San Francisco's Cello Street Quartet performs a benefit concert on November 17 at San Francisco's Stage Werx Theater for Magnet SF, a program of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation that promotes the physical, mental and social well-being of gay men. This phalanx of cellists plays original works and arranges pop and classic rock songs with a classical twist. Cello Street includes Adam Young and Matthew Linaman, current students of Jean-Michel Fonteneau; Andres Vera, a Professional Studies Diploma candidate studying with Jennifer Culp, and Gretchen Claassen (Artist Certificate, chamber music, '12), also a student of Culp.

Composer Danny Clay, a graduate student of Dan Becker, has won a commission to write a piece for the 2013 UnCaged Toy Piano festival in New York City. Toy pianist Phyllis Chen runs the festival and the associated composition competition, now in its fifth year. Clay is charged with writing a "micro-music theater piece" for toy piano and other toy instruments.

Baritone Efra�n Sol�s has advanced to the finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions after winning the regional competition in Los Angeles on November 4. He was also awarded first place in the East Bay Opera League Scholarship Competition and second place in the Berkeley Piano Club's Dorothy Van Waynen Vocal Competition. Next spring, he joins Opera Santa Barbara as a Studio Artist, covering Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale. Sol�s studies with C�sar Ulloa.

Preparatory Student News

Pianist Rachel Breen is scheduled to perform Beethoven's Concerto No. 4 in G Major with the California Youth Symphony next March at University of California-Berkeley. Rachel won the symphony's Young Artist Competition last spring. She was also a finalist in the Cooper International Competition in June. Rachel studies with Sharon Mann.

Brothers Ryan and Ethan Chi and Melody Hsu performed in Carnegie Hall this month as winners of the American Fine Arts Festival Competition. All three study with Preparatory Division piano faculty Erna Gulabyan.

Violinist Alex Zhou, a student of Zhao Wei, was selected to appear on From the Top, the hit public radio program featuring the country's best young classical musicians. His performance of Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen was taped recently at the Mondavi Center.

Hannah Addario-Berry (M.M., chamber music, '06) continues to sate palates and satisfy ears with her newly-founded concert series Locophonic. This month, Locophonic offers its second course "Fill as Desired," including the vocal ensemble Solstice and original songs by Amy X Neuburg inspired by Jewish recipes from women imprisoned in the Terezin concentration camp. Chef Avi Cohen prepares the accompanying meal.

"September," a canvas inspired by Strauss's Four Last Songs and painted by Paula Arciniega (M.M.,voice, '04), was recently awarded as a prize at Opera Canada's annual fundraiser, the Rubies. Soprano Elza van den Heever (M.M., voice, '04) performed the song at a banquet honoring Canada's top opera stars. Arciniega continues to perform as a mezzo-soprano soloist in Toronto.

Recent graduate Marco Behtash (B.A., double bass, '12) is on trial for a tenure-track position with the London Symphony Orchestra. Behtash transferred to the Conservatory after studying engineering in Illinois as a freshman. He says it's a challenge suddenly to uphold world-class standards while competing against European peers who already have experience playing with major orchestras. Despite the pressure, he reports the atmosphere playing with the orchestra has been friendly and calm. Behtash was a student of Scott Pingel.

Jamie Drake (M.M., percussion, '06) recently completed a three-week tour of Canada's Atlantic provinces with the Toronto-based TorQ Percussion Quartet. In July, the ensemble presented its first "TorQ Percussion Seminar" for college-age students at Acadia University.  Drake is in the final year of a D.M.A. at the University of Toronto.

Shaina Evoniuk (B.M., violin, '08) plays The Fillmore on November 17 in a concert celebrating the 12th anniversary of San Francisco's Jazz Mafia. She is principal second violinist for the Mafia, a collective of ensembles that play a blend of jazz, classical, world music and hip-hop. The anniversary concert includes a finale by the 35-piece Jazz Mafia Symphony and special guest DJ QBERT.

Lo-An Lin (B.M., piano, '10) took home the gold at last month's San Antonio International Piano Competition. As Gold Medalist, Lin receives a cash prize, a performance with the San Antonio Symphony and engagements for a solo recital and a week of chamber music festival concerts. Lin was a student of Yoshi Nagai. Carlin Ma, a current graduate student who also studies with Nagai, was one of eight semi-finalists at the competition.

Eliane Lust (piano, '76) plays a solo piano concert inspired by the exhibition American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento on November 11.

Conservatory stage director and choreographer Michael Mohammed (M.M., voice, '00) is creating an original work with the San Francisco troupe Mugwumpin. The piece, which premieres next March, combines theater, choreography and personal narratives in an exploration of the American Prophetic tradition that assesses the promise as well as the failures of American democracy. 

Randolph Palada (B.M., clarinet, '10) won a position as principal clarinet of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra in Massachusetts.  Randolph studied with Ben Freimuth and Luis Baez.

Mexican tenor Eleazar Rodriguez (B.M., voice, '10) debuts this season with Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit as Almaviva in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. Rodriguez has been establishing a firm foothold in Germany, performing at the State Theatre Karlsruhe and Heidelberg Opera. His performances as Tamino in Die Zauberfl�te, Jaquino in Fidelio and Cassio and Rodrigo in Otello have won particular acclaim. Rodriguez was a student of C�sar Ulloa.

Esther Rogers (M.M., chamber music, '10) has been experimenting across genres at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She recorded electronic cello tracks for the London Sinfonietta and directed a dance performance about artists Laurie Anderson, Trisha Brown and Gordon Matta-Clark for the Barbican Art Gallery. She also composed a work for cello, masks and performer that she presented in Rochester, New York. Rogers studied with Jennifer Culp.

Gary Ruschman (M.M., voice, '99) kicked off his ninth season with the acclaimed male vocal ensemble Cantus by releasing On The Shoulders of Giants, his 11th CD with the group. Ruschman's choral arrangements have been sung by ensembles in San Francisco, Tennessee, Iowa, Toronto, South Carolina and Texas. He recently performed on A Prairie Home Companion and will appear on a special Thanksgiving radio program presented by American Public Media.

Jessica Slatkoff Arteaga (M.M., voice, '05) sings a concert this month in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, with tenor Ricardo Tavio. �Mierda!

The Amphion String Quartet, featuring David Southorn (B.M., violin,'07), takes up residency this fall at the Caramoor Center for the Arts. The quartet is scheduled to make its Carnegie Hall debut next spring with a concert in Weill Hall and to pass through San Francisco in April while on a tour of northern California.

Alyssa Stone (Postgraduate Diploma, voice, '09) recently pulled up stakes from San Francisco and headed north to become the first teaching artist in Seattle Opera's new Education Department. She also teaches for the Seattle Symphony's Soundbridge education program and leads classes for Youth Theatre Northwest. Stone recently stormed the northwestern stage in her first cabaret performance, presented by Seattle Opera. She studied with Cathy Cook.

Anne Suda (M.M., cello, '10) recently gave a cello master class and solo recital at Western Illinois University. She and Solenn Seguillon (Professional Studies Diploma, violin, '12) then joined forces to perform the Brahms Double Concerto with the Knox-Galesburg Symphony in Galesburg, Illinois. Seguillon was a student of Axel Strauss and Suda studied with Jennifer Culp.

I-Wen Wang (M.M., piano, '10) gives a recital this December in Tainan, Taiwan, sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Tainan and the Catcher Educational Foundation. The performance includes faculty from the Tanglewood Institute and Bridgewater State University. Wang studied with Mack McCray.

An oboe and bassoon duo from the Milwaukee Symphony performed "Innocence," a recently-published work by Winton Yuichiro White (M.M., composition, '08), as part of a program marking Double Reed Day at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. White was a student of David Conte. 

Wild Rumpus romps into its second season, presenting the winners of its very first Commissioning Project. The ensemble, comprised of Conservatory alumni and dedicated to fostering young and emerging composers, chose eight winners from over 215 applicants. Rumpus premieres four new works this month at San Francisco's Community Music Center. The group includes Amy Sedan (M.M., flute, '09), student of Tim Day; Sophie Huet (M.M., clarinet, '09), student of Luis Baez; Joanne DeMars (M.M., cello,'12), student of Jennifer Culp and Maria Janus (M.M., voice, '10), student of Jane Randolph.

Preparatory Division alumnus Franz Zhao recently appeared on National Public Radio's From the Top. The violinist and composer performed "Ideas," an original work for violin and piano. The broadcast was taped before a live audience at the Chautauqua Amphitheater in July.

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 15th of each month to jbischoff@sfcm.edu for consideration for the following month's newsletter. Students may only submit news through their teacher. Submissions are subject to editing.

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