Ray Furuta, Flute
Hailed as "The Rockstar of the Flute" (Informador de Guadalajara) Ray Furuta has been a featured artist for the Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Miami Chamber Music Society, Juilliard School, United Nations and the Mainly Mozart, Yellow Barn, Banff, Sarasota Music Festivals to name only a few.
Dr. Furuta is the Professor of Performance Practice, Music & Social Justice, and Flute at Santa Clara University and is the primary mentor for Chamber Music Silicon Valley's Emerging Artist Fellowship.
Prior to this, and for three years, he served as the hand-selected teaching assistant to the Emerson String Quartet. He has given master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory, Stanford, New York University, and Lebanese American University of Beirut, among many others.
He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Stony Brook University where he was a pupil of Carol Wincenc and the Emerson String Quartet.
Matthew Boyles, Clarinet
Clarinetist Matthew Boyles lives, performs, and educates in the San Francisco metropolitan area of California performing with a number of orchestras and chamber music groups in the North Bay region. He enjoys teaching all levels of music and is currently a site director and lead wind teaching artist at Enriching Lives through Music in San Rafael California as well as the adjunct Clarinet professor at Napa Valley College.
When he isn’t teaching, he is performing with Bay Area groups such as the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, California Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Modesto Symphony, and New Century Chamber Orchestra. Before moving to the west coast, he was an active professional clarinetist in the Philadelphia area.
Upon completing his Master’s Degree in 2011 at Temple University, he continued to perform with groups across the Northeast, including the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut, performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and as a substitute musician with the Philadelphia Orchestra. While working on his Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, he performed with various ensembles in the area including the Louisville Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra.
Banri Hoshi, Bassoon
Born and raised in San Diego, Banri Hoshi (b.1989) started studying the bassoon at age 14. Hoshi studied at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (B.M. 2011, M.M. 2013), Conservatorium van Amsterdam (M.M. 2015), and University of Denver Lamont School of Music (Performance Certificate 2018).
During his time in the Netherlands, Hoshi was a member of Intercontinental Ensemble, a professional Amsterdam-based chamber ensemble established in 2012. As an active chamber and orchestral musician, Hoshi has performed in Mexico, South Korea, Colombia, Belgium, Sweden, and other European countries in addition to the Netherlands. Hoshi won a position with the US Navy Fleet Bands in 2018, and currently serves as the bassoonist for the US Fleet Forces Band in Norfolk, Virginia. He is currently working on a new bassoon method book with Martin Kuuskmann, based on Kuuskmann's pedagogy.
His main teachers include bassoon virtuoso Martin Kuuskmann, Ronald Karten (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra), Jos de Lange (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra), Kathleen McLean, and Michael McCraw (historical bassoon). Hoshi has also received instructions from Bram van Sambeek, Simon van Holen, Charles Ullery, William Ludwig, and participated in master classes by Ole Kristian Dahl, Frank Morelli, Dag Jensen, David McGill, and Kristin Wolfe Jensen.
Banri Hoshi is a Moosmann artist and plays on a Moosmann 222 CL. He currently resides in Virginia Beach with his wife Remi, and their two rescue dogs, Edmund and Sally.
Joel Pattinson, Violin and Viola
Joel Pattinson is a two-time graduate of the University of Wyoming with a BA and an MM in Violin Performance with specialties in String Pedagogy, Renaissance and Baroque Theory, and Baroque and Classical Performance Practice.
His teachers included Brian Hanly, Javier Pinell, Sherry Sinift, Roy Malan and Neil Weintrob. In that time, he has participated in master-classes with the Lark and Emerson String Quartets.
In addition to performing with the Fort Collins and Cheyenne Symphony Orchestras, Joel was concertmaster of the UW Symphony and Chamber Orchestras and a finalist in the Dorothy Jacoby Concerto Competition.
Mr. Pattinson taught for the University of Wyoming String Project and String Academy (modeled after Indiana University's pedagogy programs) under master teachers Sherry Sinift and Jim Przygocki. A founding member of the Vedauwoo String Quartet Joel also led concerts with the Silver Bay Chamber Group of New York. Joel continues to serve as Concertmaster, soloist, section principle and chamber musician with many ensembles in California. A frequent soloist with choirs like Resounding Achord and the CCDA, Joel has also performed with vocalists like Sarah Brightman, Josh Groban, and Il Volo. He is the founder and director of the South Bay String Academy located in Sunnyvale, CA.
Motoko Toba, Violin
Motoko Toba graduated from the Julliard School with a Bachelor's degree in violin, and completed her Master’s degree in performance at Yale University. She continued her studies as a full scholarship student of Zakhar Bron at Reina Sofía in Madrid. She was the sole recipient of the Spanish Foreign Affairs Scholarship, as well as the Isaac Albeniz Foundation Scholarship. While a student at Reina Sofía, she was selected to perform with Zubin Mehta as a soloist.
She has also performed in many masterclasses, including those taught by Isaac Stern and Menahem Pressler. Professor Toba has attended various music festivals throughout the world in the US, Europe and Japan. Her current and former students have won many local competitions and perform in youth orchestras throughout the Bay Area.
Professor Toba is currently a member of Symphony Silicon Valley and an adjunct professor of violin at Santa Clara University.
Jill Van Gee, Viola
Jill Van Gee is the Assistant Principal Violist of the Santa Cruz Symphony, a member of the Oakland Symphony and the Austin Symphony Orchestra, and a former member of the San Antonio Symphony. She was Principal Violist with the Juilliard Orchestra for a summer residency in Spoleto, Italy, and has played with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Fort Worth Symphony.
Ms. Van Gee can frequently be heard as a chamber musician with the Altea Piano Quartet and the Yosemite Chamber Collective. A long-time contributor to the Crested Butte Music Festival, she has also performed with the Midsummer Mozart Festival, the Mendocino Music Festival and the Victoria Bach Festival. As a collaborator with the avant-garde ballet company La La La Human Steps, Ms. Van Gee toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and North America, and recorded original music by David Lang and Gavin Bryars. A winner of the 2006 Canadian Music Competition, she was privileged to perform at the International Viola Congress.
Ms. Van Gee holds a Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School, a Master of Music from Université de Montréal, and enjoys working with the next generation of young musicians through her private studio in the South Bay.
Ji-Hee Kim, Cello
Internationally acclaimed cellist Ji-Hee Kim has been a featured artist in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, Seoul Arts Center, and Kumho Arts Center in Seoul. Her concert tours have taken her across the United States, Canada, Brazil, Korea, Prague, Vienna, Portugal and South Korea as both a performer and masterclass clinician.
A member of the teaching faculty at the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music and founder of Bay Area Cello, her teaching method emphasizes a strong technical foundation to achieve freedom of expression in bringing music to life. Beginning with the fundamentals of proper posture, breathing, and fluidity of motion, she equips the students with the necessary skills to be able to think and play on their own as independent young musicians and emerging artists. Through patience and focused coaching, she guides students to reach their highest potential by instilling a strong work ethic, attention to detail, and perseverance.
Many of her students have gone on as prize winners and finalists in both national and international competition, including the US Open Music Competition, the Korea Times, Pacific Music Society, MTNA, Mondavi Young Artist, and Stulberg International.
Ms. Kim holds a B.A. from the Juilliard School and a M.M and Artist Diploma from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music.
Kevin Yu, Cello
Cellist Kevin Yu maintains two large private studios in Palo Alto and San Francisco. He is proud to be a mentor to many bright young cellists from ages 5 to 18 as well as adult students. He previously taught at the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View and as a teaching assistant to his own teacher of many years, Irene Sharp.
A native of Palo Alto, he graduated with degrees in Music and Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. After college, he took lessons with Gary Hoffman while traveling extensively throughout Europe and Asia with his cello.
Kevin has performed in many countries including France, Germany, Sweden, and most recently Taiwan. Outside of music, Kevin enjoys traveling to new places and walking his two dogs.
Frédéric Rosselet, Cello
Cellist Frédéric Rosselet performs regularly in the Bay Area with local ensembles such as the American Bach Soloists and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. He is a founding member of the Costanoan Trio, which delves into music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries on original instruments. He has made appearances in several music festivals, notably Yellow Barn (Vermont), Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Carmel Bach Festival, and the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival (Los Angeles).
Dr. Rosselet studied at the Conservatory of Lausanne (Switzerland), the Hochschule für Musik in Basel and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, then obtained his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California. He has mainly benefited from the teachings of cellists Ralph Kirshbaum, Rafael Rosenfeld, David Geringas and Bill Skeen.
He currently lives in San Francisco and is on faculty at Santa Clara University.
Nicholas Dold, Piano
Pianist Nicholas Dold has an active career performing regularly across the United States. He has been a featured artist for National Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, the Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC), Chamber Music Silicon Valley, the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, the Orchestral Institute of Napa Valley, and the University of Alaska – Fairbanks.
A committed educator, Professor Dold currently serves on the piano and collaborative piano faculty at Santa Clara University and the Tateuchi Institute of Music. He has held a concurrent appointment to the collaborative piano staff of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 2013.
He received his graduate and undergraduate degrees in piano performance at Indiana University. Visit www.nicholasdold.com for more information.
Sun Ha Yoon, Piano
A native of Seoul, Korea, Sun Ha Yoon is currently a pianist and principal opera coach on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Prior to that, she was a staff pianist for San Francisco Opera where she completed the prestigious Adler Fellowship. While there, she worked on numerous productions including The Magic Flute, La Boheme, La Cenerentola, Tosca, La Traviata, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Cosi fan Tutti, and the world premiere of Nolan Gasser’s The Secret Garden.
An active performer, Dr. Yoon has made several concert appearances both nationally and abroad including the Seoul Arts Center in Korea, San Francisco Performances Series, Aspen Music Festival, Siena Music Festival, Schwabacher Debut Recitals, and most notably, in Carnegie Hall as part of Marilyn Horne’s The Song Continues Recital Series.
Dr. Yoon holds a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School and completed her Doctor of Musical Arts in collaborative piano at the University of Maryland at College Park.
Frank Jenkins, Music Theory and Musicianship
Frank Jenkins grew up in Atlanta, GA and began studying cello in the second grade. He received his BM in Cello Performance from The Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD studying with Alan Stepansky. In 2002 Frank moved to Chicago, IL to study with Hans Jensen and earned his MM in Cello Performance and Pedagogy. Frank later moved to Austin, TX to pursue his DMA in Cello Performance at UT with Bion Tsang.
Frank has been a tenured member of the Austin Symphony section since 2014. He currently works full time as the Austin Symphony’s Education and Community Engagement Manager while maintaining a full teaching and performing schedule. He has held prior Music Theory and Musicianship faculty positions at the Academy of Music in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Northwestern University Music Academy.
In his free time, Frank enjoys distance running and volunteering with his rescue dog Birdie through Divine Canines, a local pet therapy nonprofit.