The New Century Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1992 by cellist, Miriam Perkoff, and violist, Wieslaw Pogorzelski. The goal of the founders was to present classical music in a fresh and unique way in the San Francisco Bay Area. The music director chooses the programs and guides the artistic vision and leads the seventeen members of the orchestra as part of a conductorless orchestra. Musical decisions are made collaboratively, in the goal of enhancing the level of commitment on the part of the musicians and increasing the precision, passion and power of their playing. In addition to performing classic pieces of chamber orchestra repertoire, New Century commissions new works, revives neglected works from the past, and brings pieces from other genres such as jazz and rock into the chamber orchestra setting. New Century's mission is to bring outstanding chamber orchestra performances to Bay Area communities. They perform in intimate venues in four cities: Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Francisco and San Rafael. Former Music Directors Stuart Canin served as New Century's first Music Director from 1992 to 1999, and formerly as Concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Opera, and the Los Angeles Opera under Music Director James Conlon and General Director Plácido Domingo. He also served as Concertmaster of the New Japan Philharmonic in the 1990s, performing and touring under Seiji Ozawa and Mstislav Rostropovich. Mr. Canin was born in New York City and studied at Juilliard, where his principal teacher was Ivan Galamian. Mr. Canin won the International Paganini Competition in Genoa and the Handel Medal from the city of New York. He served as Concertmaster in Hollywood for studio orchestras, performing on such films as Schindler's List, Titanic and Forrest Gump. Mr. Canin was scheduled return to the NCCO in April 2008 to lead a program of Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, and Mozart. A native of Menlo Park, California, Krista Bennion Feeney served as New Century's Music Director and Concertmaster from 1999 to 2006. She is currently Concertmaster of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center during the summer and Co-Concertmaster of the Orchestra of St. Luke's year-round at Carnegie Hall and throughout the summer at the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, New York. Ms. Feeney has performed as a soloist with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the St. Louis Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the New York String Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Brandenburg Ensemble