As the renowned Klein String Competition enters its 40th year, its Arts Champion award will be given to another giant in music education: Susan Bates, the founder of Young Chamber Musicians (YCM). The award will be bestowed at the Klein Competition gala on Sept. 20 at Noe Valley Ministry.
YCM, a 17-year-old organization, offers advanced chamber music instruction and performance opportunities to string players and pianists ages 14-19. Preparing them for professional careers while also fostering love for music, the program arranges more than 20 free public events per year, including master classes and student performances in partnership with Patricia Kristof Moy’s Music at Kohl Mansion.
A Santa Clara native, Bates was a member of the violin section at the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra for over 30 years. She also has taught at San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Chamber Music Program (1983-2000), SFCM’s Pre-Collegiate Division (1982-2019), and at various summer workshops and festival academies. As a chamber musician, she was for seven years the violist of San Jose State’s faculty ensemble and the San Jose String Quartet, which gave the premiere of Lou Harrison’s Quartet Set (1978). Bates also recorded Harrison's Threnody for Carlos Chavez for Solo Viola (1979) with Gamelan Sekar Kembar for CRI.
The educator wrote of her career, “There’s a good reason why the study of chamber music is an essential part of college and conservatory curricula and the focus of major summer institutes around the world. For a young musician, chamber music is a perfect recipe for technical, musical, and personal growth."
The YCM program trains about 30 musicians per year, with 10-12 graduating each year. If its success were to be judged on competition wins, then YCM has done very well: in 2019 the Fervida Trio (Karina Tseng, Sean Mori, and Angeline Kang) won a Gold Medal at both the Pasadena Chamber Music Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (Jr Division), the largest chamber music competition in the U.S.
Since then, YCM groups have taken gold medals at The Fischoff in 2021 (the Aveta Trio: Sara Yuan, Eunseo Oh, Elliott Kim) and 2025 (the Aves Trio: Jacob Rockower, Euisun Hong, Huisun Hong, a group that also won a gold medal at the 2024 Coltman Chamber Music Competition in Austin, Texas.)
"I am honored to be recognized by The Klein, chosen by so many who have also contributed much to the benefit of musical arts in the San Francisco Bay Area," Bates said. “I’m also delighted to introduce the Klein audience to the Aves Trio who will perform at the Gala. My recognition and their appearance at the Gala will significantly broaden the awareness of the general public to chamber music education and spotlight the quality and dedication of these high school musicians.”
In case you want to see these musicians in performance, the full 2025-2026 calendar of YCM musical events is here.
