Summer Music Academy 2025

Robert Bowman has played bass professionally for over ten years. After graduating from California State University Northridge with a Bachelors of Music in Jazz Studies, Robert moved to Sonoma County to pursue performance as well as begin his career as an educator. Robert Bowman is involved with several working bands all around Sonoma and Napa counties. He is currently on faculty at St. Vincent de Paul High School where he serves as Art Dept. Chair as well as Band Director, Simply Strings and Summer Music Academy. While his degree is in Jazz, Robert is proficient in a variety of musical genres including classical, pop/ rock, bluegrass, musical theatre and many others. Robert has played all over the country and the world, recording and performing with several artists in a wide variety of musical genres.

Photo by Jurgita Mazeika

Cellist Joel Cohen has played with many musicians and organizations throughout his multifaceted career. He has played with orchestras in California, Ontario (Canada), Vienna, Boston; chamber music concerts in Vienna, Boston, southern France, Malta, Martha’s Vineyard, San Francisco. He went to university in Canada, and has also lived in France and Austria, and has toured with various ensembles throughout Europe, Japan and the U.S., as well as to South America, North Africa, Turkey and China. His first position after school was with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra. He became co-principal cellist there in 1979, and continued in that position until he moved to Vienna in 1985. He began playing with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra (under Philippe Entremont) soon after arriving in Austria, and while living there he also played regularly with the Vienna Radio Symphony, the Wiener Kammeroper, the Johann Strauss Festival Orchestra (playing annual tours to Japan) and was a member of Quartett Yggdrasil, a string quartet specializing in “Music from the music of the 20th century”. In 1997 his career brought him back to the US, landing him in Boston. While living there he played with the Boston Symphony, the National Lyric Opera, the Landmarks Orchestra and many other organizations, as well as teaching cello at the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester). In 2001 he became a founding member of Quartet San Francisco, a string quartet playing modern genres, including jazz and tango. This group won Grammy nominations for “Best Classical Crossover CD” for two consecutive productions, “Latigo” (2006) and “Whirled Chamber Music” (2007). He left the quartet in the spring of 2009. He moved back to California in the end of 2007, and has been living in Mendocino County since then. Along with continuing his classical explorations as recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestra, he has also been exploring the expanding role of the cello in non-classical settings, including jazz, celtic and improvisation. He has been leading the Cello Big Band at the annual New Directions Cello Festival since 2001, and he taught at Alasdair Fraser’s Sierra Fiddle Camp from 2010-2019. Mr Cohen currently performs regularly with the Santa Rosa Symphony and with Quantum Piano Quintet.

Photo by Stephanie Winship

Daphne Gooch is a Portland-based violist whose passion for both chamber and orchestral music encompasses a wide range of repertoire, from the Baroque period to contemporary music. During her formative years as an undergraduate at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, she played with the Baroque Ensemble as well as with the New Music Ensemble while also collaborating with numerous chamber groups. She then went on to receive a Master’s in Orchestral Performance from Manhattan School of Music and an Artist Diploma from the San Francisco Academy Orchestra. A founding member of the Astraeus String Quartet, Gooch enjoyed four years with this ensemble before moving to Portland. She is currently privileged to play with the Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Opera, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Eugene Symphony, and the Santa Rosa Symphony in her Northern California hometown.

Photo by Neil and Susan Silverman

Ms. Isenberg holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music and divides her time between teaching and performance. She has diverse musical talents: she plays violin with the Santa Rosa Symphony, classical chamber ensembles, jazz combos and country swing bands.

Photo by Neil and Susan Silverman

Chris Newton is a Multi-Instrumentalist, Singer-Songwriter, Composer, Arranger, Producer, Music Teacher and has been playing music in the Bay Area for over fifteen years. Chris was first self-taught on the guitar at the age of 13 but in college, he began studying music more seriously, learning Jazz with instructors such as Tuck Andress, Randy Vincent, Brian Pardo, Gary Digman and Bennett Friedman. He received his AA in Jazz Studies from Santa Rosa Junior College and his Bachelor’s of Music from Sonoma State University. He performs both solo or with his band Mood Jungle blending elements of jazz, rock, funk and neo-soul influences.

Julio Reyes started his musical training on the classical guitar at the age of 5 and by the time he was 18, learned the cello, electric bass, and was appointed Assistant Conductor to a young Kent Nagano for the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra. He gave his guitar recital debut at the age of 12, placed 4th in an International Agustin Barrios Competition in Mexico City at age 13, and gave a 3-week concert tour of Paraguay the following year. He performed Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” with Calvin Simmons and the Oakland Symphony Orchestra as a senior in High School. Since then, he has conducted youth and adult orchestras in the US, Europe, South America, and Cuba. He conducted Prince Albert of Monaco’s private orchestra in the opera, “Fay Yen Fah” at the Monaco Opera in 2010. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in February of 2022. He has been an educator for many years and has given lectures and masterclasses on the life and music of Agustin Barrios at various conservatories of music, colleges, and guitar societies in the US and South America. He excited to be working for the education department of the Santa Rosa Symphony and teaches guitar privately.

Alex Volonts is a musician and educator in Sonoma County. He has been a member of the Santa Rosa Symphony since 2007 and is also contracted with the Monterey Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Volonts studied viola performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as the Juilliard School’s pre-college division. He began his musical studies at 5 years old as a violin student at the North Shore Suzuki Institute of Long Island, New York. Mr. Volonts has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player throughout the Bay Area. He resides in Santa Rosa with his wife and fellow accomplished musician (Tingting), and their 2 young children (Nathan and Tiana). Mr. Volonts is currently the specialty strings teacher at SunRidge Elementary in Sebastopol.

Photo by Neil and Susan Silverman

Sara Williams is an oboe/woodwind performer and music teacher at Herbert Slater Middle School and Strawberry Elementary school. She loves teaching woodwinds and working with beginners to develop solid foundational techniques on instruments. She enjoys performing in pit orchestras for musicals and playing oboe, flute, clarinet, and saxophone. As a student she performed with the Santa Rosa Symphony youth ensembles and participated in the Summer Music Academy on flute and oboe. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, playing video games, and watching scary movies.

Ms. Zimmerman holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music from the Juilliard School. While in New York, Karen played with the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera along with appearing with various chamber ensembles throughout the city. She now plays with the Santa Rosa Symphony along with other local orchestras, has an active teaching schedule and is the Librarian for the Santa Rosa Symphony.

Photo by Neil and Susan Silverman

Ryan Contreras, Education Programs Manager

Ryan C. Contreras has been working at the Santa Rosa Symphony since 2021. In his role as Education Programs Manager, he works with the education team throughout the year as well as overseeing the El Sistema inspired Simply Strings music program, and managing the annual Summer Music Academy.

Ryan has worked throughout the Bay area and Southern California as a teaching artist, freelance musician, marching instructor, and private teacher. Ryan studied at Sonoma State University, where he pursued a degree in Music with a focus on French Horn performance. At SSU, Ryan immersed himself in many musical endeavors, including orchestra, wind ensemble, brass ensembles, mariachi and opera. Moreover, his stint at the Green Music Center during an internship fueled his passion for arts administration.

A native Californian, Ryan thrives in the picturesque climate of Sonoma County, embracing every chance to enjoy the sun and outdoors. With a deep commitment to music education and community engagement, he continues to make a lasting impact, enriching the lives of young musicians.

Adrian is now in his second year of being the Performance Academy Manager.

Wendy Cilman, Director of Education

Wendy Cilman has been the Director of Education for the Santa Rosa Symphony since 2015. She was enticed to move to Santa Rosa from Oakland by Simply Strings, an El-Sistema inspired after-school program, and by the scope and range of all the twelve of the SRS Institute for Music Education programs.

In Oakland, she founded IDEA, Institute for the Development of Education in the Arts, a non-profit to connect seniors and children through the arts.

As the first Executive Director of Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, the oldest youth orchestra in California and the second-oldest in the country, she took the 100-member orchestra on four tours, three of them international. In 2009 she started the Bay Area Youth Orchestra Festival (BAYOF Hope), a benefit for homeless youth that has raised over $200,000 and is now presented by San Francisco Symphony.

As a performing cellist, her first professional gig was as section cellist for Santa Rosa Symphony, for nine years when Corrick Brown was conductor. Her primary cello instructors were Irving Klein and Michael Grebanier, and she studied chamber music with the legendary Bernard Abramowitsch and Felix Khuner. She loves teaching and has eight private students.