Known for her expressivity and virtuosity, Ines Irawati is in demand both as a solo recitalist and a collaborative pianist. Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, she began piano and composition instruction at age six at the Yamaha Music School in Indonesia. At age 12, she made her official debut playing the third Beethoven Piano Concerto and Chopin's first concerto with the Indonesian Youth Symphony.
As a performer and a composer, Irawati has performed her own compositions all over Indonesia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. She was accepted in the Junior Original Concert, a prestigious music program where young musicians compose original works and perform them around the world. At the age of 15, she was invited to the International UNICEF Benefit in Japan, where she performed her first concerto with the Tokyo Symphony. Her work for solo flute, "Flirting Belugas", was published by the Manduca Music Publication.
Irawati was recommended by Jahja Ling, the appointed director of the San Diego Symphony, to join the prestigious Young Artists Program at Cleveland Institute of Music, and continued her undergraduate studies under the tutelage of Olga Radoslavjevich.
Irawati holds a Masters of Music degree from Yale University, where she studied with Claude Frank. As both a solo and collaborative pianist, she has been coached by such noted musicians as Emmanuel Ax, Murray Perahia, Martin Katz, Barbara Bonney, and Dawn Upshaw, Donald Weilerstein, and members of Tokyo String Quartet.
Her education also includes a summer music festival at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, where she studied vocal accompanying with Warren Jones and Marilyn Horne. She was awarded Best Accompanist by the Marilyn Horne Foundation, and was invited for a New York debut. She was invited back by the Marilyn Horne Foundation to participate in the week-long musical event presented by The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall.
She has collaborated with many chamber musicians such as Strings of the West and the Hyperion String Quartet. She has performed with Jeff Thayer, Anthony McGill, Demarre McGill, Dina Kuznetsova, and Isabel Leonard.
For the past summers, Irawati has worked as a pianist and vocal coach for the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, a summer program founded and directed by Dolora Zajick.
She is the vocal coach and collaborative piano faculty at Point Loma Nazarene University. She is a member of Aviara Trio and Five Ensemble.
Robert Schumitzky, originally from St Louis, Missouri is a member of the First Violin Section of the Pacific Symphony and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. He is a regular substitute with the San Diego Symphony and currently holds the position of Concertmaster with the Segerstrom Center Broadway Dance series in Costa Mesa, California. He served as the Associate Concertmaster of both the Opera Pacific Orchestra and San Diego Chamber Orchestra. Prior to his move to California, Schumitzky performed with the Saint Louis Symphony for four years preceded by two years with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (Ohio).
Mr. Schumitzky is an active chamber musician and has performed on San Diego's Art of Élan series, Camarada, High Desert Chamber Music, and La Jolla's Athenaeum series. With his wife, Erin Breene, and pianist, Ines Irawati, they have formed "Aviara Trio" and have performed on the chamber music series at Point Loma Nazarene University's Crill Hall, Rancho Bernardo Chamber Music Series, Concerts at the Merc in Temecula, Encinitas By-the-Sea Soirée, and the San Diego City Library Series.
As soloist, Schumitzky performed the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra as a "Young Artist" competition winner and more recently Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the San Diego Chamber Orchestra. During his tenure in Saint Louis, Schumitzky performed national and international tours under the direction of Leonard Slatkin and Raymond Leppard and recorded the complete cycle of Samuel Barber works. In March 2006, Mr Schumitzky joined the Pacific Symphony on its first European tour performing in many of the world's great concert halls. During the summer of 2015, Mr Schumitzky was invited to participate in the Sunflower Music Festival in Topeka, Kansas where he was involved with orchestra and chamber music performances. Music Director, Andres Cardenes, has invited him back for the festival's 30th Anniversary season in 2016.
Schumitzky began studying the violin at the age of 7 and continued his studies at the Saint Louis Conservatory of Music where he was accepted as a Special Student at the age of 11. He received a citation for Outstanding Musicianship and continued his studies with Sally Thomas and Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School where he received his BM degree. His Master Class performances include those of Henryk Szeryng, Josef Gingold, Alexander Schneider, and Szymon Goldberg. Mr Schumitzky received his MM degree as a student of Jacques Israelievitch from the Saint Louis Conservatory.
Schumitzky performs on the "Ex-Halir" Stradivarius made in 1694. He currently resides in Newport Beach, with his wife Erin Breene and in his spare time enjoys playing Ice Hockey.
Erin Breene is in great demand as both a chamber and orchestral musician. Ms. Breene is a member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and performs with the Pacific Symphony. Also, she currently holds the position of Principal Cellist with the Segerstrom Center Broadway Dance series in Costa Mesa, California. Ms. Breene has served as Principal Cellist of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Associate Principal Cellist with the Opera Pacific Orchestra, and Principal Cellist of Music Center Dance of Los Angeles. Since moving to Southern California, Ms. Breene has been a member of the San Diego-based chamber ensemble, Camarada. She has been a frequent performer on Art of Élan, High Desert Chamber Music series, Carlsbad Music Festival, Laguna Beach Music Festival, and La Jolla's Athenaeum series. With her husband, Robert Schumitzky, and pianist, Ines Irawati, Erin performs with the Aviara Trio on many of Southern California's most prestigious chamber music series.
Ms. Breene was named a Finalist in the 2003 Concert Artist's Guild auditions with the Andros Quartet. The Juilliard School selected the quartet to represent the graduating class at their 2003 commencement ceremony. As a member of the Basmati Quartet, she was the Grand Prize winner at the Coleman National Chamber Music Competition, and Second Prize winner at the 1999 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. In the summer of 1999, the quartet was chosen as the "Quartet in-residence" at Yellow Barn. During the summer months of 2000 and 2001, Erin attended Tanglewood where she had the opportunity to perform both orchestral and chamber music, and in the summer of 2002, she was a Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival. More recently, during the summer of 2015, Ms. Breene was invited to participate in the Sunflower Music Festival in Topeka, Kansas where she was involved with orchestra and chamber music performances. Music Director, Andres Cardenes, has invited her back for the festival's 30th Anniversary season in 2016.
Ms. Breene has served as Principal Cellist of the Juilliard Symphony and Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, the Aspen Sinfonia, and Rice University's Shepherd School symphony where she received her BM degree under Paul Katz. Ms. Breene received her MM degree as a student of Timothy Eddy at the Juilliard School.
Ms. Breene performs on a modern cello, made in 2006, by the Los Angeles maker "Michael Fischer". In her spare time she enjoys hiking, reading, hot yoga, fine wine, her three cats, and visiting her parents on their farm in rural Wisconsin.