Leder Masterclass

Sunday, April 26, 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.

Katie Kadarauch is an American-born, 3rd generation musician and teacher. She has toured and performed across four continents with a special passion for teaching and chamber music. For 16 seasons she has served as the Assistant Principal Viola of the San Francisco Symphony, and in 2019, she joined the Minnesota Orchestra with Osmo Vanska for two weeks as a Guest Associate Principal.

Her most recent and notable collaboration was a duo performance with renowned pianist Yuja Wang in San Francisco, Paris, and Hamburg in March of 2023. She also currently performs in the Sandbox concert Series in Sand City CA, which includes educational outreach concerts with Musikiwest. Other educational endeavors include outreach performances at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and the SF Symphony volunteer league.

An avid chamber musician, Ms. Kadarauch is the founding violist of the Janaki String Trio (JST) which she formed while studying at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. The trio toured the United States and abroad extensively and recorded for the Naxos and Yarlung labels in Canada and Australia. Hailed by the New York Times as “magnificently polished” and exhibiting “an irresistible electricity”, the JST made their Carnegie Hall debut in January 2007 as Grand Prize winners of the NYC Concert Artists’ Guild International Competition. From Panama to Perth, the JST continued to engage in a comprehensive schedule of learning, performing, and mentoring well into Ms. Kadarauch’s tenure with the San Francisco Symphony. In addition, she is also the proud alumna of the Taos, Yellow Barn, Soundfest, Banff, Great Lakes, and Marlboro Music Festivals. Other domestic tours and guest appearances include performances with the Alexander String Quartet, the Israeli Chamber Players, International Sejong Soloists, Colburn Chamber Orchestra, and “Musicians From Marlboro.” She was also a featured performer at the International Viola Congress in Minneapolis alongside Kim Kashkashian in 2006.

In addition to coaching amateur adult ensembles, Kadarauch served for many years on the viola faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as the Orchestral Repertoire teacher. She has given masterclasses at the Colburn School of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the University of Northern Iowa. Most recently Kadarauch was a guest artist-in-residence at the University of Nevada-Reno in 2021 as well as a guest artist for the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Kadarauch holds both a Bachelors of Music and Graduate degree from the New England Conservatory, and a Professional Studies Certificate from the Colburn School of Music. Her primary solo and chamber music teachers include Kim Kashkashian, Paul Coletti, and the Cavani and Tackas String Quartets. Prior to her current orchestral appointment, Kadarauch recorded many film scores in Los Angeles, was a substitute violist for the LA Philharmonic, and performed Mahler 7 as the Guest Principal Viola with the San Francisco Symphony while still a graduate student.

In the summers, Kadarauch can be heard with the Classical Tahoe Festival in Nevada performing symphonic, opera, and chamber music repertoire with colleagues from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, and the Seattle Symphony. She is currently featured on the “San Francisco Symphony Plus” performances of Indian and Zimbabwean music, streaming online worldwide. 

Masterclass Location: M2