Craig Reiss

Craig Reiss is associate principal second violin of San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and also a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. He has been a featured soloist with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the Carmel Bach Festival, the Oakland Civic Orchestra, the Nova Vista Symphony, and the Vallejo Symphony.

He has taught chamber music at the Blackburn Music Academy in Napa and at Marin Academy and has participated in festivals at Tanglewood, Spoleto, and the Colorado Music Festival. San Francisco Classical Voice wrote recently, “Concertmaster Craig Reiss’s obbligato passages helped voices soar.”

Craig is also the director of the Eos Ensemble, an exciting chamber music group comprised mainly of members of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. The goal of the group is to present concerts of wide-ranging musical styles and instrumental combinations. Audiences throughout the Bay Area have been thrilled to experience the artistry normally reserved for the grand canvas of opera transformed to the intimacy of chamber music. The Eos Ensemble has received grants from the Music Performance Trust Fund and KIDDO! to present educational concerts in the Mill Valley schools. They also performed on the national radio broadcast “West Coast Live.” San Francisco Classical Voice said, “Every little detail was perfectly in place and meticulously balanced… They played with genuine depth and power.”

Craig plays on a violin by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, circa 1862, which is a copy of the famous “Messiah” Stradivarius.