Board of Directors

John Arnott

President

John joined the board of directors in 2015 after having played with the Civic Symphony for four years and serving on committees for three.  He is part of the finance committee, helping to coordinate the construction of the association’s annual budget.  He continues in his role of facilities coordinator, having started in 2012, researching and negotiating venue rentals and support services for the association’s ensembles’ rehearsals and performances. 

John first played with an SF Civic Music ensemble in the Summer Workshop of 2011.  The workshop’s primary goal of providing a route for musicians to re-enter the world of ensemble playing was perfect for John who had left his violin in the closet literally for decades before picking it up again in the early 2000s.  He then joined the Civic Symphony for the Fall concert that year.  He has also played with to our SF Civic “Mozart to Mendelssohn” orchestra and the SF Civic Strings.

He is hard-pressed to name a favorite piece, but still loves Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien, which was on an album he found in his parents’ collection as a young boy.

Darlene Daevu

Treasurer

Darlene Daevu, a native San Franciscan, started her journey with the organization in 2009 as a second violinist in the Summer Music Workshop. After completing the 8-week workshop, she knew she would dedicate herself to perfecting her musicianship with SF Civic Music and joined the Civic Symphony.

In 2011, Darlene began to lend her professional skills as a MBA and Project Manager Professional for the City and County of San Francisco by coordinating the Summer Music Workshop. The Summer Music Workshop is our premier welcoming and entry level ensemble where committed amateur musicians are given an opportunity to study and perform a diverse repertoire of classical music. Above anything else, Darlene strives to ensure everyone has fun and loves making music together. “My favorite part about the Summer Music Workshop is appreciating the stark improvement from our first rehearsal to our final ‘Family, Friends and Fans Day’ concert.”

In 2016, after obtaining approval from the Board of Directors, under her leadership, she transitioned the orchestra to a symphony, of course with the musicality leadership of Conductors Thomas Alexander and Arun Saigal. Notably, our Civic Strings ensemble launched from the Summer Music Workshop under the direction of honorary Board Member and Conductor Thomas Alexander.

Similar to Darlene’s mentor, Doe Mechum, a Violinist and previous Board member who played and volunteered her time, talent, and funds until age 91, Darlene plans to do so also.

Kat Feller

Secretary

Kat has been musically inclined pretty much her entire life.  She is the daughter of Roland and Lois Feller, fellow SF Civic musicians. 

A native San Franciscan, she grew up in a musical family and with a strong lifelong love of music. She is a music teacher, and plays violin and viola, and is currently with M2M as violist and Coordinator. Fun fact: Kat could be considered a quadruple threat. She plays violin, viola, is the M2M orchestra coordinator… and sings!

She is a regular performer with Lamplighters Music Theatre and Pocket Opera, as well as playing in civic groups and with Villa Sinfonia. She has her bachelors in Musical Theatre and Vocal Performance from Chico State University.

Gerri Donato

Gerri joined the 2nd violin section of the SF Civic Symphony in 2008 when the Old First Presbyterian orchestra disbanded. She has participated in the Summer Workshop each year since its inception, and recently joined the 1st violins of the Civic Strings ensemble. When she isn’t performing with one of the groups, she enjoys ushering at the other association concerts. As duty called, she has served on the board at various times as vice president, secretary, and since 2013 as treasurer.

As a resident of San Francisco for 45 years, Gerri has come to appreciate the unique role played by the SF Civic Music Association in absorbing new and established members of our community into a variety of performing ensembles to meet the needs of musicians of all skill levels, and in providing high-level amateur musical performances to the public free of charge.

A retired physical therapist, when not practicing her instrument or performing her duties as treasurer of the association, Gerri can be found in the pool practicing with her synchronized swimming teammates, perfecting her Tai Chi skills, keeping up with several book clubs, cycling around the Bay Area and beyond, and providing feedback to our elected leaders and their appointees in Washington, D.C.

Vik Sharma

Vik Sharma joined the SF Civic Music Board in Fall of 2020. He first joined the Civic Symphony in Fall 2011 along with Civic colleague John Arnott, both having met at an orchestra class of nine players at CCSF the prior Spring! Like many, Vik started playing violin with the Civic Symphony after a multi-decade hiatus from any playing, having also like many, begun his musical career in 4th grade in school and with private instruction which continued through high school, during which time Vik also played second violin for two years with the Los Gatos-Saratoga Symphony, a well-loved community orchestra. As an undergrad at UC Berkeley, Vik became exposed to chamber music through a remarkable performance class taught by Felix Khuner, a founding member of the Kolisch String Quartet which premiered works by Bartok, Hindemith, Schoenberg and others in the 1920s-1940s. In the course of three years, he and his fellow students played works by Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Haydn, Bartok, and Mendelssohn.

Inspired by a love of chamber music and by participation of colleagues at SF Civic, Vik organized three annual Civic Chamber music concerts and one Civic Chamber music workshop, held at the Koret Auditorium in the San Francisco Public Library beginning in the Fall of 2013. It was at this concert that Ayako Onoda was introduced to the Association as a performer, and she shortly thereafter joined the Board of Directors becoming, its President for many years. All the while, Vik continued to play violin in the Civic Symphony, often viola in Civic Strings, until the founding of the Mozart to Mendelssohn Symphony, where he now plays viola. His other career, still active, has been as a molecular biologist working in early stage research to understand the molecular mechanisms of human diseases with the goal of developing therapeutics against them.

Karen Man

Karen has been contributing her design management skills towards marketing and concert promotions for the SF Civic Music Association, beginning in 2023. She first joined the SF Civic Music Association in 2022, as pianist with Civic Symphony, and appreciated the dedication she found amongst fellow orchestra members. Music has always been a part of Karen’s life, whether listening to a diverse range of styles and genres — CantoPop, punk rock, from Horowitz, to The Smiths, Ibrahim Maalouf to the Magic Flute — or learning a new piece of music.

Starting at age 6, Karen began music lessons in singing and to read vocal sheet music. Eventually she learned to play vocal music on the school piano, as well as bells and clarinet. Her singing eventually led to a place in the San Francisco School of the Arts, and with the addition of private piano lessons she learned classical piano technique and repertoire. Getting out of the practice room and into a rehearsal space with other musicians has been rewarding.

Coinciding with music, Karen is also an Interior Designer with projects on both coasts and has developed designs for clients including commercial developments, hospitality, healthcare, and private residences. She is also an adjunct instructor with the Academy of Art, taught Interior Design Senior Thesis at San Francisco State University, and has also previously played piano for ballet. During her non-work hours, when not volunteering, she also teaches piano.

Wenqi Shao

Wenqi first joined the San Francisco Civic Music Association in the summer of 2019 as a violinist in the Summer Workshop, after a multi-year hiatus from orchestras. Since then, Wenqi has played the violin regularly with Civic Symphony and the Summer Workshop and even performed a piano concerto solo with the Summer Workshop in 2022. She is an active member of the musical community in San Francisco and also performs with Awesöme Orchestra and the SF Philharmonic. Wenqi is on the board of the California Youth Symphony. She really believes in the SF Civic Music Association’s mission of providing performance opportunities to musicians of all skill levels, and high-level amateur musical performances to the public free-of-charge.

By day, Wenqi is a growth and data science leader for a high-growth tech startup and data influencer. Outside of work and music, Wenqi is an avid runner, tennis player, and has completed an Ultramarathon, a Half Ironman, and a Double Century. She reads prolifically, more than 100 books a year and with several book clubs, and loves learning new skills and exploring new places. You can find Wenqi always up for an adventure.