Mario Guarneri • Jon Herbst •  Jan McCulloch • Jan Woo • Dominique Pelletey • Lorca Hart

Mario Guarneri, Founder and Artistic Director

Mario Guarneri is a musician who has “done it all”, from playing Dixieland jazz with Louis Armstrong at the age of thirteen to fifteen seasons with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the batons of Zubin Mehta and Carlo Maria Giulini. He has toured Europe with the Los Angeles Brass Quintet and performed with the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, Radio City Music Hall and even the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Mr. Guarneri has recorded solo albums on the Crystal and Nonesuch labels, one of which was nominated for the Prix de Rome. For a decade, Mario was the principal trumpet with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and has played on hundreds of TV and motion picture soundtracks, including solo performances on Lonesome Dove and Godfather III. He has taught trumpet for over 35 years, and is currently a trumpet instructor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Guarneri also performs regularly with his jazz quartet in the San Francisco area, and has recorded four CDs. In 1986 he developed the Buzz Extension and Resistance Piece (B.E.R.P.) for all brass instruments, a dynamic advancement in brass pedagogy. Since then, he has lectured extensively on the BERP concept. In recent years, he has presented lectures at the International Trumpet Guild, the New York Brass Conference, and numerous state and regional music conventions across the country. Guarneri has taught master classes in Asia and Europe, and has established a worldwide reputation as a creative musician of the highest level.
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Jon Herbst, Program Director

Jon Herbst is a composer, arranger, audio engineer and producer, music editor, and jazz pianist.  His film scoring credits include Academy Award-winning documentaries, independent films, PBS and cable television series, commercials, interactive media, corporate videos, and museum installations. He has also produced and engineered numerous jazz CDs. Jon has held a wide variety of technical and managerial positions in audio and video postproduction, including serving as program director of the Ohio-based NPR radio station WYSO-FM, and as a video editor and audio mixer for a number of television stations, including KPIX and KQED in San Francisco. Jon is a board member and treasurer of Richmond Youth Media Productions, a non-profit program that teaches media skills and gives voice to underserved youth in the community. A graduate of Antioch College and Berklee College of Music, Jon has taught classes in film music composition and audio production. He also teaches and consults privately at Coventry Studios, the digital recording studio he designed and built.
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Jan McCulloch, Volunteer Coordinator

Jan is a strong proponent of community volunteerism and has many years of experience collaborating with volunteers in non-profit organizations. A retired nutrition educator with University of California, Jan has worked with public and private non-profits including San Francisco General Hospital, Glide Memorial, San Francisco Unified School District, Shelter Network and many others. In addition to her work with Jazz in the Neighborhood, Jan volunteers with Project Read, Pacifica Beach Coalition, California Alpine Club, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Boys and Girls Club, all organizations that rely on the skills of committed volunteers.

Jan loves jazz and is an amateur jazz flute player. She has studied with Michael McKenzie, Charlie McCarthy, Stanford Jazz Workshop, Jazz Camp West and the California Jazz Conservatory.
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Jan Woo, Admin & Strategic Advisor

Jan, a former art librarian with degrees from U.C. Berkeley, has held positions at Columbia University, Parsons School of Design, the Brooklyn Museum, California College of the Arts, the New York Public Library, and Pacifica Radio. She recently completed a term as vice-chair of Contra Costa County Library Commission and has served on the boards of the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium, Bay Area Library and Information Network, and Kensington Symphony Orchestra.

Jan loves fiddling around when bluegrass is involved and plays a bit of jazz violin, too. She’s whiled away many hours playing the likes of Purcell and Bach on her baroque-style viola and performs more modern works in various community orchestras. Always up for the unusual, Jan was a member of the Punk Rock Orchestra and has been spotted playing jazz standards on double-guitar steel drums.
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Dominique Pelletey, Business & Development Advisor

Dominique Pelletey has wide-ranging experience in executive, management, and artistic positions both in the United States and Europe. Since moving to the Bay Area in 1998, Mr. Pelletey has been PR and Marketing Manager at the San Francisco Community Music Center, the business manager for the Del Sol String Quartet, and most recently Executive Director for the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music. He was a major force in creating SFFCM’s Musical Grant Program and SFMusic Day (the much anticipated yearly music marathon). Pelletey’s leadership and vision were recognized by Chamber Music America’s 2010 Acclaim Award to SFFCM for having “been instrumental in fostering a vibrant environment for chamber music in the Bay Area.”

Dominique began his professional career as Executive Director and Chairman of the Artistic Committee at W139, an independent artist-run organization, and later founded the multimedia arts space protonICA Amsterdam. His services have also been employed by the Dutch National Arts Foundation and the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. Besides his dedication to the service of artists and musicians, Mr. Pelletey is an accomplished artist himself. He graduated summa cum laude from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, received over 15 awards and grants, has numerous publications, has taught photography and has exhibited his photography-based work in Holland, France, Germany, Portugal, Great Britain, Canada, and the United States.
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