Now in his third season with the Marin Symphony, Kevin Fox is a GRAMMY-winning choral director who started singing in choirs at the age of eight. He holds degrees in Music with Honors and Economics from Wesleyan University, Connecticut, where he received the Lipsky Prize for outstanding scholarship in choral studies. He has studied music at Oxford University, England, and Westminster Choir College.

Mr. Fox was the Founding Artistic Director of the Pacific Boychoir Academy of California. Starting with six boys, Pacific Boychoir Academy grew to serve more than 175 boys in the San Francisco Bay Area. Taking beginning singers, Mr. Fox turned Pacific Boychoir into America’s leading boys choir, and one of the leading boys choirs of the world. Under his direction, Pacific Boychoir opened a day school for boys in grades 4-8, the only choir school for boys in the Western USA. He created a music theory program that uses innovative techniques to teach sightreading and harmony at a college level to middle school students.

Mr. Fox has prepared choirs for most of the world’s leading orchestral conductors, including Michael Tilson Thomas, Gustavo Dudamel, and Kurt Masur. He has collaborated with numerous choirs and artists including San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Kronos Quartet, Tölzer Knabenchor, Dmitri Hvorostovky, Harvard Men’s Glee Club, and cellist Zöe Keating. Mr. Fox has been on over 40 choir tours to almost all 50 states, and to six continents. He has prepared choirs for a variety of clients that include the United Nations, Yahoo! Corporation, comedian Zach Galifianakis, and America’s Got Talent.

Mr. Fox has served as the Chorus Director for the Ojai Festival, and was selected as Classical Movements’ inaugural India Choral Fellow, leading workshops, teacher training, and special clinics for classical music institutions in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai in early 2017. He has been awarded “Heritage Keeper” status from the Friends of Negro Spirituals, has served as a judge for the USA’s Harmony Sweepstakes a cappella vocal competition, and is a voting member of The Recording Academy. In the Spring of 2017, Mr. Fox was the interim conductor of the UC Davis University Chorus.

Mr. Fox conducted the Pacific Boychoir in thousands of concerts around the world in repertoire that ranges from classical to pop music. With the San Francisco Symphony, Pacific Boychoir is on the GRAMMY-award winning recordings of Mahler’s Third Symphony (Best Classical Album, 2003), and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony (Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance, 2009). Mr. Fox directed the Pacific Boychoir on eight recordings that range from American spirituals to Rachmaninoff to covers of pop songs.

As a professional countertenor, Fox has sung with the choirs of Trinity Church in New Haven, Trinity Church in Princeton, American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque Chorale, and Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys in San Francisco, where he also worked as Assistant Choirmaster.

Zachariah Spellman, Principal Tuba

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Zachariah Spellman is passionate about the tuba. He has been the principal tubist for Marin Symphony and the Golden Gate Brass since 1980, and for the San Francisco Opera Orchestra since 1977. He is also a member of the Aurio Trio, an active member of the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music program, and much, much more.

What do you like about playing with Marin Symphony?

The quality of the players in the orchestra—we really work together, and it is such a pleasurable experience working with Alasdair Neale.

How did you come to play the tuba?

My parents had other expectations for me—they wanted me to be a famous musician, a conductor or a pianist or something notable, but I knew at the age of 11 what I was going to do all my life. Why would I want to do anything else?!

What are the challenges of playing tuba?

There are so many, but it really depends on what the tuba player is asked to do. Playing high notes is a real challenge and is holding onto it for long periods of time.
(Read entire interview)

Madeleine (Maddie)Tucker, Principal Cello

(Interview from 2018-2019 Season by Lily O’Brien)

Madeleine Tucker is now in her second season as principal cellist with the Marin Symphony. Passionate about both math and music, she earned a degree in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University and a Master of Music in Cello Performance at The Julliard School. While still in school, she founded a cello ensemble called String Theory, that performed all over the country in a variety of genres, including classical, pop, jazz, electronic and more.

What do you like about playing with Marin Symphony?

The Marin Symphony is a group of spectacular human beings. The repertoire we play is the perfect mix of new and traditional. The people, both the musicians and the administration, are welcoming, genuine, and talented, and it’s such a pleasure to work with our music director Alasdair.

How did you come to play the cello—did you try any other instruments?

I started piano when I was three, and I really liked it. My sister played the violin, so she got to play chamber music with other string players, and I really wanted to do that too. So I chose the cello [at age seven] and I really enjoyed it, so I switched.

How often and for how long do you practice?

I practice between one and three hours every day. Once you get out of shape, it’s really hard to get back in shape, and I don’t want to lose it.

(Read entire interview)

Margot Golding, Principal Oboe

Season Chair Sponsor: William & Lynn Callender

Principal oboist Margot Golding joined the Marin Symphony in 1998. She spent 33 years as a commercial banking executive, while also performing with the Oakland Symphony, the California Symphony and the Fremont Symphony. Not one to slow down, she is currently a member of Echo Chamber Orchestra, and serves on the board of several high-profile, non-profit organizations.

What do you like about playing with Marin Symphony?

It’s always been a very collegial group of people, and Alasdair Neale has taken the level of the orchestra from a strong community orchestra level to a really high professional level. He is just a treasure for us and it’s a joy to play with people who are that good.

How did you come to play the oboe?

When I was in fourth grade, they gave us a list of instruments we could play in the orchestra, and oboe was on that list. I always liked to be a little different, so I started taking private lessons in fifth grade.

What are the challenges of playing oboe?

Oboe in particular has the most persnickety reed of any reed instrument. You spend an extraordinary amount of time on your reeds, because they are what make the sound of the instrument.
(Read entire interview.)

Jeremy Constant, Concertmaster

Chair Endowment: The Catherine Munson Chair
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Bio:
After winning the Grand Prize in the 1979 Du Maurier competition in Canada, Jeremy studied in New York with Ivan Galamian and then with the great violinist Itzhak Perlman before making the San Francisco Bay Area his home. He became a member of the San Francisco Symphony in 1984, with whom he continues to perform as Assistant Concertmaster. He has been Concertmaster of the Marin Symphony since 1994 and in 2000 was named Concertmaster of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony. He is a frequent soloist with the orchestra and participant in the Edgar M. Bronfman Chamber Series.

As an active soloist and chamber musician both here and abroad, Jeremy has performed on radio and television around the world. He was violinist in the San Francisco Piano Trio, and a founding member of the Navarro Trio and Navarro Quartet. He can be heard as Assistant Concertmaster on Grammy Award winning releases such as the continuing Mahler cycle by the San Francisco Symphony and can been seen on their ongoing television project Keeping Score.

Jeremy plays the ex-Heberlein Stradivarius, from the year 1700. This Stradivarius was donated to the San Francisco Symphony for his exclusive use. Residing in Oakland with his wife Sharon, Jeremy is a pilot who took over 7 years to build a plane which he currently enjoys flying.

Interview: With Principal Violist, Jenny Douglass, for Masterworks 2, 2020

How did you get started with your instrument?

Jeremy: According to my parents, when I was six, I asked for violin lessons. They found a local violin teacher who said, “Six is too young—get him piano lessons for the first year.” I played both piano and violin all through school until I went to Juilliard. By that time, I had played violin in orchestras and I knew that was what I wanted to do. I was just astonished that I could be part of this huge sound, with that great repertoire.
(Read entire interview)

Jenny Douglass, Principal Viola

Season Chair Sponsor: Steven & Sally Schroeder
Chair Endowment: The Elsie Rigney Carr Chair

Bio:
Jenny began her musical life at age four as a Suzuki violinist in Chapel Hill, NC. She was introduced to the viola at age thirteen during a summer music camp in the Berkshires and has never looked back. She earned degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Juilliard School. She is grateful to have studied with extraordinary teachers: Eugene Lehner, Louis Krasner, Felix Galimir, Robert Mann, Leon Fleisher, Lynne Ramsey, and Karen Tuttle.

Since 1999, Jenny has been the Principal Violist of the Marin Symphony, where she has appeared as featured soloist in Walton’s Viola Concerto, Bruch’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola with Richard Stoltzman, and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Jeremy Constant. Ms. Douglass is also a frequent substitute with the San Francisco Symphony. She joined the New Century Chamber Orchestra in 2010, and was featured alongside Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg in Lera Auerbach’s Sogno di Stabat Mater. She has been a regular performer with the NYC-based Orpheus Chamber Orchestra since 1992.

Jenny enjoys the challenge of balancing a busy concert schedule with an active family life. She lives in Mill Valley, CA with her husband and two sons, ages 14 and 16. She can usually be found chauffeuring, cooking, or cheering at her sons’ baseball games.

Interview: With Concertmaster, Jeremy Constant, for Masterworks 2, 2020

How did you get started with your instrument?

Jeremy: According to my parents, when I was six, I asked for violin lessons. They found a local violin teacher who said, “Six is too young—get him piano lessons for the first year.” I played both piano and violin all through school until I went to Juilliard. By that time, I had played violin in orchestras and I knew that was what I wanted to do. I was just astonished that I could be part of this huge sound, with that great repertoire.

Jenny: I started violin when I was four in a Suzuki program. I kept going with violin and started playing in youth orchestras, and it became more and more fun. I switched to viola the summer before 9th grade at a summer music camp. There were no violas there that year. It was raining, and my violin teacher said, “I will give you a violin lesson outside, or a viola lesson inside.” Basically, they needed someone to play viola that summer and I got picked. I never looked back. The viola is way better than the violin! We get all the juicy harmonies.
(Read entire interview)

Interview by Lily O’Brien
Season Chair Sponsor: Nancy Thelen Rehkopf

Robert Ryan Ashley, the Principal Bassist with the Marin Symphony since 2009, is in demand. He commutes all over the Bay Area to perform with a number of orchestras, including the Silicon Valley Symphony, the Berkeley Symphony, and the Napa Valley Symphony. He also teaches bass at UC Santa Cruz. Originally enamored of jazz, after spending a couple of summers at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, Ashley decided to seriously pursue classical music instead.

Did you ever play any instrument besides double bass?

My very first instrument was piano when I was five, and then I started playing violin in 4th grade. In 5th grade they let you pick violin or cello, so I played cello in the school orchestra. But there was a kid who played electric bass, and I just thought that was the coolest thing in the world, so that summer I asked for an electric bass for my birthday and I got one. I started taking electric bass lessons and I absolutely loved it — I couldn’t put it down, and in seventh grade I was playing acoustic bass and electric bass in the school orchestra. It wasn’t until 10th grade that I started taking double bass lessons.

What was it about the bass that grabbed you?

I always liked low frequencies. If there were something bigger and lower, I probably would have picked that.
(Read entire interview)

Interview by Lily O’Brien
Season Chair Sponsor: The Hughes Family

Oakland native Tyler Mack has always been fascinated by the sound of a symphony orchestra. He says the experience was riveting for him as a child when he attended youth concerts. His parents originally started him on piano and he later tried the cello. Eventually, he settled on percussion — specifically timpani — pitched percussion instruments also known as kettledrums. A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he plays with a variety of orchestras, including the Oakland Symphony and the Mendocino Orchestra, and has been the Principal Timpanist with the Marin Symphony since 1984.

Why did you choose percussion?

The number and variety of percussion instruments are endless, as are the techniques of playing them. I recently played a piece in which I had to pop balloons.

What attracted you to play timpani?

I wanted to play something where both hands were doing the same thing, instead of having one hand doing the bow, and the other hand doing the fingers. That led me to study the drums.
(Read entire interview)

In response to audience demand, and in an effort to reach a larger segment of the community, the Marin Symphony Association today announced that with its expansion of Pops programming Stuart Chafetz has been appointed to the new position of Principal Pops Conductor of the Marin Symphony. Maestro Alasdair Neale continues to lead the organization’s artistic production as Music Director and conductor of the Classical Masterworks Programs and the Holiday Pops concert. Mr. Chafetz will be involved in artistic planning and publicity for the Pops offerings, and will conduct both the Fall and Spring Pops concerts.

Marin Symphony Association Executive Director Tod Brody said “When the Marin Symphony decided to reach out to an even larger populace by developing a Pops series, we wanted to find just the right person to lead that effort. We’re thrilled that the answer to that quest was right here in our neighborhood. Marin County’s own Stuart Chafetz has built a huge reputation as a Pops conductor and leader throughout the U.S., and we know our audiences are going to love him and his work.”

Neale, the Marin Symphony’s Music Director since 2001, said that he is delighted to welcome Chafetz to the Marin Symphony.  “Stuart brings with him a wealth of experience in the field, and as a long-time orchestral timpanist, he knows how to work with our musicians.  I’m very much looking forward to partnering with him as the Marin Symphony continues its upward trajectory.”

Chafetz, a conductor celebrated for his dynamic and engaging podium presence, also serves as the Principal Pops Conductor of the Columbus Symphony and is increasingly in demand with orchestras across the continent. This season he will be on the podium in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Naples, Philly Pops, and Pittsburgh. Chafetz enjoys a special relationship with The Phoenix Symphony where he leads multiple programs annually. He makes his home in San Rafael with his wife Ann Krinitsky, who is the Music Director of the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Chafetz shared “I’m thrilled to become part of the Marin Symphony’s family as its first Principal Pops Conductor!  As we open the 19-20 Season with the extraordinary Cirque de la Symphonie performances, the Marin Symphony Pops will ‘fly high’ in September. Living in Marin for the last decade has been an absolute joy, and getting to work with my home town orchestra is a dream come true. I’m looking forward to seeing thousands of Marinites of all ages at the Marin Symphony Pops.”

Chafetz will be on the Podium when the Marin Symphony kicks off its 68^th season performing Cirque de la Symphonie, which brings the magic of the circus to the concert hall. Dazzling aerial flyers, acrobats, and jugglers perform on stage as the orchestra plays classical masterpieces including works by Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner.