Jessica Valeri has been a member of the San Francisco Symphony since 2008. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Valeri was a member of the Saint Louis Symphony, the Colorado Symphony, and the Grant Park Orchestra. After studying at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ms. Valeri went on to earn her Graduate degree and Performance Certificate from Northwestern University.

Ms. Valeri has participated in many recording projects including the National Brass Ensemble and a Grammy-nominated recording with the Bay Brass. She is a frequent guest with the Grand Teton Music Festival, Mainly Mozart, the Arizona Music Festival, and the Lakes Area Music Festival. Passionate about education, she is currently on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, maintaining a horn studio as well as teaching a class called Wellness for Musicians, in which she delves into the practice of yoga and various intersections with life as a musician. She served as faculty for the SFCM Precollege and horn coach for the San Francisco Youth Symphony. Ms. Valeri enjoys teaching yoga as a certified yoga instructor, practicing sketch comedy, gardening and travel.

Barbara Bogatin has been a cellist with the San Francisco Symphony since 1994. In addition to her career as a symphonic musician, she has created a curriculum on Mindfulness Meditation for Musicians where she integrates contemplative practice with music performance and instrumental practice. She has presented these seminars at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of Southern California, University of Nevada, Reno, and the Juilliard School. Along with her husband, neuroscientist Clifford Saron, she has given workshop presentations called “The Buddha, the Brain, and Bach” that explore the intersection of meditation, creativity, and neuroplasticity at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Esalen, Stanford University, Telluride Compassion Festival, and at conferences in Italy, Spain, and South Africa. 

Barbara has performed chamber music at the Lucerne Festival, Spoleto Festival, Casals Festival, Classical Tahoe, Music at Kohl Mansion, and Davies Hall Chamber Music Series. She has published articles on music in The San Francisco Chronicle, Strings Magazine, SF Classical Voice, and Senza Sordino. She holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School.

Clifford Saron, PhD is a Research Scientist at the Center for Mind and Brain and MIND Institute at the University of California at Davis. He received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1999. Dr. Saron has had a long-standing interest in the effects of contemplative practice on physiology and behavior. In the early 1990s he conducted field research investigating Tibetan Buddhist mind training under the auspices of the Office of H.H. the Dalai Lama. A faculty member at Mind and Life Summer Research Institutes in the US and Europe and a former member of the Mind and Life Institute Program and Research as well as Steering Councils, he received the inaugural Mind and Life Service Award in 2018. 

Dr. Saron directs the Shamatha Project, a multidisciplinary longitudinal investigation of the effects of intensive meditation on physiological and psychological processes central to well-being. In 2012, Dr. Saron and his research team were awarded the inaugural Templeton Prize Research Grant in honor of H.H. the Dalai Lama. Currently his research team is investigating how meditation experience may mitigate the effects of the pandemic on chronic stress and cellular aging, as well as examining consequences of compassion vs. mindfulness training on engagement with suffering. His other research area focuses on sensory processing in children with autism spectrum disorders to better understand how these children experience their everyday sensory environments.

Classical and jazz saxophonist Dr. Wenbo Yin, versatile and bold in his music-making, is a skillful interpreter of diverse genres (classical, jazz, contemporary, pop, beatbox saxophone). Yin's performances range from being a soloist at Carnegie Hall, ensemble player at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, to concerts with prominent jazz artists. He has been invited to host masterclasses and lectures at universities and conferences in the United States and Asia. Based in Northern California, Yin began playing the saxophone as an elementary school student in China. He obtained his BM at the Ithaca College School of Music in New York, MM, and DMA in Saxophone Performance with cognates in Jazz, and Wind Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). 

As a jazz musician, Yin recently collaborated with GRAMMY® award-nominated guitarist Alex de Grassi in duet performances for guitar and saxophone. He has also appeared in duet and combo performances with prominent jazz artists such as GRAMMY® award-winning saxophonist Charles (Chip) McNeill, world-class trombone soloist John Fedchock, and GRAMMY® award- nominated jazz vocalist Carla Cook. Yin played first alto sax in the CCM Jazz Lab Band and was the associate director of the University of Cincinnati Bearcat Jazz Band. As a chamber musician, he served as Principal Saxophone at the CCM's most prominent wind groups—CCM Wind Symphony (Wind Orchestra), CCM Wind Ensemble, and CCM Chamber Winds. He has worked with virtuoso artists and groups such as James Tocco, The United States Air Force Band Wind Quintet, Dr. Terrence Milligan, Dr. Glenn D. Price, Dr. Stephen Peterson, and Ray Cramer. As a conductor, his conducting repertoire includes works by Mozart, Stravinsky, Percy Grainger, Frank Ticheli, Roberto Molinelli, and performed by chamber orchestras and saxophone ensembles. 

Yin was selected to give a solo recital at the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Biennial Conference in 2020 and was a selected soloist at Dr. Kenneth Tse's masterclass at NASA Regional Conference in 2017 and at James Tocco's chamber music masterclass. He has also appeared as a performer in the Midwest Composers Symposium, the International Saxophone Symposium hosted by the United States Navy Band, the Essentially Ellington Festival sponsored by Wynton Marsalis Jazz at Lincoln Center, Music China in Shanghai. He premiered works such as Spencer Brewer's composition for piano and saxophone, Even William’s operatic/film/electroacoustic pieces, and Quartet for Saxophone by Brian Raphael Nabors, whose works have been featured in major symphonies and music festivals worldwide. 

Yin’s debut album, Reflection, was released in December, 2022. It features Kalyanamitra, an original electronic smooth jazz composition; Chaconne in G Minor from the Baroque period by Tomaso Vitali; the Romantic transcriptions of violin virtuoso Pagnini’s Caprice no. 24; contemporary saxophone solo composition Bab Boujloud; the saxophone premiere of the choral piece If Tomorrow Is the Next Life; and two covers of folk and cinematic music. 

As a music educator, Dr. Yin served as an associate director of the UC Jazz Band, woodwind specialist at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Marching Band, undergraduate saxophone studio teaching assistant, saxophone faculty and lecturer at the CCM Preparatory Department. He is also a member of the North American Saxophone Alliance, Music Teachers’ Association of California, and Music Teachers National Association. Yin’s mentors include Dr. James Bunte, Rick VanMatre, Craig Bailey, Dr. Scott Belck, Bill Tiberio, and Dr. Steven Mauk. Wenbo finds nature, Chan Buddhist teachings, reading classical texts, and spending time with family and friends as great guides and companions of his musical path. 

$775 (residential)

Residential rates include tuition for all program offerings, a single occupancy room, three nutritious and delicious vegetarian meals everyday during your time here.

Early-bird Registration: $750