Musicians Union Local 6
116 Ninth Street
San Francisco, CA 94103-2603
Telephone: 415-575-0777
Fax: 415-863-6173
Office Hours: 10:00am to 4:00pm
Dues Department closes at 3:30pm
Officers
Kale Cumings - President
Kale Cumings, a native of Michigan, received a B.M. degree from Wheaton College and a M.M. degree from Northwestern University, where he studied with Vincent Cichowicz. Kale is an active freelance player and performs with many local orchestras.
Forrest Byram - Vice President
Forrest Byram is a freelance tuba player who performs throughout the Northern California area. He plays regularly with the Monterey Symphony, the Santa Cruz Symphony, the California Symphony and the Modesto Symphony. He has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, and the orchestras of the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet. Mr. Byram is a founding member of the San Francisco Brass Quintet. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, where he studied with Arnold Jacobs, and has lived in the San Francisco Bay area since 1982.
Beth Zare - Secretary-Treasurer
- ext. 302
- Email Me
Beth Zare has played the French Horn since the age of ten. She grew up in the Palo Alto, and got her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from the University of Southern California. She played principal horn in Mexico City for eight years. In 1995 she returned to the Bay Area to play with the San Jose Symphony. In 2005 Beth served as Vice President of Local 153 in San Jose, CA. When Wally Malone stepped down as president Beth filled that position until 2008. In 2010 she was elected President once again of Local 153, a position she held until December of 2013 when the local merged with Local 6. In 2013 she was appointed by the Board to replace Gretchen Elliott as Secretary-Treasurer of Local 6, a position she assumed on January 1, 2014. When she is not busy with music Beth enjoys playing golf and billiards.
Board of Directors
John N. Fisher
John N. Fisher received his BA from Loyola University. John has held faculty positions at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Dept., The East Bay Center of Performing Arts, and Blue Bear Music School.
John is an active Freelance player in a variety of Latin, Rock and Jazz groups. He has been Local 6’s delegate to the San Francisco Labor Council since 2008 and is also a delegate to the AFM Triennial Convention.
Mario Guarneri
Mario Guarneri is a musician who has “done it all”, from playing Dixieland jazz with Louis Armstrong at the age of thirteen to fifteen seasons with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the batons of Zubin Mehta and Carlo Maria Giulini. He has toured Europe with the Los Angeles Brass Quintet and performed with the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, Radio City Music Hall and the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Mr. Guarneri has recorded solo albums on the Crystal and Nonesuch labels, one of which was nominated for the Prix de Rome. For a decade, Mario was the principal trumpet with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and has played on over 400 TV and motion picture soundtracks, including solo performances on Lonesome Dove and Godfather III. He has taught trumpet for over 50 years, and is currently a trumpet instructor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Guarneri also performs regularly with his jazz quartet in the San Francisco area and has recorded four jazz CDs. In 1986 he developed the Buzz Extension and Resistance Piece (B.E.R.P.) for all brass instruments, a dynamic advancement in brass pedagogy. Since then, he has lectured extensively on the BERP concept. In recent years, he has presented lectures at the International Trumpet Guild, the New York Brass Conference, and numerous state and regional music conventions across the country. Guarneri has taught master classes in Asia and Europe, and has established a worldwide reputation as a creative musician of the highest level. His most recent project, Jazz in the Neighborhood, www.jazzintheneighborhood.org, is a non-profit bringing together on the bandstand, emerging young performers, and local jazz artists in alternative neighborhood venues.
William B. Harvey - Trustee
William Harvey joined Local 6 at the age of 20 and is now Union Steward for California Symphony and Lamplighters Music Theatre, and Delegate to the Alameda Labor Council. He has served on players committees, and negotiated contracts, for Modesto Symphony and Opera San Jose. Skilled in multiple genres, he plays trumpet on a regular basis with Oakland Symphony, Opera San Jose, California Symphony, San Francisco Opera Center, Lamplighters and Festival Opera. He lives in Oakland with his wife, violinist Josepha Fath.
Meredith Brown - Trustee
Ms. Brown is well-known throughout Northern California, holding Principal Horn positions with the Napa Valley, Fremont and Vallejo Symphonies, and serving as Acting Principal Horn of the Santa Rosa Symphony. She has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Opera and the San Francisco Ballet, as well as with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, the Marin Symphony, the Fresno Philharmonic and the California Symphony. In addition she has extensive experience in musical theater, including the San Francisco appearances of White Christmas, La Boheme, Ragtime, Fiddler on the Roof, Titanic, Sound of Music, Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. Educated at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, with a master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory, Ms. Brown lives in the East Bay.
Gretchen Elliott - Trustee
Gretchen Elliott began studying the cello at the age of seven. After growing up in Phoenix, AZ, she attended the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan for her senior year in high school. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in 1970 from Indiana University. After relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area, she worked as a freelance cellist and was an extra with the SF Symphony and SF Opera Orchestra. She was also a member of the SF Ballet Orchestra for nearly 10 years when chronic shoulder pain forced her to retire. In 1994, she joined the Local 6 staff. 2 years later when Melinda Wagner assumed the presidency, Gretchen was appointed to succeed her as secretary-treasurer of Local 6, a position she held until her retirement at the end of 2013. Subsequently, she was elected to a 3-year term in the Board of Directors, beginning in 2015.