JACK VAN GEEM
Chair, Percussion; Director, Percussion Ensemble
Jack Van Geem has been principal percussion and assistant timpanist of the San Francisco Symphony for 23 years. He has performed and recorded with the symphony as a mallet soloist, solo timpanist, snare drum soloist and featured solo percussionist. Before joining the Symphony in 1981, he performed for five years with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. He studied in Germany with Cristoph Caskel on a Hertz Fellowship and holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from California State University–Hayward, where he also taught. In addition to his work with the San Francisco Symphony, Van Geem has recorded and performed chamber music, music soundtracks and marimba and xylophone music. He recently finished recording a CD of marimba duets with Nancy Zeltsman and premiered
Island Music, a work written especially for them by Michael Tilson Thomas.
Jack Van Geem can be contacted at
jack.vangeem@sfcm.edu.
JAMES LEE WYATT, III
Timpani
James Lee Wyatt III ("Trey") joined the San Francisco Symphony in 2001 after serving as principal percussionist of the Honolulu Symphony from 1997 to 2001. He has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Britt Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, Pacific Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, the U.S. and Italian Spoleto Festivals, the Santa Fe Opera and the Sun Valley Summer Symphony. Wyatt received a B.M. from the University of Michigan and an M.M. from Temple University. His major teachers were Alan Abel, Salvatore Rabbio and Michael Udow. He has toured throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia with the San Francisco Symphony and can be heard on several of its Grammy Award-winning recordings. He has performed under the batons of Michael Tilson Thomas, Herbert Blomstedt, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Wyatt is owner of California Percussion, a source for backline and percussion instrument rentals, and TheGongShop.com, a niche website selling gongs from all over the world. He is an Artist for Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments and Sabian Cymbals.
James Lee Wyatt can be contacted at jlwyatt@sfcm.edu.
