The San Francisco Conservatory of Music is prepping its musical delegation to the 2026 Hawai'i Chamber Music Festival (HCMF) and celebrating a partnership that spans an ocean.

Hawai'i Chamber Music Festival founder and SFCM alum Christopher Yick.

Founded by 2024 SFCM double bass graduate Christopher Yick, HCMF's offerings include not only performances but its tuition-free Young Artists Program, in which strings and piano students in Hawai'i learn from and perform with visiting artists and SFCM students. Each year, SFCM's Kaimana Quartet—this year featuring Cuna Kim and Qicong Ma, violins; Phoebe Lee, viola; and Daniela Gonzales Siu, cello—spends a week playing and teaching in Honolulu. The trip is something of a graduation present for Ma, Kim (who studied with Wonhee Bae), and Siu (who studied with Jennifer Culp), who will all be graduating from SFCM in May: What better start to a summer vacation and a promising career? (Lee, who studies with Dimitri Murrath, is a first-year master's student.)

Yick ensures that HCMF maintains its local roots as it brings in outside talent, like its Artistic Director Stefan Jackiw and the Kaimana Quartet. (Jackiw has given masterclasses at and visited SFCM for an artistic residency in February 2025.) The opening night of the 2026 festival is a celebration of Hawai'i Youth Symphony Music Director and educator Henry Miyamura, whose career casts a long shadow in Hawai'i, for Yick as well as countless others. (In addition, HCMF's gala this year honors Jackie Mahi, a prominent philanthropist, artist, and classical music booster.)

Jon Lee (Credit: Minks Media).

"We're honoring the tradition of classical and chamber music, but also the people for us in the community," Yick says. "It's really important that we brought in the native Hawaiian element into the bigger picture." That bigger picture includes the City by the Bay: "Hawaii loves San Francisco, and San Francisco loves Hawaii," Yick says. "They're two distinct cities that have, blended, culturally, socially, and professionally, and we're building on that with HCMF." 

HCMF's Director of Festival Planning, pianist Jon Lee, is finishing an Artist Diploma at SFCM in 2026 with Yoshikazu Nagai, having already completed a one-year Professional Studies Certificate. He and Yick met at the Conservatory, and Lee has been working with HCMF for three years, crediting Yick with the drive to grow the festival.

"As an attendee, you just go to a concert or festival," Lee says, "and it's hard to see or understand how much work is behind everything to create that experience. So it's been interesting to see that side of things, and how much work can be done by just a few people. I'm proud of the quality of the concerts and the opportunities the festival gives kids in Hawai'i."  

Students at the Hawai'i Chamber Music Festival prepare for a performance.

"The Young Artists Program, which Christopher had from the get-go and accepts just shy of 30 students each year, provides equal opportunity to any student who wants to play," Lee continues. "Creating a very immersive, intense music program for students at that level is great."

Stefan Jackiw teaches at the Hawai'i Chamber Music Festival.

Even with that local focus, HCMF continues to expand its reach. "In 2025, we had over 1,500 patrons," Yick says. "And our venues seat anywhere between 300-400. Before, getting 250 people was a big win, but we're getting 300-350 consistently. And in terms of students, the level of playing is quite incredible: We have students who can play two instruments in the same program, like viola and piano, which I think demonstrates the level of talent that we have here in Honolulu."

Yick continues, "We've always said, instead of having families spend a lot of money and send their kids to the mainland, we try to bring Carnegie Hall to them, and that includes the SFCM quartet who come in. The relationship between all the guest artists and the students has been how we've been curating our lineups and programs: It revolves around the youth. So it's been really important for us to continue the success of bringing in guest artists who can not only perform at an incredibly high level, but really make an impact on the youth."

Learn more about the Hawai'i Chamber Music Festival or studying String and Chamber Piano Music at SFCM.