegretto ed innocente – Presto
String Trio in E Flat Major, Op. 3 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Allegro con brio – Andante – Menuetto – Adagio – Menuetto – Finale, Allegro
Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A Major, K581 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Allegro – Larghetto – Menuetto – Tema con Variazioni (Allegretto)
George Hayes, violinist
A native of Colusa, CA, George Hayes began his violin studies at 4 years old with Ingrid Gaston in Yuba City and later continued his studies at CSU Sacramento with Bill Barbini and Ian Swenson. Hayes is an active freelancer and can regularly be heard in the pits of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Broadway at Music Circus in Sacramento, as well as with the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, Sweden. He has served as Concertmaster for Townsend Opera, Fresno Grand Opera and as Principal Second Violin for the Camellia Symphony, Folsom Lake Symphony, and North State Symphony. George has been a member of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, One Found Sound, and also frequently joins the Modesto Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Oakland Symphony, and many other ensembles across Northern California. As a chamber musician Hayes has played with the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento, on the Fort Bragg Center for the Arts Chamber Music Series, and the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, among others. In addition to musical pursuits, George is also an avid landscape and wildlife photographer and spends much of his free time traveling and hiking while searching for those ever-elusive perfect shots.
István Polónyi, violist
István Polónyi was born in Szolnok, Hungary in 1965. He graduated from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in 1989, where his teachers included Mária Vermes and Mária Zs. Szabó. Between 1986 and 1989 he played violin in the Budapest Strings Chamber Orchestra, while between 1989-92 he was a member of the Regie Cooperativa International Symphony Orchestra in Portugal. He has been teaching violin and viola since 1992, and since 2010 he has been the head of the violin department at the Szent István Király Conservatory of Music. Between 1997 and 2002 he was principal in the Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, and he has held the same position in the Weiner-Szász Chamber Symphony since then. István Polónyi frequently appears in productions by the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
Susan Lamb Cook, cellist
Susan Lamb Cook is currently Lecturer in Cello and Chamber Music at the University of California, Davis. She is a member of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera and the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra and is Artistic Director of the VITA Academy’s Great Composers Chamber Music Series. She is an active performer and educator both nationally and internationally and is sought after as soloist and chamber musician with performances throughout Europe, the Far East, and the United States. She has served on faculty for the Saarburg Festival, Germany, the Vianden Festival, Luxembourg, and on the artistic staff for the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. As a member of the Kismarton Trio, Susan has performed concerts in the Hungarian National Museum and the Petöfi Museum of Literature, Budapest, and performed the opening concert for the 2024 International Music Festival, Grosslobming, Austria. She has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras and is highly regarded as master clinician. Following her studies at the University of Iowa with Charles Wendt, she moved to Vienna, Austria where she continued her studies and performed with numerous ensembles in Austria, Hungary, and Italy. During the decade she spent in Europe, Susan performed with the Arena di Verona opera orchestra, completing three seasons and joining the orchestra for a tour of Egypt with performances of Aida which used the grand Luxor Temple as backdrop. She completed at degree at the Academy of Music in Vienna, Austria under the guidance of Angelica May, then joined the teaching staff as assistant professor of cello, a position she held for two years before returning to her home of Sacramento.
Sandra Moats McPherson, clarinetist
Sandra Moats McPherson is in wide demand as a clarinetist and educator. She is the professor of clarinet at Sacramento State’s School of Music and Cosumnes River College and performs frequently as principal clarinetist and bass clarinetist in numerous Northern California orchestras, including the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, and Choral Society Orchestras. She has performed orchestral and chamber music in Eisenstadt and Vienna, Austria as part of the annual Classical Music Festival, and has been on the coaching and performing staff of the InterHarmony Festival in Arcidosso, Italy. Ms. McPherson acts as chamber music coach for the Sacramento, Cal Cap, and Sacramento Youth Symphony Chamber Music Workshops, and maintains an active private teaching studio. Ms. McPherson received degrees from California State University, Fresno and University of California, Santa Barbara in music education, clarinet performance, and musicology, and has published articles on early-American clarinet literature.
Hrabba Atladottir, violin
Icelandic violinist Hrabba Atladottir currently lecturer in violin at UC Davis, studied in Berlin, Germany with professor Axel Gerhardt and professor Tomasz Tomaszewski. After finishing her studies, Hrabba worked as a freelance violinist in Berlin for five years, regularly playing with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsche Oper, and Deutsche Symphonieorchester. Hrabba also participated in a world tour with the Icelandic pop artist Björk, and a Germany tour with violinist Nigel Kennedy. In 2004, Hrabba moved to New York, playing on a regular basis with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Orchestra of St. Luke’s and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra among other orchestras. She also played with the Either/Or ensemble in NY in close collaboration with Helmut Lachenmann. Since August 2008, Hrabba is based in Berkeley, California, where she has been performing as a soloist and with various ensembles such as the New Century Chamber Orchestra, The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, The Empyrean Ensemble, the ECO ensemble and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players to name a few. She teaches violin at UC Berkeley.