Barbara Hoff

The San Luis Obispo County Vocal Arts Ensemble has been delighting audiences locally, nationally and internationally for more than 33 years Barbara Hoff, a native of Southern California, began her performing career when she was a very small child. The daughter of musicians, she does not remember a time when she did not play the piano. She also studied violin and viola, playing in school orchestras from fourth grade through college. She sang in church choirs as a child and teen, and in concert choirs, small ensembles, and madrigal singers at Pomona College and UCLA.

In 1967, Barbara and her husband, Lowell, moved to Los Osos, where they raised their three children, and where they owned and operated Sheltered Acre Nursery from 1967 to 2008.

San Luis Obispo County has been exactly the right place for a pianist who enjoys a variety of musical experiences and collaborations. Barbara has been the principal keyboardist with the San Luis Obispo Symphony since the early 1970′s, and accompanist of the Vocal Arts Ensemble from its inception. She is choir director and organist at Trinity United Methodist Church in Los Osos, a position held continuously since 1968. An active chamber music player and accompanist, she has performed with the Tolosa Strings, the Impromptu Chamber Players, Summerwinds, and other ensembles, piano duos, and orchestras, and has toured internationally with the Symphony and the Vocal Arts Ensemble.