David Kadarauch, Principal Cellist of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra for the last 44 years, was born in Washington, D.C. and educated at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Vienna Academy, where he studied on a Fulbright Scholarship. A winner of the Philadelphia Orchestra Youth Auditions, Mr. Kadarauch soloed with that orchestra in 1968, and was a finalist and prize winner in the Prague International Competition for Violoncello in 1970.

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David recently retired from the position of Principal Cello with the San Francisco Ballet, a position he held for 29 years. Married with two grown children, he divides his time between Berkeley and Mendocino. Chamber music, teaching, and antiquarian books are other interests.