Faculty News

Preparatory faculty member Susan Bates coached Preparatory students Yujin Ariza, Emily Liu and Jeffrey Kwong in a project with the Borromeo String Quartet entitled, "The Real Mendelssohn Octet," which featured performances of the 1825 version of that work at both San Francisco State University and Kohl Mansion. Alumnus Jory Fankuchen (B.M., violin, '99), Angela Lee and Preparatory faculty Yun-Jie Liu assisted Bates in preparing the students for the endeavor.

Faculty composer David Conte has received a commission for a premiere next year by the Atlantic Classical Orchestra and conductor Stewart Robertson. In addition, two commissioned choral works received premieres last month: "Songs of Love and War" by the Golden Gate Men's Chorus and "Song of Sunset" by the Madison Chamber Choir in Wisconsin.     

Jacques Desjardins, member of the musicianship and theory faculty and assistant conductor of the New Music Ensemble, will serve as a panelist for the session "All the Opera that Fits: Chamber Opera from Baroque to Contemporary" at Opera America's Conference in Philadelphia, June 13-17.

A 50^th anniversary benefit concert for the San Francisco Zen Center features numerous compositions by Shinji Eshima, Preparatory faculty bassist and associate principal bass of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Set for June 4 at the Conservatory, "Resounding Compassion: A Concert for Peace" includes the world premiere of Eshima's "Circle, Triangle, Square" with text by poet Jane Hirshfield.

Corey Jamason, faculty harpsichordist and director of the Historical Performance Program, is a contributing author in The Cambridge History of Musical Performance, published in April by Cambridge University Press. His chapter, entitled "The Performer and the Composer," explores the ever-changing and dynamic relationship between composers and performers throughout music history. 

Voice faculty member Leroy Kromm will represent the Conservatory at the Classical Singer National Convention in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, giving a master class and serving as a judge for its national voice competition finals.

Carmen Lemoine (M.M., flute, '05), a member of the Preparatory musicianship faculty, recently presented a lecture recital at the Conservatory entitled, "Strange Bedfellows: Expressionism, Folk & Dada in Erwin Schulhoff's Concertino (1925)." Jodi Levitz, chair of the strings department, and faculty bassist Scott Pingel performed on the program. Lemoine is also one of 25 flutists chosen to compete in the National Flute Association's Young Artist Competition in Las Vegas in August.

Andrew Mogrelia, outgoing music director of the Conservatory Orchestra, is in Australia this month, directing the Canberra Symphony Orchestra at the Canberra International Music Festival, the Australian National University School of Music Orchestra and the Queensland Conservatorium Orchestra.

Piano faculty member Yoshikazu Nagai performed Mozart piano concerti K. 414 and K. 415 with the Ives Quartet at Angels Camp in Calaveras on the Ovation Concert Series in March. He also gave a recent solo recital at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. as part of the Cherry Blossom Music Festival, performing works of Scarlatti, Schubert and Liszt.

Nicole Paiement, artistic director and conductor of the New Music Ensemble's BluePrint series, served as guest conductor at Dallas Opera in March for Peter Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse as part of the company's new Chamber Opera Series.

Symphony Parnassus, a community orchestra directed by Stephen Paulson, faculty bassoonist and principal with the San Francisco Symphony, presents its final concert of the season at the Conservatory on June 10. The program features the world premiere of Zâr for Orchestra by Sahba Aminikia, a student of Dan Becker. Audrey Vardanega, a Preparatory student of Robert Schwartz, will perform Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor. Noemy Gagnon-Lafrenais, a student of Axel Strauss, is the newly hired concertmaster of the ensemble.     

John Spitzer, chair of music history and literature, has edited the book American Orchestras in the Nineteenth Century, published last month by the University of Chicago Press. It features chapters by leading scholars of American music history, on topics ranging from the founding of the New York Philharmonic to orchestras on tour in the U.S. to amateur orchestras, and includes a chapter by Spitzer on musicians' unions in American orchestras.

Voice faculty member César Ulloa returns for his seventh year as master teacher of the Merola Opera Program this summer. He will also teach this summer at the Institute for Dramatic Voice, headed by Dolara Zajick, and returns this month to Mexico City for his sixteenth year as judge, consultant and coach at Sociedad Internacional de Valores de Arte Mexicano. Finally, he was invited by the Victoria de los Angeles Foundation in Barcelona to give a series of master classes in Spain next year.   

Student News

Soprano Laura Arthur, a student of Ruby Pleasure, won both the Marin Music Chest and the Burlingame Music Club competitions.

Daniel Bates, a voice student of Catherine Cook, will be an Apprentice Artist for Utah Festival Opera this summer.

The Kronos Quartet will premiere an arrangement by Danny Clay at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on May 11 and 12. "Women's Voices," a celebration of twentieth-century musical pioneers, features Clay's tribute to Delia Derbyshire, an electronic music composer best known for orchestrating the original theme from the Dr. Who television show. Clay is a student of Dan Becker.

Alaska, an orchestral work by Victoria Fraser, received its premiere on May 5 by the Anchorage Youth Symphony. Fraser is a voice student of Pamela Fry.  

Elena Galvan, a voice student of Catherine Cook, will be an Apprentice Studio Artist for Opera Saratoga this summer.

Charlea Lyn Greico, a voice student of Catherine Cook, will be participating in Rider University's CoOPERAtive Program this summer.

Violinist Ivana Jasova and pianist Carlin Ma were invited to the Thy Chamber Music Festival in Denmark in August, where they will perform in concerts across the country. Jasova studies with Wei He and Ma is a student of Yoshikazu Nagai.

Patrick Kagel, a double bass student of Scott Pingel, has written an essay on Conservatory history based on original research in our archives called, "The First Forty Years: 1917-1957." The article may be accessed on the archive page of the Conservatory's web site.

Cellist Matthew Linaman, a student of Jean-Michel Fonteneau, gave two performances of the Haydn Cello Concerto No. 1 to sold-out audiences in April with the Reno Chamber Orchestra as the winner of its college concerto competition. He is also the winner of the Conservatory's Lower String Concerto Competition and will perform Ernest Bloch's Schelomo: Hebraic Rhapsody with the Conservatory Orchestra under James Feddeck in October. Linaman is a junior and the recipient of the Corry Rankin Memorial Scholarship. 

Suvida Neramit-aram, a pianist in the studio of Mack McCray, took second prize in the Steinway Thailand Youth Piano Competition for her performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5.

Karl Schultz, a student of David Conte, and David Gottlieb, a student of Dan Becker, received scholarships to attend the European American Musical Alliance composition program in Paris this summer. 

As a first prize College Division winner of the American Fine Arts Festival's Golden Era of Romantic Music Competition, violist Omar Shelly will make his debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in a winners' recital on May 12. Shelly studies with Jodi Levitz.     

Efrain Solis, a baritone in the studio of César Ulloa, took first place in the East Bay Opera League Vocal Competition and performed at the Berkeley Piano Club on May 6 as a second place winner of its Dorothy Van Waynen Competition. 

Sarah Young, a voice student of Catherine Cook, will be attending Opera Works this summer.

Alumni News

Teddy Abrams (B.M., piano, '05), resident conductor of the MÁV Symphony Orchestra in Budapest, will take up a new position as assistant conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in September. His Sixth Floor Trio directed and created its first season of GardenMusic, the music festival of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami.

Locophonic, a new food and music series launched by Hannah Addario-Berry (M.M., chamber music, '06), will present "Strings, Songs and Supper," its first "Edible Concert," on May 15 at Greens restaurant in San Francisco, featuring music by the Real Vocal String Quartet and a menu by Annie Somerville. 

Rebekah AuYeung (M.M., voice, '10) will appear as the soprano soloist with the South Dakota Symphony for their performances of Haydn's Creation this May.

The Family Crest is playing at the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge on May 27 and will open for OK Go at the Stern Grove Festival on August 26. Core band members include Laura Bergmann (B.M., flute, '09), Lucas Chen (P.S.D., cello, '10) and Owen Sutter (B.M., violin, '08), with Matthew Washburn (P.S.D., bass, '08) as director of media. Bergmann studied with Timothy Day, Chen was a student of Jennifer Culp, Sutter studied with Ian Swensen and Washburn was a student of Scott Pingel.

Katie Carlson (M.M., voice, '08) will be singing the role of Papagena this summer with the Astoria Music Festival in Oregon. She continues in her study with Catherine Cook.

After receiving his D.M.A. in composition from the University of Texas in May, Ian Dicke (B.M., composition, '04) will spend the next academic year in Sweden on a Fullbright grant. He will join the faculty at the University of California-Riverside in fall 2013 as an assistant professor of digital composition.

Joseph Gregorio (M.M., composition, '06) will have his wind quintet, Music for Springtime, performed at the International Double Reed Society conference in Miami, Ohio this July. The John Alexander Singers recently recorded his choral work, Love, thricewise, and will soon release it on CD. In the fall, Gregorio will begin doctoral studies in composition at Temple University, where he has been awarded the Presidential Fellowship, the university's largest and most prestigious award to doctoral students.

Roberto Kalb (B.M., composition, '09) was one of six students chosen from 90 applicants to take part in a conducting workshop this month with the Orquesta Carlos Chavez, Mexico's principal youth orchestra. Kenneth Kiesler and Alondra de la Parra are leading the master class, and a concert will be held in the Sala Blas Galindo in Mexico City on May 12. In addition, Kalb's piece Máscaras is a finalist for the American Prize in the Orchestral Composition division. Kalb is a former student of Elinor Armer.

Heather Klein's (M.M., voice, '06) Inextinguishable Trio will perform Yiddish Arts Songs from its new CD, Shifreles Portret, for the Jewish Music Festival at the JCC East Bay in Berkeley on May 12.   

Eliane Lust (piano, '74) will give the first American performance of Dmitri Kabalevsky's Piano Concerto, Op. 9, with the Diablo Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jonathan Knight on May 13 at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek.

Drummer Peter Magdani (B.M., percussion, '65), will appear with Mose Allison at the Bluenote jazz club in Tokyo, May 25-27. His instructional recording of The Official 26 Polyrhythm Rudiments is featured in the current issue of Modern Drummer magazine as the second installment of a two-part series.

Soprano Emma McNairy (B.M., voice, '11), a former student of Pamela Fry, recently won first place in the Berkeley Piano Club's Dorothy Van Waynen Voice Competition, second place in the East Bay Opera League Competition, the Ben DeBolt Memorial Award from West Bay Opera's Holt Competition and third place in the Franco-American Vocal Academy's National Grand Concours de Chant. This summer she will be a young artist with Opera New Jersey's Victoria J. Mastrobuono Emerging Artist Program, singing scenes from Lulu, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, La rondine and musical theater reviews.

Lang Michelle Nixon (M.M., voice, '08) won the Competition "Citta' di Ferrara" for the role of Musetta in La bohème and was a co-winner of its soprano free program as well. She then performed the same role in a production with the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara in March. In February, she was a finalist for the Placido Domingo Program at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Spain.

At the Society for Cinema and Media Studies convention in Boston, Nicholas Pavkovic (M.M., composition, '11) gave a presentation entitled "Ernst Toch's Der Fächer: A Weimar Zeitoper Engages China." His talk on the 1930 opera set in Shanghai was part of the convention's panel on transnational modernism. Jonathan Vinocour, principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony, will perform Pavkovic's Viola Rhapsody, written for and dedicated to Vinocour, at the 40th International Viola Congress in Rochester, New York, on June 2 with pianist Russell Miller.

Eleazar Rodriguez (B.M., voice, '10), a company soloist with the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe in Germany, will be featured in a gala performance for Livermore Valley Opera at the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton on May 20. Rodriguez continues in his studies with César Ulloa.

Elza van den Heever (M.M., voice, '04) is winding up a busy season of performances, including Rinaldo with Chicago Lyric Opera, Don Giovanni with Hamburg Staatsoper, Alcina with Opéra National de Bordeaux and Missa Solemnis with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Preparatory News

Congratulations to Preparatory students and alumni for sweeping victories at the Menuhin International Violin Competition in Beijing in April. Kenneth Renshaw, student of Li Lin, took first prize in the senior division, while Kevin Zhu, student of Li Lin, clinched first prize in the junior division. Alina Kobialka, student of Wei He, also made the finals of the junior division. In addition to these current Preparatory students, Preparatory alumnus Alexi Kenney was a third prize winner of the senior division, while Eunice Kim and Zenas Hsu made the semifinals of the senior division. All the alumni are former students of Wei He.

Elena Ariza, Preparatory cellist and student of Jonathan Koh, performed at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall in April as a first place winner of the American Protégé Piano and Strings Competition 2012. Elena also received the special "Judges Award" in this competition.

Preparatory violinist Alex Goldberg had his Carnegie Hall debut in April, performing the first movement of Bruch's Concerto in G Minor, Op. 26 as a first prize winner in the 2012 American Protégé International Concerto Competition winners concert. He was also winner of the Judges' Award for exceptional performance. He is a student of Bettina Mussumeli.

Preparatory pianist Hilda Huang was named winner of the MTAC Northern California Regional Solo Competition held at Santa Clara University in March. She will represent Northern California in a state competition this July to be held in San Diego. Catherine Xu was awarded honorable mention. They are both students of John McCarthy.

Preparatory pianists Allison Hwang, Anna Martirosyan and Quinn Wu, students of Erna Gulabyan, won the American Fine Arts Festival competition and will perform at Carnegie Hall in May and October recitals.

Preparatory guitarists Ashwin Krishna and Wu Love are two of ten players invited to compete in the international Parkening Young Guitarist Competition on May 29-30. Wu and Ashwin study with Scott Cmiel.

Preparatory guitarist Chase Onodera had his Carnegie Hall debut as a first prize winner in the 2012 American Protégé International Strings Competition winners concert. He is a student of Scott Cmiel.

_________________________________________________________________________ 

Conservatory eNews is an electronic newsletter published by the communications department of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in consultation with the Faculty Executive Committee. Conservatory eNews aims to keep students, faculty and staff aware of exciting news and events related to the Conservatory. We rely on your submissions! Please send current news by the 10th of each month to ssmith@sfcm.edu for consideration for the following month's newsletter. Students may only submit news through their teacher. Submissions are subject to editing.

Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter!

You have received this notice because you indicated an interest in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. If you do not wish to receive this notice in the future, please reply to the message and include the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

© 2012 San Francisco Conservatory of Music. All Rights Reserved.