Jack Van Geem, principal percussionist with the San Francisco Symphony, began playing the marimba at age four. He studied with Tony Cirone and Jerome Neff until earning his Master of Arts degree from California State University at Hayward. In 1974 he was awarded an Alfred Hertz Traveling Scholarship from the University of California at Berkeley, which was used to study contemporary percussion performance with Cristoph Caskel in Germany. Upon returning to the States, he became the percussionist for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, where he remained until winning the Principal Percussion position with the San Francisco Symphony in 1980. Jack is the Chairman of Percussion Studies at the San Francisco Conservatory.