ABOUT THE CONDUCTORS &
CONCERTMASTER
HOWARD LEE
MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR
Howard Lee, MD, MPH has a love for both music and medicine. He grew up in Buffalo, New York, and attended Harvard College. As a chemistry major, he sang baritone in the Harvard Glee Club and studied choral conducting. While completing his medical studies at Columbia, he studied organ and orchestral conducting.
​
Dr. Lee is currently on the oncology adjunct faculty at the Stanford School of Medicine and a Colleague of the American Guild of Organists. He is a winner of the Frasier Organ Competition and was a soloist with the Palo Alto Baroque Concerto Ensemble. Active in chamber music since college, he has performed as an accompanist for the principal cellists of the Harvard Bach Society Orchestra and the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. Having served as a church organist and choir director, Dr. Lee has also studied conducting at the Eastman School of Music. He finds that the pursuit of music promotes compassion and empathy and that sharing in music is a unique way to connect with others.
SARA LOMAX
ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR
Sara Lomax, along with violinist Claudine Schwarz and pianist/percussionist Carole Tillotson, was a founding member of the Coastside Community Orchestra in 1983. She moved to the Coastside in 1971 after receiving a Master’s degree in flute pedagogy from the Kansas City Conservatory of the University of Missouri.
She taught on the Coastside, in Pacifica, and in San Carlos and was named Outstanding Music Teacher of the Year by KDFC Classical radio in 2005. Along with public school teaching, she maintained an active studio, coached, conducted and was a founding member of Pacific Coast Ragtime Orchestra.
Ms. Lomas has often said that her first love is chamber music, and she has played with many ensembles including the Crestmont Chamber Players (from the Crestmont Conservatory) and the Lighthouse Trio on the Coastside.
​
In Colorado, where she and husband Ken Church spend part of the year, she plays with a flute group called "High Flutin'" and the Alpine Classic Duo, presenting informal programs in a casual setting. Music is a lifelong endeavor, she says.
​
.jpeg)
ELIZABETH INGBER
CONCERTMASTER
Elizabeth Ingber is a violinist, violist, and pianist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is currently the concertmaster of the Coastside Community Orchestra, a violist in the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra, and active as a collaborative pianist. She is also a member of the Peninsula Scottish Fiddlers and won the 2019 California Regional Scottish Fiddle Competition. She has performed with the Peninsula Women’s Chorus, Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble, Chesapeake Chamber Orchestra, Columbia Orchestra, and Howard County Ballet Orchestra. Her performances have included chamber and orchestral concerts during summer seasons in Italy, and concerts as a participant in the Collaborative Artists Program at the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Ms. Ingber is dedicated to her work as a teacher, helping musicians of all ages find joy in making music. She has been on the faculty at Skyline College since 2007 and maintains a full private studio. In 2010 she began her training in the Suzuki method of music education, which she has embraced in her private teaching as a way to nurture young students as musicians and compassionate human beings. Through various Suzuki training courses, she has studied with Caroline Fraser (piano), Cathryn Lee (violin), Edmund Sprunger (violin), and Edward Kreitman (violin).
Ms. Ingber received a Master of Music degree in piano accompanying from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a student of Timothy Bach. She subsequently worked as a collaborative pianist for both the collegiate and preparatory divisions of the San Francisco Conservatory. Prior to studying at the conservatory she attended St. Mary's College of Maryland from which she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music (piano/viola) and mathematics. At St. Mary's she studied piano with Brian Ganz and viola with Jennifer Rende. She has also studied viola with Ronald Mutchnik. As part of her undergraduate study, she spent a term at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Since completing her formal studies, Ms. Ingber continues to seek out new opportunities and experiences to develop her skills as both a musician and educator. In 2018 she was drawn into the world of Scottish fiddling and has benefited from the many workshops offered by the US based Scottish fiddling community.
ROBERT WAYNE SMITH
DIRECTOR EMERITUS
Conductor Robert Wayne Smith, a founding member of the Coastside Community Orchestra in 1983, has played a long and important role in the musical life of the Coastside. The Half Moon Bay City Council even named April 16, 1988 Robert Wayne Smith Day.
For many years in charge of young musicians at Cunha Intermediate School and later at half Moon Bay High School, he taught and played all the instruments, specializing in trombone, guitar and violin. For some students, Mr. Smith represented their first and only contact with instrumental study, but many of his former students have gone on to be performers and teachers themselves.
Robert’s own musical training included conversations on music and conducting with the notable teacher Olaf Christiansen.
Robert plays violin and other instruments with the Coastside Community Orchestra when he is not conducting. He was a founding member of the Pacific Coast Ragtime Orchestra, playing bass, and he has played with show bands and orchestras in the San Francisco Bay Area, in Chicago where he lived from 1991 to 1996 and in Stockton, where his wife Tricia tough at the University of the Pacific. While in Chicago he played with the Southwest Symphony Orchestra and conducted at the American Conductors’ Guild workshop with the University of Chicago Symphony.
Back on the Coastside in the El Granada house Robert and Tricia built themselves, Smith taught music in Daly City until his retirement. Robert is a former president of the San Francisco Bonsai Society.