Our Story
Quintet B formed unofficially by chance two years ago as a class requirement while studying together at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Through collaborating in competitions, recitals, gigs, and eventual team building exercises including road trips and aquarium visits. They developed incredible rapport working together, found joy in making music of any kind, and spreading kindness as an ensemble through the communities of San Francisco.
Based in San Francisco, their mission is to spread kindness through diverse brass quintet music. With kindness coming in many different ways, they aim to show how kindness can come across your life in unexpected ways. Through the romantic swooning of operatic works, the feeling of entering like royalty with a powerful fanfare, sharing a good time with a pint and your best friends over polka music, and an incredibly wide array of kindness at their disposal they stand ready to share it with any event they are called to do.
The Artists
Rick Ortega
Rick Ortega is a freelance trumpet player based in San Francisco. He also serves with the 191st Army Band with the rank of Staff Sergeant as their Logistics manager and their Trumpet player who leads the various demands that the band receives which includes Big band, Jazz Combo, Brass Quintet, Concert/ Symphonic Band, Bugle, and Parades. Outside of playing with the Army he has also performed with San Francisco Philharmonic and SF Camerata along with the SFCM Orchestra.
Currently he holds a Bachelors of Music in Instrumental Performance from California State University Stanislaus and has put his Masters of Music in Orchestral Trumpet Performance on hold at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to focus on all of Quintet B’s Administration needs. He has studied under Adam Luftman, Dr. Johnathan Kight, Joe Mazzafero, and Dr. Greg Johnson
Manager/ 2nd Trumpet
Bebe Wagner
Originally from Ohio, Bebe Wagner is a classically trained horn player passionate about transforming the classical music landscape. She believes music has the power to strengthen community by creating spaces to tell stories, to celebrate, to grieve, to dance, and the intimacy distinct to chamber music makes it the perfect medium.
Currently, Bebe is an active freelance musician and teaching artist across the Bay Area, and works in orchestra management with the San Francisco Opera. She performs with groups including the Stockton Symphony, Oakland Symphony, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and One Found Sound Chamber Orchestra, among others. Bebe earned her Bachelors of Music from Oberlin Conservatory, and her Masters of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying with Jeff Scott and Jessica Valeri, respectively.
Grant writer/ French horn 
Jordan Ku
Texas native Jordan Ku treasures the spark the trumpet brings to the stage. His orchestral experience includes the Stockton Symphony and principal trumpet of the San Francisco Youth Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, Jordan attended the Chautauqua Institution studying under Micah Wilkinson, principal trumpet of the Pittsburgh Symphony. He is pursuing a BM in trumpet performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying with Adam Luftman. Jordan has also studied with David Burkhart, former principal trumpet of the Jerusalem Symphony and founding member of “The Bay Brass,” and Dr. Benjamin Fairfield, Co-Principal Trumpet of the Midland-Odessa Symphony and the Principal Trumpet of the Abilene Philharmonic.
Librarian/ 1st Trumpet 
Patrick Zhang
Born and raised in Southern California, Patrick Zhang is a classically trained freelance tubist currently based in San Francisco. Growing up around the culturally diverse city of Los Angeles, he aims to be multifaceted in his music career as well, pursuing many different avenues.
Patrick has played with the Stockton Symphony and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, as well as alongside Gwen Stefani and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. He was also a member of the USC Bass Tuba Quartet, where he performed at several conferences as well as recorded music composed by Jim Self. He currently holds a Bachelors of Music from the University of Southern California in addition to a Masters of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Patrick has studied with many prominent tubists, including Gabriel Sears, Jim Self, Doug Tornquist, Jeffrey Anderson, and Warren Deck.
Communications/ Tuba
Ian Rigg
Ian Rigg is a trombonist originally from Seattle, Washington, and currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He earned his undergraduate degree from Northern Illinois University and his master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Tim Higgins and Paul Welcomer. His previous teachers have included Erik Curley and Timothy Riordan.
Ian has performed with ensembles throughout Northern California, including the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, I Cantori di Carmel, the Golden Gate Park Band, and the Mark Foehringer Dance Project. In 2022, he won the Northern Illinois University Concerto Competition, performing the first movement of Launy Grøndahl’s Trombone Concerto.
Operations/ Trombone