Valery & Starla Breshears

Young Artist Competition Winners

Valery Breshears, age 12, 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. Additionally, Valery is coached by her accompanist, Ayke Agus. Valery has soloed 11 times with orchestra since the age of six. She has won numerous solo competitions, including winner Parnassus-San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition, Fremont Symphony Nafisa Taghioff Award, winner Livermore-Amador Symphony Concerto Competition, 1st Place California Youth Symphony Young Artist 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, 1st place Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Competition. Valery is a recipient of the 2021 Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.

Starla Breshears, age 14, began cello lessons at age 3 with Yoshie Muratani. By the age of 6 Starla started studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Pre-college Division under Jean-Michel Fonteneau. Additionally, Starla is coached by her accompanist Ayke Agus, and by cellist, Christine Walevska. Starla has soloed with 11 different orchestras since the age of six. She has won numerous solo competitions, including winner Parnassus-San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition, 1st Place ASTA State Competition, winner Palo Alto Philharmonic Concerto Movement Competition, 1st Place California Youth Symphony Young Artist Competition, 1st Place U.S. International Music Competition, 1st Place U.S. Open Music Competition, 1st Place Livermore-Amador Symphony Concerto Competition, 1st Place CAPMT-Sacramento Competition, 1st Place DVS-HNU Strings Competition, and 1st place Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Competition. Starla is the principal cellist of the SFCM Pre College Orchestra.