Described as ‘Incandescent... a masterly display of skill and insight... as an apologist for contemporary music-making, you would search hard to find this young clarinettist's equal’ (The Age), clarinettist Ashley William Smith has performed as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout Australia, USA Europe and Asia. He is a laureate of several the industry’s most prestigious prizes including the Music Council of Australia Freedman Fellowship, an ABC Symphony International Young Performer Award, and a Churchill Fellowship. Learn more.

Known for her “bold and dramatically characterized playing” (Dallas Morning News), Julietta Curenton has established herself as a leading flute soloist, chamber musician, professor and clinician. Curenton can also be heard on the groundbreaking Grammy nominated jazz album of Miguel Zenon entitled “Alma Adentro” as well as Esperanza Spalding’s Grammy Award winning album “Twelve Little Spells” and the Smithsonian Folkways “Praise the Lord” album among her musical family. Julietta is an alumna of Ensemble Connect (Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute) - a ground-breaking educational program that brings music education to underserved schools and areas in New York City. Learn more.

Omar Lateef is a distinguished trumpeter, educator, and musical leader whose career bridges the worlds of classical, jazz, and commercial music. With a foundation built at two of the world’s most prestigious conservatories—The Juilliard School (B.M., 2003) and the Yale School of Music (M.M., 2005)—Lateef has spent over two decades performing at the highest levels across genres and continents. A seasoned touring artist, Lateef has shared the stage with a wide range of iconic performers including Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Jon Faddis, Kurt Elling, Kathleen Battle, Julie Andrews, and Paul Anka. Whether performing on a concert stage, leading a jazz band, or guiding students toward their artistic goals, Omar Lateef continues to shape and elevate the landscape of modern trumpet performance. Learn more.

Praised by the Seattle Times as “Simply marvelous” and Taiwan’s Liberty Times for “astonishingly capturing the spirit of the music,” violinist Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. Spotlighted as the cover story of Monterey County Weekly in September of 2023 and Marie Claire Taiwan’s 2004 September issue “Young Power”, Cindy has been featured as a soloist with orchestras such as the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Russian State Symphony Orchestra. Learn more.

Nick Platoff harnesses the power of music to deliver compounding benefit to the world. He enjoys a multi-faceted career as a trombonist, composer/producer, singer, educator, conductor, and concert producer. Nick joined the Houston Symphony Orchestra as Principal Trombone in September 2024, and will join the faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University as Associate Professor of Trombone in September 2025. He previously performed for eight seasons as Associate Principal Trombone of the San Francisco Symphony, where he was appointed by Michael Tilson Thomas at age 23. Learn more.

Paolo Bordignon is harpsichordist of the New York Philharmonic and organist and choirmaster of St. Bartholomew’s Church, Park Avenue. Recent appearances include concerti with The Philadelphia Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra, and performances with Camerata Pacifica, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Company, and The Knights, among others. Learn more.

California-based cellist Evan Kahn has been praised as “a cellist deserved of serious listening” for bringing his “electrifying … nuanced and colorful” style to all of his collaborations, from concerti to chamber music to contemporary performances. He has commissioned and premiered over 60 works by composers from around the world, including his father’s Cello Concerto. Evan holds principal positions in New Century Chamber Orchestra, Opera San Jose, and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. Dedicated to the orchestral craft, he has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, LA Opera, San Francisco Symphony, and was previously principal cellist of the San Francisco Opera. Learn more.

Violinist Jennifer Choi has charted a career that breaks through the conventional boundaries of solo violin, chamber music, and the art of improvisation. One of the most sought-after violinists by prominent composers of today, she has been hailed multiple times by The New York Times as a "soulful, compelling...excellent violinist," and by Time Out New York as "passionate," and "adventurous."  Since giving her recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall in 2000, Jennifer has performed regularly in venues far and wide, including the Stone NYC, Roulette, WQXR's Cafe Concerts, LPR, the Library of Congress in Washington D. C., RAI National Radio in Rome, and Cite de la Musique in Paris. Learn more.

Sohrab Bazargannia is an active freelance musician who performs with many of Northern California’s major arts organizations such as the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, California Symphony, Marin Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Monterey Symphony, and Santa Cruz Symphony. Having performed in the premieres of countless symphonic, chamber, and wind ensemble repertoire, he has collaborated and premiered works by composers such as Mason Bates, Julia Wolfe, Jimmy Lopez, and Martin Rokeach. Sohrab is an alumnus of Diablo Valley College where he studied with Ken Bergmann and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied with Jack Van Geem, Jake Nissly, Trey Wyatt, and Ed Stephan.

Since giving her Carnegie Hall debut in 1994, Angela Lee’s “amazing finesse, control and coloration” [San Francisco Chronicle] and “astonishingly rich tone” [San Francisco Examiner] has been celebrated with recitals in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and Victor Borge Hall at Scandinavia House in New York, Chicago’s Cultural Center, The Phillip’s Collection and Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Copenhagen’s Nationalmuseet and the Purcell Room at South Bank Centre in London. Using music to foster peace and goodwill, Angela Lee has made numerous humanitarian trips to the Republic of the Philippines and the former Yugoslavia. While on a U.N.-sanctioned tour of six war-torn cities throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina, she performed for American and NATO troops and displaced civilians. Learn more.

Taiwanese-American violist Jessica Chang leads a versatile career as a chamber musician and educator. She is the founder and director of Chamber Music by the Bay, which brings concerts to pre K-12 schools, libraries, and communities in the San Francisco Bay Area each year. Her work as a teaching artist has led to concert residencies with Project 440, the Savannah Music Festival, and Music from Angel Fire. Festival appearances include Festival Mozaic, Bard Music West, the Perlman Workshop, Aspen, Verbier, Tanglewood, Taos, Prussia Cove, Juneau Jazz and Classics, Music from Angel Fire, and the Savannah Music Festival. Learn more.

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Irene Herrmann has been a part of the Santa Cruz music community as a pianist, cellist, mandolinist and all-around music teacher. Starting around 1975, she played and documented the rich traditional Italian mandolin repertoire that so many Italian immigrants brought to this area during a long period of immigration starting around 1920. 

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Our mission is to use the power of music to connect with our audience, to express our shared experiences and emotions and to offer a source of solace and joy in uncertain times. We use our art as a force for positivity and progress to promote inclusivity and mutual respect and to foster a sense of belonging and community through the universal language of music.

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