Bay Brass Trumpets Conservatory Composers
The Bay Brass

A dream team drafted from major Bay Area orchestras, The Bay Brass is known for unparalleled polish, sterling tone and a multi-talented roster that includes no fewer than eight Conservatory faculty members. They premiere works by horn player and faculty member Jonathan Ring and faculty member and Chicago Symphony composer-in-residence Mason Bates at the Conservatory on February 24 in a program that includes Gabrielli, Rossini and Brahms. Joining these august composers is grad student Nick Benavides '14 who was asked only last month by faculty trombonist Paul Welcomer to submit a piece. His Bay Suite, featuring a newly-written bravura finale, will be performed by The Bay Brass and Conservatory students.  

 

Monday, February 24, 8 p.m.
Concert Hall, $20/$15
Scott Sandmeier
Sandmeier Conducts Orchestra Spring Opener
Music director Scott Sandmeier leads the Conservatory Orchestra in a concert of notable firsts and lasts. Baritone and San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow Efraín Solís '13 performs Mahler's first song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer), written in the aftermath of an early love affair. A 24-year-old Richard Strauss viewed love through a different lens when writing his breakthrough success, the thrilling tone poem Don Juan. Sandmeier also conducts Mozart's final and monumental Jupiter symphony. 

Saturday, February 22, 8 p.m.
Concert Hall, $20/$15
More information  Purchase tickets

New Sounds Arise at Hot Air Festival
Hot Air Music Festival The Hot Air Music Festival returns to the Conservatory on March 2 sporting a fresh lineup of acts, an expansive new website and an evergreen zeal for promoting the music of Conservatory composers and performers. Alumni and student ensembles are the headliners this year, some well-known, some brand new, almost all playing or premiering works they've commissioned. Hot Air is an eight-hour marathon, but organizers keep the atmosphere light; listeners can duck into each of the Conservatory's three concert halls to sample and savor. Co-producer Nicholas Pavkovic '11 spoke with Take Note about some of this year's highlights, including a nod to the history of "new music."  Read more
Student Composer Prepares a Garden for SF-Shanghai Festival
The Conservatory hosts its own spring festival once again this year. The fourth annual San Francisco-Shanghai International Chamber Music Festival begins March 10. A partnership between the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the festival is a week of master classes, rehearsals and much informal talk over good food. The collaboration culminates in four world premieres on March 13 and 14 when ensembles from each conservatory perform works written by a faculty member and student from their sister school. Composition grad student Kenji Oh won the honor of composing a string trio for the Shanghai student delegation and dug deep into zen philosophy for inspiration.  Read more

Thursday, March 13, 8 PM
Concert Hall, $20/$15
More information  Purchase tickets

Friday, March 14, 8 PM
Concert Hall, $20/$15
More information  Purchase tickets
 
SF-Shanghai Festival  
A Shout-out for Scholarships
More than 90% of Conservatory students receive scholarships thanks, in part, to significant support from individual donors. Scholarship recipients get to signal their appreciation and strut their stuff at the annual Scholarship Showcase Concert on Sunday, February 23. The eclectic lineup represents the breadth and depth of Conservatory talent, including a chamber percussion ensemble, brass quintet, piano and string trio and a Pre-College pianist. Members of the Opera Program cap the celebration with the Act IV finale from Le nozze di Figaro.

Sunday, February 23, 8 PM
Concert Hall, Free - RR*
More information

Luftman Appointed by Ballet
Adam Luftman The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra has appointed faculty member Adam Luftman as principal trumpet. He begins performing with the company in December, just after he goes on break from his other gig as principal trumpet with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.
Upcoming Concerts

Wednesday, February 19, 8 PM  FREE
Cello Department Recital

Wednesday, February 19, 8 PM  FREE
Piano Department Recital

Friday, February 21, 7 PM  FREE
Master Class | SoloDuo, guitar

Saturday, February 22, 8 PM  $20/$15....  
Scott Sandmeier, conductor
with 2014 San Francisco Opera Center Adler Fellow Efraín Solís '13, baritone
(Rescheduled from February 15)

Sunday, February 23, 2 PM  FREE, RR*
Scholarship Student Showcase

Monday, February 24, 8 PM  $20/$15
Faculty Artist Series | The Bay Brass in Concert

Tuesday, February 25, 10 AM  FREE
Master Class | Robert Mealy, baroque violin

Tuesday, February 25, 7:30 PM  FREE
Lower Strings Concerto Competition Finals

Tuesday, February 25, 8 PM  FREE
Master Class | Stephen Tramontozzi, double bass

Tuesday, February 25, 8 PM  FREE
Voice Department Recital

Wednesday, February 26, 8 PM  FREE
Violin Studio Recital | Students of Bettina Mussumeli

Thursday, February 27, 8 PM  FREE
Guitar Department Recital

Thursday, February 27, 8 PM  CANCELLED
String and Piano Chamber Music

Thursday, February 27, 8 PM  FREE
Viola Department Recital

Friday, February 28, 8 PM  FREE
Viola Project IX | New Student Compositions

Saturday, March 1, 8 PM  POSTPONED
Faculty Artist Series | Yoshikazu Nagai, piano

Sunday, March 2, 12:30-9 PM  FREE
Hot Air Music Festival

Tuesday, March 4, 7:30 PM  FREE
Master Class | Norman Fischer, cello

Tuesday, March 4, 7:30 PM  FREE
Woodwind/Brass/Percussion Concerto Competition Finals

Thursday, March 6, 10:30 AM  FREE
Master Class | Wieland Kuijken, viola da gamba

Thursday, March 6, 8 PM  $20/$15.....
Chamber Music Masters | Norman Fischer, cello

Miss your monthly postcard? Click on Month At A Glance (also located under Quick Links).

View our performance calendar for complete information including concert changes and updates.

RR* = Reservations required.

Call the Box Office for tickets and reservations at 415.503.6275.

Conservatory Supporters
To reserve tickets, please contact June Hom at 415.503.6201 or jhom@sfcm.edu. To become a Conservatory supporter visit our website.
SFCM
February 19, 2014
In This Issue
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Featured Video
Profile of David Tanenbaum, chair of the guitar department
A profile of Guitar Department Chair David Tanenbaum who performs in a live-streamed concert at Yale School of Music on February 22.
From the Archives
Deux ex Machina

This 1968 flyer announced a performance by Deus ex Machina, a group co-founded by electronic music faculty member Alden Jenks. Jenks describes taking lessons with Karlheinz Stockahusen, shares memories of colleagues including John Adams, Charles Boone and Martin Bartlett, and talks about the evolution of electronic music in the Bay Area over the past forty years in an interview with the Conservatory's Oral History Project.
Other Events

Capella SF Debut 

 

Ragnar Bohlin, director of the Conservatory Chamber Choir and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, is stepping forward to fill a surprisingly vacant niche in the local choral scene. Bohlin's new Cappella SF is a professional, mixed-voice chamber choir devoted to singing the spectrum of classic and contemporary a cappella works. Faculty composers Mason Bates and David Conte and several Conservatory alumni and staff singers figure prominently in its inaugural concert on February 22. 

More information 

 
Kenneth Renshaw
Renshaw Returns

Menuhin International Violin Competition winner and Pre-College alum Kenneth Renshaw performs Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor with the California Symphony on Sunday, March 2. Renshaw reunites with Music Director Donato Cabrera, who last conducted him when the young violinist was concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.
A New Flute

 

Mozart's perennial hit The Magic Flute gets a makeover courtesy of the scrappy young company Waffle Opera. Waffle's Flute includes new English dialogue written by stage director Ted Zoldan '11 and draws inspiration from such diverse sources as dance theater, mime and the Muppets. Founded and run by alumni, Waffle Opera serves up healthy portions of Conservatory talent in its productions; seven alumni and students appear in this one.

March Madness at SFCM

Norman Fischer, cello virtuoso and founding member of the Concord String Quartet, gives an open master class on Tuesday, March 4 and performs Britten, Villa-Lobos and Strauss in concert on Thursday, March 6. Master cellist and Conservatory faculty member Bonnie Hampton explores the impact of the instrument's great twentieth-century teachers in a special program on Sunday, March 16. And a Persian king with a perfectly baroque love life gets the royal treatment from Handel when the Baroque Ensemble performs Serse on Saturday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9. More details in the next Take Note!  
 Café menu available from Café Crème two hours before performance and during intermission. Order in advance at 415.503.6295 or cafecremesf@gmail.com.
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