2026-2027 artists

Mr. Barbini began lessons with Pashkus in New York and performed concertos with orchestras there before pursuing a concert career in Europe. He toured Germany and Austria with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, culminating with a performance of the Beethoven Concerto at the Musikvereinzaal in Vienna and a solo recital on Radio Wien. After returning to New York, William entered Juilliard on full scholarship with Ivan Galamian. He met his beautiful and talented wife there, Kineko Okumura, who studied with Franco Gulli in Italy and Oscar Shumsky at Juilliard.

Mr. Barbini taught at Lehman College where he performed with John Corigliano, who also taught there. He joined the New York Philharmonic and performed with the resident Gramarcy String Quartet in collaborative performances with Pierre Boulez. Boulez also chose Mr. Barbini to perform twice as soloist with the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Barbini was also concertmaster for various orchestras conducted by Jerry Schwartz.

Mr. Barbini came to California where he served as concertmaster of the Sacramento Symphony, North State Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and the Monterey Symphony. He performed nearly all of the major concertos with these orchestras. Other solo performances include those with theSan Francisco Ballet Orchestra, Cleveland Philharmonic, Lancaster Symphony,and Bear Valley Orchestra where he was concertmaster.

His many chamber performances include esteemed players Yoshi Nagai, John Nakamatsu, Susan Star, The Diaz Brothers, Roy Milan, Jerome Lowenthal, and Rachel Barton Pine. He was also invited to serve as guest concertmaster with Minneapolis Symphony, Columbus Symphony, and Montreal Symphony.

Mr. Barbini has been repeatedly invited to teach and perform at International Music Festivals in Italy and Mexico. He has also served as a judge for International Competitions in Texas and California. His students have won 1 st Place in International competitions in New York, Japan, and California.

Tom recently retired after two terms as President of the Professional Musicians of Central California, American Federation of Musicians, Local 12. Through the pandemic he negotiated numerous symphony and theater contracts and safety protocols, and helped secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic relief monies, pandemic unemployment assistance, and other pandemic grant monies for his professional colleagues.

Tom retired as Adjunct Professor of Double Bass at Sacramento State in 2025 after 43 years, and as Associate Professor of Practice in Double Bass at the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music faculty in 2023 after 35 years. At Pacific he served as Division Director for two different Conservatory Divisions, Strings and Chamber Music. He was a faculty member at UC Davis from 1982-2017.

Tom was Music Director for the Pacific Youth Symphony for twenty years (2000-2020), and has guest conducted extensively including the Sacramento Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento (Naxos recording with David Tanenbaum, Guitar), the Orchestras of Sacramento State and Pacific Conservatory, and numerous youth and high school honor groups.

Mr. Hong’s visionary approach to arts education makes him a sought-after clinician and Artist-in-Residence, and his celebrated TEDx talk “Transform Yourself Into a Performer” showcased his ability to inspire excellence in everyone. In addition to his musical talents, Mr. Hong is an internationally renowned speaker and host whose message of artistry, tolerance, and service knits communities together in a spirit of common humanity. He delighted millions around the world as a winning baker on the Netflix series “Nailed It!” and as a guest on the viral YouTube video series “5 Levels of Difficulty” with Jacob Collier and Herbie Hancock. Most recently, Alpin has focused his efforts in the advancement space, building and channeling goodwill in service to community empowerment and leadership development for institutions such as the Council of Korean Americans and the Holmes Junior High Band & Choir Boosters. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School.

Kineko appears regularly with the Chamber Music Society where she has performed with international artists John Nakamatzu, Yoshi Nagai, Rachel Barton Pine, and Susan Starr. She has performed frequently with Music Now, Festival San Miguel Allende, Mozart in Monterey, Waterloo and Beethoven Festivals. She has appeared in recitals in Boston, New York, Tokyo, and Italy. Her solo concerto performances with the Brevard Festival Orchestra and Cleveland Philharmonic met with great praise. Kineko Okumura teaches privately and is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.