Kerstin allvin

harp

Kerstin Allvin has won numerous awards and competitions throughout her career as a concert harpist and has performed across the United States from Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie to the historic Carmel Mission in California.  She has frequented Japan, performing solo concerts at the prestigious Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Nogi City Hall, and for Detroit/Toyota City’s Sister City Association.  She holds degrees, honors, and performance certificates from Indiana University, University of Michigan, and post-graduate studies with Jaqueline Borot, Honorary Professor of the Paris Superior Conservatory of Music. Voted “Best Classical Instrumentalist” by the Detroit Music Awards, she is President of High Heel Records, Inc., producing and recording digital music for Internet and CD release nationally. She is adjunct faculty at California State University, Sacramento, and is lecturer in harp at the University of California, Davis.

William Barbini

violin/viola

William Barbini has been regarded as one of the most prominent musicians in Sacramento since his arrival with his equally talented wife, Kineko Okumura. A graduate of The Juilliard School, William then served in the first violin section of the New York Philharmonic, prior to his recruitment as the Concertmaster of the Sacramento Symphony. Additionally, he served as concertmaster of and frequent soloist with the Monterey Symphony, S.F. Chamber Orchestra, and Pacific Symphony. 

A former member of the faculty of the CSUS and current member of  the S.F. Conservatory, he is also committed to the development of young musicians, many of whom have won national competitions and attended the top music institutions across the US and Europe. Mr. Barbini is currently the Music Director for the Davis Young Artists Chamber Ensemble.

Aileen Chanco

piano

Aileen Chanco has been recognized for her “intense virtuosity” and “commanding presence” (Musicweb-International and the Santa Cruz Sentinel) and described by the Mercury News as “steeped in expressiveness and tastefulness to the core!” She made her solo concerto debut with the San Francisco Symphony at thirteen, followed by appearances with the Boston Pops and solo performances with orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, and the Philippines.

Ms. Chanco received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Music from The Juilliard School under Herbert Stessin. She attended the Aspen Summer Music Festival, the Banff Centre Resident Artist Program, the Moscow Conservatory in America Festival, and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. She grew up in Fremont, CA. After moving back to the Bay Area, she founded Music at the Mission, where she serves as Artistic and General Director.

Thomas Derthick

bass

Thomas Derthick is currently Principal Bassist of the Sacramento Philharmonic, Opera, Ballet and Choral Society, as well as the Cabrillo Festival, America’s foremost Contemporary Music Festival. He frequently performs with the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento and has recorded and toured with the Empyrean Ensemble. Other performances include the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Diego Symphony and Oregon Symphony, as well as recording work and Broadway shows.  Three decades of service to his fellow professional musicians culminated in Tom’s election as Vice President of the Professional Musicians of Central California, AFM Local 12.

Jordan Farber

bassoon

An active performer, bassoonist Jordan Farber has appeared on stages around the world. Jordan is currently the principal bassoon of the Sacramento Philharmonic/Opera. A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, he began his studies on the bassoon with Janis McKay while in high school. Now based in Los Angeles, Jordan received his Bachelor of Music from The Colburn Conservatory, where he studied with Richard Beene. 

Julie Hochman

cello

Cellist Julie Hochman has been teaching and performing in many venues since obtaining a Masters of Music degree at Indiana University in 1983. For her six years as a  member of the Hawthorne Trio, then Quartet, she performed in the mid-western United States,  in Canada and in Spain.  Ms. Hochman has been especially devoted to teaching young cellists and has held instructorships at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Lawrence University, the String Academy of Wisconsin, and the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View, California. Currently she performs with the California Baroque Ensemble and various area groups, and maintains a busy cello studio of twenty students.

Robert Howard

cello

A native of Atlanta, GA, Robert Howard began studying cello at age 12. Graduate of Rice University and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has studied and performed at festivals such as Tanglewood, Spoleto, Verbier, the Accademia Chigiana, and the Sandor Vegh Academy in Prague. Robert won first prize in the Rome Festival Competition and has received grants from the Maggini and Virtu Foundations. He has performed with American Bach Soloists, New Century Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque, SF Opera and Ballet Orchestras, as well as the San Francisco Symphony.

A passionate teacher, he co-directs the KICF festival and academy in Kenya.  He has coached at San Francisco Conservatory, Stanford University, San Jose State University, San Francisco State University, and is a guest lecturer at Kabarak University, Kenya.

Mathew Krejci

flute

Flutist Mathew Krejci is Principal Flute of the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and recently retired from the University of the Pacific.  For 36 years, Mr. Krejci has been Principal Flute of the Bear Valley Music Festival. He has appeared at Bear Valley as soloist on the Bach Suite in b minor and the Concerto for Flute and Harp by Mozart, the Ibert Concerto for Flute, and the Honegger Concerto da Camera.  In 2021, he performed Arthur Foote’s A Night Piece there.  In the last few years , he has performed in Beijing, Shanghai, Prague, Bratislava, Panama and Abruzzo and Viterbo, Italy and at the Madrid Conservatory of Music.

Ann Lavin

clarinet

Ann Lavin, clarinetist, performs with the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and other Bay Area orchestras. Lavin was principal clarinet for many years with both the Sarasota Opera and the Utah Festival of Opera. She maintains an active teaching studio in Davis and has coached many youth orchestras in the greater Bay Area. She has toured and performed in Hong Kong, Israel, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Vienna, and played two summers at the Italian Spoleto Festival Due Mondi.

Eileen Moon

cello

Eileen Moon joined the cello section of the New York Philharmonic in 1998, and in 2007 was named Associate Principal Cello, The Paul and Diane Guenther Chair. Born and raised in Los Altos, California, she studied piano and cello, eventually continuing her cello studies with Irene Sharp in the Pre-College Division of the San Francisco Conservatory.

Phil Myers

horn

Philip Myers joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal French Horn in January 1980, and made his solo debut with the Orchestra that month in the premiere of William Schuman’s Three Colloquies for French Horn and Orchestra. Mr. Myers began his orchestral career in 1971 with a three-year term as principal horn of the Atlantic Symphony in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was third horn with the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1974 until 1977. As principal horn of the Minnesota Orchestra for a season and a half, he made a solo debut with that ensemble in 1979, performing Richard Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 1, Sir Neville Marriner conducting, followed by the Britten Serenade also with Marriner conducting.

A native of Elkhart, Indiana, Mr. Myers holds two degrees from Carnegie–Mellon University in Pittsburgh where he studied with Forrest Standley. He includes Myron Bloom and William Slocum as major influences. Since 1995 he has played Engelbert Schmid French horns. At the end of the 2016-2017 season, he made the decision to retire from the Philharmonic. 

Kineko Okumura

violin

Born in Tokyo, violinist Kineko Okumura was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music. Miss Okumura is also a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied with Oscar Shumsky. She is the winner of a number of grants and competitions, including the prestigious Paganini International Competition. She was a member of the New York Chamber Orchestra and Principal Second Violin with the New Jersey Symphony before moving to California. Miss Okumura appears regularly with Music Now and the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento, has been soloist with the Sacramento Symphony, as well as being featured at the Beethoven Festival, the Mozart in Monterey Festival, the Bear Valley Festival, the Brevard Festival and the Waterloo Festival.

Joseph Peterson

viola

Violist Joseph Peterson (he/him) is a performer, composer, and occasional violin maker. He received his Bachelor’s degree in viola performance from The Juilliard School, where he studied with the violist Samuel Rhodes and the composer Justin Dello Joio. During his time there, he was runner-up in the Juilliard School viola competition, performed regularly with the AXIOM and New Juilliard contemporary music ensembles, and studied chamber music with Roger Tapping, Timothy Eddy, and Fred Sherry. Recent engagements include performances with the Empyrean Ensemble, the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento, and a solo recital in Pitzer hall. Joseph is a PhD candidate in music composition & theory at the University of California, Davis. 

Madeline Prager

viola

Madeline Prager has been teaching at SFCM since 2009, and has taught collegiate and pre-college at other music conservatories since graduate school in 1977. In addition, she has played as principal violist in major German orchestra and performed chamber music in many ensembles throughout her whole career. While living in Germany she taught at the Karlsruhe Conservatory as Professor of viola. In addition to playing and teaching, Madeline enjoys hiking and climbing peaks.

Jonathan Salzedo

harpsichord

Since moving to California 30 years ago, British-born harpsichordist Jonathan Salzedo has become a popular collaborator with leading Bay Area orchestras (Jubilate, San Francisco Symphony, Monterey Symphony), choruses (Soli Deo Gloria, California Bach Society, Coro Hispano) and ensembles (Whole Noyse, Santa Cruz Chamber Players, Momsemble). With his wife Marion Rubinstein, he co-directs the Albany Consort, now in its 37th year, which tackles the entire spectrum of baroque music from duos to opera. He performs new music (Richard Worn Ensemble, Latin American Chamber Music Society) and works with innovative soloists (Karen Bentley, Viviana Guzman) creating varied programs using the harpsichord in new contexts (tango, new age). Once a maker of instruments, Jonathan still enjoys the challenges of moving harpsichords (generally single-handedly) and tuning them (he is an expert on early tuning systems).

Patricia Shands

clarinet

Clarinetist Patricia Shands has appeared to popular and critical acclaim throughout the United States, South America, and Europe. She was a featured soloist for composer Luciano Berio’s presentation of the Norton Lectures at Harvard University.In addition, Ms. Shands has been featured on NBC’s Today Show, National Public Radio’s Performance Today, and regional live broadcasts by WGBH (Boston), KXPR (Sacramento), and WVPR (Vermont Public Radio). Her recorded works are featured on the Centaur, Albany, Onossa, and Round Top labels.

Dr. Shands joined the faculty of the University of the Pacific in 1995 where she is currently Professor of Clarinet and served as Program Director of Chamber Music for 22 years in the Conservatory of Music. She currently is a member of the Trois Bois Wind Trio and the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet.

Neil Tatman

oboe

Oboist Neil Tatman comes to us from Tucson, where he joined the full-time faculty of the University of Arizona School of Music in 1999. He leads at least four lives–as teacher, as guest oboe soloist, as chamber musician, and as orchestral oboist. Most recently, in 2011 he was appointed principal oboist for the Reno Philharmonic. He performed as principal oboist for the Sacramento Symphony from 1978 to 1996, continues to play principal oboe for the Arizona Opera Orchestra and associate principal for the Carmel Bach Festival.

Brenda Tom Vahur

piano

Pianist Brenda Tom Vahur has distinguished herself as an artist of passion and integrity. Her diverse career reflects her versatility as a soloist as well as a chamber musician. A strong advocate of new works, Brenda is the pianist for Earplay, celebrated new music ensemble in San Francisco. Brenda has performed as soloist with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh Ballet Orchestra, I Solisti di Oakland, Fort Collins Symphony, California Symphony, and Sacramento Symphony, among others. 

Ed Wharton

viola

Ed Wharton is an active freelance violist and educator who is a member of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, Reno Philharmonic, and maintains private studios in Oakland and San Jose, in addition to serving as a coach for the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, Young People's Symphony Orchestra, and Berkeley High School. Mr. Wharton is an alumnus of the San Francisco Academy Orchestra program and The Boston Conservatory.