Jessica Bejarano, Music Director & Founder
Jessica Bejarano is the Founder and Music Director of the San Francisco Philharmonic, Cover Conductor with San Francisco Symphony, Curator and Scholar in Residence with San Francisco Opera, board member of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras (ACSO) and newly appointed board member of the International Conductors’ Guild.
Jessica was featured on NBC’s The Today Show with Natalie Morales as the “Woman Breaking Barriers as a Trailblazing Symphony Conductor”. PBS News Hour Weekend also featured Jessica as an emerging female conductor and KQED named Jessica 1 of 10 artists to watch in KQED Arts’ Bay Brilliant Top 10 Artists of 2018. In 2022, Jessica was featured on ABC’s hit show, To Tell the Truth. Lil’ Libros (book company) is excited to announce that they will publish Jessica’s first bilingual children’s book and recently, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) named Jessica 1 of 100 Honorees for 2023 for her contribution to the Arts in the Bay Area, San Francisco.
In 2022 Jessica and the San Francisco Philharmonic had the extreme honor of partnering up with Remezcla and Tecate beer company to put on a unique and ground breaking performance of Urban Latino sounds meets the symphonic orchestral arena for the creation of Tecate Alta performance! That same year, San Francisco Philharmonic and Jessica were invited to perform with American legendary rock band Journey at the Chase Center Plaza in San Francisco for the Winter Wonderland Spectacular and recently a cross over performance with the San Francisco Philharmonic and legendary rapper, Andre Nickatina.
Jessica has been invited by Stanford Health Care as their Keynote Speaker for 2024 and Los Angeles Community College has also named her one of their Keynote Speakers for this year. In 2019 Jessica was the first woman in history to guest conduct the American Youth Symphony in Los Angeles. She was also the featured guest conductor and clinician at the San Diego State University’s Women in Music, Diversity and Leadership Conference. In January 2018, she was one of twelve female conductors selected from around the world to attend and conduct at the International Women’s Conference in New York City. During that same time Jessica was the resident conductor of the University of California Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, Jessica was the guest conductor of the Kansas All State Orchestra, leading a 200-piece student orchestra through rehearsals and performance.
Jessica has guest conducted the Classical Symphony in St. Petersburg Russia; Urbino Summer Orchestra in Urbino, Italy: Philharmonie Orchestra “Mihail Jora” Bacau, Romania; Ruse National Philharmonic, Ruse, Bulgaria; Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Republic; Antonio Soler Orquestra, San Lorenzo de Escorial, Spain; Falcon Symphony Orchestra, Falcon, Venezuela and various orchestras throughout the United States. She has also held many conducting positions with various Bay Area orchestras, choirs and youth orchestras. Jessica is a motivational speaker for numerous arts organizations, companies and schools.
Jessica received her Master of Arts in Choral and Orchestral Conducting from the University of California Davis, Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Wyoming and Associates of Fine Arts in Music Education from Casper College.
Thomas Yee, Concertmaster
Thomas Yee, violinist, is an entrepreneurial musician equally comfortable in performance, pedagogy, as well as music advocacy & business.
In addition to his post as Concertmaster of the San Francisco Philharmonic, he is an Associate Concertmaster of the Monterey Symphony, and a member of Santa Rosa and Marin Symphonies, in addition to performing with many other regional orchestras.
Thomas is an experienced and dedicated violin teacher and is a certified member of the Music Teachers Association of California also known as MTAC. He teaches privately in the San Francisco Bay Area at his home studio and previously at Jou Music Institute in Cupertino. He is an alumnus of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a BM and MM in Violin Performance.
Thomas has actively toured over 10 seasons with Tango Del Cielo, an innovative ensemble with dancers. He collaborated with guitarist Jose Rodriguez as Duo Revirado for a decade, and was an ensemble member for 3 seasons in San Francisco Symphony's acclaimed Adventures in Music. He has collaborated with pianist Jieun Clare Yee, his wife, in the Yee Duo.
In 2016, Thomas founded a violin shop called Bay Fine Strings, working with master workshop, antique, and contemporary violin family instruments and bows based out in San Bruno, with a workshop in Daly City. He follows his passion and uses his musical experience to do advanced acoustical setup on instruments and bows himself or in collaboration. Through this medium he helps others find their musical voices, collaborating in performance, teaching future generations of musicians, and helping and connecting with his community all integrated with multi-media web outlets such as youtube and instagram. To follow his interests or for contact, visit www.bayfinestrings.com
Janie Hsiao, Librarian
Janie Hsiao (she/her/hers) joined the SF Philharmonic in December 2024 as a violinist and later as the librarian. After having learned a few years of piano, she started learning violin at the age of 7 from Glenn Naydan in Cupertino, CA where she grew up. In college, she was the principal second violin of San Diego State’s Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, receiving private instruction from Pei-Chun Tsai and Isaac Allen. She also performed in various theater and opera productions and chamber groups both in and outside of SDSU. Janie received a Bachelor’s in Music Education from SDSU in 2019 and a teaching credential in 2020. During her time as an undergraduate, she took on various roles in the music department, including office secretary, stage/house manager, orchestral librarian, and secretary of the SDSU CMEA chapter.
Janie has been an elementary itinerant instrumental and general music teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District since 2020. She is also a teacher leader of the SFUSD Arts Department, supporting other music teachers with inventory organization and instrument deliveries. Outside of teaching, Janie takes on the occasional live music gig, including weddings, receptions, and her friends’ music groups (including recordings). In her spare time, Janie loves to try new foods, play video games, explore the city, fiddle around with her electric violin, play music with friends, and watch her friends perform music around the Bay Area.
Board of Directors
Christina Lesicko, Member at Large
Christina Lesicko is a professional violist originally from the Midwest, but has been in San Francisco for over a decade. She has planned and performed professional chamber music for public and private events for the past 15 years, along with playing in numerous small ensembles and orchestras across the country including SF Academy Orchestra, Classical Revolution, PICA Time Based Art, Degenerate Art Ensemble, Starlight Symphony and Willamette Falls Symphony, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, and Holland America Cruise Ships. When not performing, she teaches privately in San Francisco, coaches sectionals at Golden Gate Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and is a Teaching Artist and Music Program Director for Enriching Lives Through Music (ELM). ELM is an orchestral music program whose El Sistema-inspired model recognizes that music is not only enrichment and entertainment, but that it can bring social change, shape lives, and bring opportunities to underserved youth.
Adam Karbasi, Member at Large
Adam Karbasi is an entrepreneur and devoted music enthusiast. An alumnus of the University of Maryland and Stanford, he has served as a founder and adviser across multiple ventures. A classically trained pianist, he is deeply committed to lifelong learning and to expanding his musical knowledge, skills, and connections. Beyond formal training, he immerses himself in a wide spectrum of musical styles—from classical and jazz to contemporary compositions—and thrives on collaborating with other musicians, continually exploring music as both an art form and a vehicle for human expression.
Mike Odynski, Member at Large
Mike is an oboist from Nevada who moved to San Francisco in 1996 to study with the principal oboist of the San Francisco Ballet, Bill Banovetz. After arriving, he immediately fell in love with the architecture of San Francisco and decided to go into real estate and the homeowner improvement industry as his primary business while playing the oboe for fun in his free time. Mike has played with the Redwood Symphony for 20 years and now also plays with the Mozart to Mendelsohn Orchestra. He has past marketing and promotion experience with his college orchestra and many friends and business connections in SF after having lived here for 30 years.
Murrey Nelson, Member at Large
Murrey Nelson has been a supporter and patron of the arts since early adulthood. Following a 16 year career in the fashion industry, she joined the non-profit world and was Director of Development for Chanticleer, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Berkeley Symphony, among others, until retiring in 2023. She has served on the boards of The Pearl Theatre Company (NYC), Brava!, Z Space and Golden Thread. She regularly attends the San Francisco Opera, Opera Parallele, Smuin Ballet, Berkeley Rep, and many other performances in the Bay Area. Murrey has been impressed with the high quality of SF Philharmonic performances, as well as the guest performers they attract, and has recruited several friends to join her for performances.