Candace Guirao is principal second violin of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, under music director Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. She was a founding member of the Clavion Piano Quartet and the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and has performed extensively with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, San Jose Symphony, San Francisco Theater Orchestras and Skywalker Sound Orchestra.

She was concertmaster of Baz Luhrmann's production and Broadway Cast CD of Puccini's "La Boheme." She has served as guest concertmaster with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia in La Coruña, Spain, and as assistant principal second violin of the Santa Rosa Symphony. She has performed with the Mark Morris dance company, and toured Japan with the Henry Mancini and Percy Faith orchestras. Ms. Guirao attended the Oberlin Conservatory and the San Francisco Conservatory, where she studied with Isadore Tinkleman, and has attended the music festivals at Aspen and Tanglewood, and the New York String Seminar under Alexander Schneider. She can be heard on recordings with the grammy nominated New Century Chamber Orchestra on the New Albion, D'Note, and NSS Music labels.

Ms. Guirao has performed in every primary school in the San Francisco Unified School District, as part of the San Francisco Symphony's Adventures in Music Program for numerous seasons. She has also played for the New Century Chamber Orchestra's educational outreach programs in Marin County schools. Ms. Guirao has taught at the California State University, Stanislaus, coaches chamber music at Lick Wilmerding high school in San Francisco, and served on the faculty of Schools of the Sacred Heart and the San Francisco Day School. Ms. Guirao maintains an active teaching studio in San Francisco.