Our Mission
Noe Music brings world-class artistry into an intimate neighborhood setting, where exceptional music meets intentional community. We are guided by two equal commitments: Artistic excellence and Community Care.
Artistic Excellence
We present internationally renowned artists alongside the most compelling new voices of our generation — musicians who honor tradition while reshaping it, who stretch expectations of genre and form, and whose work speaks to the times we are living in. Our programming spans a robust classical core, collaborative acoustic traditions from around the world, and bold artistic projects that could only happen in a setting like ours.
Community Care
In an era marked by isolation and distraction, we believe live music in community settings is one of the most powerful ways we can provide care and nourishment for the people of our city.
Drawing on a growing body of research into music's role in health, we design concerts that attend to the whole person — the room, the pacing, the welcome, the chance to be present with others. Our Well-Being Concerts make this commitment most explicit, but it shapes everything we do, from our kids programs to the Lullaby Project to the Mainstage itself.
Our Vision
We imagine a world where the arts live at the center of every neighborhood — not as something rarefied or set apart, but as a daily source of beauty, connection, and care. In that world, a community's cultural home is as essential as its city hall, its schools, its parks. It is where people gather not only to be entertained, but to be moved, to be known, and to be reminded of their humanity.
This is what we are building in San Francisco.
Who We Are
Meena Bhasin
Celebrated as "alluring" and "a powerful voice" (San Francisco Classical Voice), violist and pleasure activist Meena Bhasin defies easy categorization. Born in New York to an Iranian Jewish mother and Punjabi Sikh father, she began playing at four and later toured as a teenager through Japan, Israel, China, and the UN—experiences that revealed music's power to connect. She co-founded Decoda, Carnegie Hall's affiliate ensemble, bringing performances to prisons, hospitals, and shelters worldwide, including a 2015 Obama White House appearance. A member of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, she has soloed with Jethro Tull and the New York Philharmonic, and collaborated with Itzhak Perlman and Emanuel Ax. She trained at New England Conservatory and Tufts University.
Artistic and Executive Director
Owen Dalby
Violinist Owen Dalby is a chamber musician, soloist, educator, and musical entrepreneur praised by The New York Times as “dazzling.” With his wife, violist Meena Bhasin, he leads Noe Music, the acclaimed San Francisco chamber series where he serves as Co-Artistic and Executive Director, and teaches as Artist-in-Residence at Stanford University and, from 2026, at the Crowden School in Berkeley. From 2015 until 2024, Dalby was a member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ), touring internationally and appearing as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony among others. Born and raised in Berkeley, California, he holds two degrees from Yale University.
Artistic and Executive Director
Derek Gordon
Derek Gordon is a seasoned operator with career experience across both public and private sectors, including 25 years working with early- and growth-stage venture-backed start-ups in Silicon Valley. Derek began his career working in the non-profit sector, including the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and has served on a variety of non-profit boards of directors. He loves to cook and entertain, hike and travel, the arts in many forms, and the San Francisco Giants, who occasionally frequently break his heart.
General Manager
Fred Spitz
Operations Manager
Fred Spitz has supported San Francisco Bay Area nonprofits since 1988, serving in a variety of roles such as executive director, fundraiser, treasurer, caterer, systems administrator, and school secretary. His extensive event production experience has included work with Dizzy Gillespie, the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Indigo Girls, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
Glory Jacquat
Glory (they/them) is a proud cat dad, cellist, and aquatic biologist. This is Glory’s third season with Noe Music, as they continue to embed themselves in SF live music working also with Tertulia and The Castro Theatre. Glory is also a public school teacher, passionate about access to education and supporting neurodiverse youth. Outside of work, you can find Glory enjoying a hike, napping with their cat, or playing sudoku while listening to an audiobook.
Production Manager
Board of Directors
Charlotte Burchard, President
Todd Hosfelt, Vice President
Emi Uyehara, Secretary
Ilya Levtov, Treasurer
Meena Bhasin
Owen Dalby
Pamela Garibaldi
Carol Harris
Andrea Higgins
Jackie Holen
Mary Murphy
AnnaLee Saxenian
Neil Sekhri
Gayle Tsern Strang
Steve Suda
Ray Walton
Advisory Board
Pete D. Chung
Jeremy Geffen
Jake Heggie
Randall Kline
John L. Meyer, MD
Contact us.
info@noemusic.org
(415) 648-5236
1021 Sanchez Street
San Francisco, CA 94114