Biography

Theodora Primes was a protégé of the legendary pianist Adolph Baller when she received her Bachelor of Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She received her Master of Fine Arts at Cal Arts and then studied piano with John Perry at USC, harpsichord with Patricia Mabee and organ with John West and Mark Thallander.  
 

Theo has performed solo recitals, chamber music and piano concerti throughout the west and toured Italy and Croatia with the Santa Cruz Chorale. She is a colleague of the American Guild of Organists and her short film, Theo Plays Chopin pioneered twentieth century digital cinematography techniques.  

She performed in Yosemite for decades along with San Francisco opera soloists. The late composer Alfred Carlson dedicated his Toccata for Piano to her. 

Both California and the County of Los Angeles honored Theo for her benefit recitals for homeless shelters.  Theo taught music at Glendale College for 15 years and was president of UCLA’s community outreach program for the performing arts. 
 

Many of the performances on this site were recorded at her home, including complete  sonatas with ‘cellist Jerome Kessler.   The solo piano recital at the end of her site was recorded audio-only at Cal Arts.