Biography
Members of the San Francisco Symphony
WYATT UNDERHILL joined the San Francisco Symphony as Assistant Concertmaster in 2018. He was previously assistant concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony, substitute concertmaster with the New Haven Symphony, and associate concertmaster of Symphony in C. He has won top prizes in the Irving M. Klein International Competition for Strings and the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition, and has performed as soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony, Concord Chamber Orchestra, and the Oberlin Orchestra, and in recital at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and the Gualala Arts Center in California. Founding first violinist of the award-winning Blue Hill String Quartet, he is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and the Juilliard School.
JESSIE FELLOWS is currently Assistant Principal Second Violin of the San Francisco Symphony. Prior to her appointment, she performed frequently with both the Saint Louis Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. Ms. Fellows’s summer festival appearances include engagements at Bravo! Vail, Lakes Area Music Festival, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto USA, and the Aspen Music Festival, where she was a fellow. Born into a musical family, she began her studies at the age of three under the direction of her mother in Tulsa, OK. Ms. Fellows received her bachelor’s degree from the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University and her master’s degree as a Jerome Greene Fellow at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Ida Kavafian.
MATTHEW YOUNG joined the San Francisco Symphony viola section in 2012. He was a founding member of the Verklärte Quartet, which won grand prize in the 2003 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He currently performs as a member of Ensemble San Francisco. Winner of a 2007 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Performing Musicians and the Robert Vernon Prize for Viola Performance, he attended the University of Kentucky, Yale School of Music, and Cleveland Institute of Music.
BARBARA BOGATIN joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1994. Previously she was principal cello with the Milwaukee and New Jersey symphonies and played as a substitute with the New York Philharmonic for ten years. She studied cello in the preparatory division of the San Francisco Conservatory, and received bachelor's and master's degrees from the Juilliard School. Along with her neuroscientist husband, she has led workshops on meditation and music practice at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, the Esalen Institute, Stanford University, and in Italy and South Africa. She is a proud parent of two University of California graduates.
DANIEL G. SMITH was appointed Associate Principal Bass of the San Francisco Symphony in 2017. He previously served as principal bass of the Santa Barbara Symphony, and he was a member of the San Diego Symphony. He has served as guest principal and associate principal bass with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and guest principal of the Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd, MN. Mr. Smith received his Bachelor of Music from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music under the tutelage of Timothy Pitts. br />
American tenor NICHOLAS PHAN performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies. He is also an avid recitalist and a passionate advocate for art song and vocal chamber music. His programs often examine themes of identity, highlight unfairly underrepresented voices from history, and strive to underline the relevance of music from all periods to the currents of the present day. He launched the 2021–22 season in Chicago, curating and performing in CAIC’s tenth annual Collaborative Works Festival, of which he is co-founder. In addition to his debut with the Seattle Symphony, he makes returns this season to the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony (with whom he made his debut in 2009), Philadelphia Orchestra, and Los Angeles Master Chorale. He returns to San Francisco Performances with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider for performances of Nico Muhly’s song cycle, Stranger, and he performs the world premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’s Earth with the Seattle Chamber Music Society. Mr. Phan’s most recent album, Clairières, featuring songs by Lili and Nadia Boulanger, was nominated for the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.
A native of Chandler, TX, DANIEL HAWKINS joined the San Francisco Symphony horn section in September 2017. Mr. Hawkins has performed with ensembles around the country, including the Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, and New World Symphony. Recent festival appearances include the Texas Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Round Top Music Festival, the National Repertory Orchestra, Tippet Rise Art Center, and the Lakes Area Music Festival. Mr. Hawkins transferred to Southern Methodist University in Dallas to obtain his bachelor’s degree in horn performance, studying with Gregory Hustis and Haley Hoops. He then moved to Houston to study with William VerMeulen, earning a master’s degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
Pianist JOHN WILSON has performed in many of the major halls in North America with a wide range of repertoire and ensembles. Most recently, he won first prize in the 2019 International Respighi Competition, resulting in performances as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall; first place in the American Prize Foundation 2019 Competition; and Best Performance of an American Work at the 2017 Liszt-Garrison International Piano Competition. His appearances in chamber ensembles include engagements with musicians of the San Francisco Symphony and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and he has performed in duo recital with artists such as Joshua Bell and Johannes Moser. Mr. Wilson has recorded for Naxos USA, MSR Classics, Medici.tv, and WQXR. His debut solo album will be recorded this year on the Avie Label.
For biographies of the musicians performing Antonín Dvořák’s Serenade, visit sfsymphony.encoreplus.app.
JESSIE FELLOWS is currently Assistant Principal Second Violin of the San Francisco Symphony. Prior to her appointment, she performed frequently with both the Saint Louis Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. Ms. Fellows’s summer festival appearances include engagements at Bravo! Vail, Lakes Area Music Festival, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto USA, and the Aspen Music Festival, where she was a fellow. Born into a musical family, she began her studies at the age of three under the direction of her mother in Tulsa, OK. Ms. Fellows received her bachelor’s degree from the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University and her master’s degree as a Jerome Greene Fellow at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Ida Kavafian.
MATTHEW YOUNG joined the San Francisco Symphony viola section in 2012. He was a founding member of the Verklärte Quartet, which won grand prize in the 2003 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He currently performs as a member of Ensemble San Francisco. Winner of a 2007 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Performing Musicians and the Robert Vernon Prize for Viola Performance, he attended the University of Kentucky, Yale School of Music, and Cleveland Institute of Music.
BARBARA BOGATIN joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1994. Previously she was principal cello with the Milwaukee and New Jersey symphonies and played as a substitute with the New York Philharmonic for ten years. She studied cello in the preparatory division of the San Francisco Conservatory, and received bachelor's and master's degrees from the Juilliard School. Along with her neuroscientist husband, she has led workshops on meditation and music practice at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, the Esalen Institute, Stanford University, and in Italy and South Africa. She is a proud parent of two University of California graduates.
DANIEL G. SMITH was appointed Associate Principal Bass of the San Francisco Symphony in 2017. He previously served as principal bass of the Santa Barbara Symphony, and he was a member of the San Diego Symphony. He has served as guest principal and associate principal bass with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and guest principal of the Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd, MN. Mr. Smith received his Bachelor of Music from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music under the tutelage of Timothy Pitts. br />
American tenor NICHOLAS PHAN performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies. He is also an avid recitalist and a passionate advocate for art song and vocal chamber music. His programs often examine themes of identity, highlight unfairly underrepresented voices from history, and strive to underline the relevance of music from all periods to the currents of the present day. He launched the 2021–22 season in Chicago, curating and performing in CAIC’s tenth annual Collaborative Works Festival, of which he is co-founder. In addition to his debut with the Seattle Symphony, he makes returns this season to the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony (with whom he made his debut in 2009), Philadelphia Orchestra, and Los Angeles Master Chorale. He returns to San Francisco Performances with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider for performances of Nico Muhly’s song cycle, Stranger, and he performs the world premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’s Earth with the Seattle Chamber Music Society. Mr. Phan’s most recent album, Clairières, featuring songs by Lili and Nadia Boulanger, was nominated for the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.
A native of Chandler, TX, DANIEL HAWKINS joined the San Francisco Symphony horn section in September 2017. Mr. Hawkins has performed with ensembles around the country, including the Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, and New World Symphony. Recent festival appearances include the Texas Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Round Top Music Festival, the National Repertory Orchestra, Tippet Rise Art Center, and the Lakes Area Music Festival. Mr. Hawkins transferred to Southern Methodist University in Dallas to obtain his bachelor’s degree in horn performance, studying with Gregory Hustis and Haley Hoops. He then moved to Houston to study with William VerMeulen, earning a master’s degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
Pianist JOHN WILSON has performed in many of the major halls in North America with a wide range of repertoire and ensembles. Most recently, he won first prize in the 2019 International Respighi Competition, resulting in performances as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall; first place in the American Prize Foundation 2019 Competition; and Best Performance of an American Work at the 2017 Liszt-Garrison International Piano Competition. His appearances in chamber ensembles include engagements with musicians of the San Francisco Symphony and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and he has performed in duo recital with artists such as Joshua Bell and Johannes Moser. Mr. Wilson has recorded for Naxos USA, MSR Classics, Medici.tv, and WQXR. His debut solo album will be recorded this year on the Avie Label.
For biographies of the musicians performing Antonín Dvořák’s Serenade, visit sfsymphony.encoreplus.app.
