Cellist Jonathan Koh has established himself as one of the most exciting musical entrepreneurs and teachers of this generation. An active soloist, ensemble musician, clinician, and administrator, Jonathan has already laid claim to several ground breaking musical endeavors. A passionate and dedicated teacher who is gaining international recognition, Jonathan’s students have won countless major competitions and have performed all across the globe. His students have also been featured in several media outlets throughout the world and have soloed with numerous professional orchestras.

Prior to relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area, Jonathan maintained a thriving teaching studio in Chicago and served as the primary teaching assistant to Hans Jorgen Jensen at the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, with whom he has studied with for over a decade. As an undergraduate student at Northwestern University, he taught undergraduate cello courses for non-music majors and was a teaching fellow at the National High School Music Institute.

Immediately following his undergraduate studies, Jonathan joined the San Francisco Conservatory of Music faculty as its youngest faculty hire in its school history. Soon after, Jonathan accepted an appointment to the cello faculty of the University of California at Berkeley. Jonathan’s teaching is continuously sought out by students, not only from across Northern California, but from Southern California, neighboring West Coast states, the Midwest, and Asia. Jonathan taught at the Meadowmount School of Music for four summers and he will join the Heifetz International Music Institute faculty in 2020.

Jonathan’s students have been finalists and received prizes in both national and international competitions including: International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, Irving Klein International String Competition, American String Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association, Lennox International Competition, and Mondavi National Young Artists Competition. Additionally, his students have been mentioned in Yo-Yo Ma’s biography by Jim Whiting, was chosen as a Fulbright Scholar, performed on NPR’s ‘From the Top’ radio and television show, performed on NBC’s ‘The Martha Stewart Show’, and released a commercial recording of the complete J.S. Bach Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello.

Jonathan’s extensive solo, orchestral, and chamber music experiences encompass several tours throughout the Far East, Europe, and across his native United States. At age 20, Jonathan took a position as substitute cellist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He also performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra. Jonathan has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Pinchas Zukerman, Leon Fleischer, Carter Brey, Michael Tree, Karina Canellakis, Kyung-Sun Lee, and Noah Bendix-Balgley to name a few. At age 22, Jonathan recorded his first album under the NAXOS label as the principal cellist of the New Prospect Chamber Players.

Jonathan Koh received his education at Northwestern University, enrolling in its double-degree program to integrate pre-medicine, economics, and music. He also studied at Yale University Summer Program to further his studies in the medical field. In addition to his studies, Jonathan was the managing editor for the ‘Journal of Economics Management and Strategy’ at the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Jonathan was the founder and CEO of MUSICCAS, an online application solutions company. The company worked closely with various music institutions and collaborated on a project led by the United States Department of Education.

Jonathan performs on a Andrea Guarneri cello circa 1690.

The artistry of violinist Liana Bérubé is inextricably intertwined with self-knowledge and self-compassion. Her openly expressive aesthetic, described as  “searching mastery” (Charleston Gazette-Mail), has been heard in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She is co-founder and violinist of the Delphi Trio. Concerto performances include appearances with Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Toronto, Bear Valley Music Festival Orchestra, the Oakland Symphony, the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. She has been heard on NPR, CBC, VH1, WFMT Chicago, and Dutch Radio 4, and has collaborated with artists such as Emmanuel Ax, Anthony Marwood, Elizabeth Blumenstock, the Alexander String Quartet, and Jennifer Frautschi. Concert appearances include Moab Music Festival, Chamber Music Concerts Ashland, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Orlando Festival, Artist Series of Sarasota, Kronos Festival, Morrison Artist Series, Harry Jacobs Chamber Music Society, Valley of the Moon Music Festival, the Verbier Festival, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, among others.

Liana has a passion for unusual and challenging projects that has led her in many strange and nontraditional directions. She is concertmaster of the Magik*Magik Orchestra in San Francisco, with whom she frequently records and appears live. She has recorded on two GRAMMY-nominated albums, has played in concert with Stevie Wonder, Barry Manilow, Sting, Death Cab for Cutie, Chicago, and others, and performed at the 2015 TED conference. She was concertmaster for the premiere screening of the reconstruction of Abel Gance’s 1927 landmark film, Napoleon, which drew international audiences from the film community, and she was part of the band for Pop Up Magazine. Liana frequently performs with the Hamilton National Tour.

Liana strongly believes in listening to deeper currents, intuition, subconscious, and instinct, with the goal of following the innate knowledge of one’s personal truth. She is the founder and curator of the Practice Project, a social media community dedicated to encouraging a culture of openness, honesty, and vulnerability within the classical music and wider artistic communities. Liana also brings her intuitive approach into performance, trying to understand a composer’s intent and meaning within and beyond the markings on the page. This fascination has led her to early historical recordings and late 19th century performance practice, where one often hears composers or friends of composers playing music from the now-standard repertoire. Liana is intrigued by the role of performer as composer - or composer as performer - and occasionally fills both roles herself.

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Liana Bérubé studied at the University of Toronto and in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Music Master’s degree program. Her principal teachers have included David Zafer, Lise Elson, Axel Strauss, and Annalee Patipatanakoon, and she has been mentored and substantially influenced by Mark Sokol and Henk Guittart. She is concertmaster of the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. When not playing the violin or thinking about art in general, Liana is an enthusiastic cook who loves food and annoying her two sassy cats.

Pianist Alison Lee made her unofficial recital debut at the age of two when, while waiting for a concert to start, she climbed onstage to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to scattered applause. She received her first formal lesson on her fifth birthday, and has since become a pianist and educator dedicated to sharing her love for classical music with her community.

Alison has been a featured soloist with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony and the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra. She is the top prizewinner of Coeur d’Alene Symphony’s National Young Artists Competition, Thursday Musical’s Scholarship Competition, the Dorothy van Waynen Piano Competition, Graves Piano Competition, and is the second prize winner of the Midwest International Piano Competition. Her performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio on KPBX 91.1 (Spokane Public Radio) and WOI-FM 90.1 (Iowa Public Radio).

Alison holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the University of Minnesota where she studied with Lydia Artymiw. Her previous teachers include Jon Kimura Parker at Rice University and Angela Cheng at Oberlin Conservatory, along with Hans Boepple and Jed Galant from her pre-college years. She is an alumna of various summer music festivals such as Pianofest in the Hamptons, The Banff Centre’s Piano Master Class, Aspen Music Festival and School, Seattle Piano Institute, Mänttä Music Festival, and the Castleman Quartet Program.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alison has taken advantage of live streaming and recording technology to maintain an active concert schedule. She regularly self-produces live broadcasts and pre-recorded recitals and in 2020, performed two solo recitals and seven chamber music concerts from her living room.

Aside from her career as a solo pianist, Alison is also an avid chamber musician and is a founding member of a piano trio called Ensemble 1828, which brings several different programs on tour each year. She often appears onstage with cellist Isaac Pastor-Chermak; together, the two regularly perform the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas and recently recorded and released their first album, Preludes and Prologues. Alison has also performed in recital with Charles Castleman, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Da Camera of Houston. She spends her summers as a staff pianist at the Castleman Quartet Program, and is in demand as a collaborative pianist around the Bay Area during the rest of the year.

One of Alison's main goals as a musician is to share her love for chamber music with young musicians and the community. She is currently the director of East Bay Music Foundation’s Chamber Music Festival and is on the faculty of Music at the Mission’s summer camp, Chamberfest LIVE. Her enthusiasm for chamber music stems from her experience as a string player; in her pre-college years, she played the violin as a member of California Youth Symphony. Alison currently runs a private studio in Fremont, CA and Berkeley, CA, where she teaches piano, chamber music, and music theory.

One of the most sought after and respected American violin pedagogues of the new generation, Dr. Pasha Sabouri has performed in recitals and concerts in Holland, Sweden, Austria, Germany, UK, throughout the United States, and Canada.

A passionate educator and a published author whose acclaimed book "Upbeat" guides middle and high school students and their families on the road to professional musical education and career. His students are competing and featured in such competitions and media outlets as Menuhin Competition, Sphinx Competition, Dallas Symphony’s Lynn Harrell Competition, NPR's From TheTop, winning the coveted "Jack Kent Cooke" Award, and are accepted in top conservatories – Juilliard, Colburn, New England Conservatory, Oberlin, Cleveland Institute of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and many others.

Dr. Sabouri is the founder and Artistic Director of the Texas Strings Festival, and it’s affiliate Master Series - a year-round educational initiative that provides the students with extraordinary opportunities to be guided and inspired by leading musicians of the day. Throughout the years the students of TSF have had the privilege to work with such luminaries as Miriam Fried, Vadim Gluzman, Paul Kantor, Ida Kavafian, Jan Mark Sloman, Jinjoo Cho, Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg, Robin Wilson, GrigoryKalinovsky and William Hagen. He is also the founder and leader of Teachers’ Lounge – an online teachers collective designed to support and empower his colleagues with innovative ways of teaching and studio development.

In addition to his highly successful private studio in Austin, TX, Pasha Sabouri has served as Adjunct Professor at Concordia College as well as Artistic Director at the Concordia College Music Academy in Austin, Texas. Prior to this position, he was appointed Lecturer Violin Professor at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana and has also been faculty at Encore Chamber Music Institute, Omaha Conservatory of Music Institute, the Brian Lewis Young Artist Program, and has adjudicated at Carnegie Hall NYO/2 program, Jack McGehee and UT Concerto Competitions.

Dr. Sabouri has appeared as a soloist at the opening of the Edinburgh Festival, performed with the Texas Chamber Orchestra, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Henderson Symphony, and the Ottawa Sinfonette. He was awarded the first prize at the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Competition, was named National Finalist for Music Teachers National Association, The Texas Young Artist and the Coeur D’Alene Competitions.

A member of the extraordinary River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston, Sabouri has also performed in such orchestras as the Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, Austin Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, and Aspen Chamber Symphony.

Dr. Sabouri is a graduate of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the University of Texas Butler School of Music, studying with Won-Bin Yim, Naoko Tanaka, and Brian Lewis. He has attended such festivals as IMS Prussia Cove, International Holland Music Sessions, International Sommer Akademie in Semmering, Austria, Aspen Music Festival, and London Master Classes.

His concert instrument is Johannes Cuypers made in 1793.

Violist Sarah Lee has performed with numerous orchestras, and chamber ensembles. Sarah is a member of the Monterey Symphony, the Santa Cruz Symphony, and performs with several other distinguished Californian symphonies. In addition, she performs in diverse Bay Area ensembles such as Opera Parallele, One Found Sound, and the Lucky Devils Band.

Sarah was featured as a soloist at Oxford Music Festival and has participated in other festivals, including National Repertory Orchestra, Kent Blossom Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival. She’s been Principal Viola at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Indiana University, National Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, and the Orchestra Institute of Napa Valley. She has also performed in orchestras with world-renowned classical soloists Joshua Bell, Jaime Laredo, Elmar Oliviera, and Orion Weiss.

Besides performing with classical musicians, Sarah has performed with various pop artists such as Michael Bublé, Childish Gambino, Sarah Brightman, Lights, and actor Leonard Nimoy. She performed at historic venues at Davies Symphony Hall, Hearst Greek Theater, Herbst Theater, and SF Masonic Auditorium.

Sarah is a passionate and dedicated educator. She is Suzuki certified and is faculty at Crowden Music Center Community Music Center, where she teaches group classes as well as individual lessons. Sarah is an Applied Music Faculty for violin and viola at West Valley College, and also teaches at Stuart and Convent Hall Music Conservatory. She received Suzuki training from Cathryn Lee and attended a Teacher Workshop Retreat with Mimi Zweig at Indiana University.

Sarah has a Master's of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), where she studied with Jodi Levitz as well as San Francisco Symphony members Yun-Jie Liu and Jonathan Vinocour. She received her Bachelor’s of Music degree from Indiana University under the tutelage of Stephen Wyrczynski.

Sarah is a San Francisco native and currently lives in the Bay Area. She has a private teaching studio. In her free time, she attempts to keep her plants alive and is enjoying the process.