The sister conservatories of San Francisco and Shanghai reunite next week when the Conservatory hosts the San Francisco-Shanghai International Chamber Music Festival for the second time. Intensive master classes, rehearsals and coachings come to fruition when faculty and students from both schools perform together in concerts on March 13 and 14. Among the week's events is a free Composers Workshop led by faculty member David Garner '79 and the three other composers who receive festival premieres.
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Thursday, March 13, 8 PM.................
Concert Hall, $20/$15
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Friday, March 14, 8 PM.....................
Concert Hall, $20/$15
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Stephen Waarts Photo: Jim Box

The Pre-College Division made an outstanding showing at the Menuhin International Violin Competition last week in Austin, Texas. Founded in 1983 by Yehudi Menuhin, himself an early Conservatory alumnus, the biannual event is the world's leading competition for young violinists. Pre-College alumnus Stephen Waarts won the senior division. Now a student at the Curtis Institute of Music, Stephen studied with Pre-College faculty violinist Li Lin '92. Alumnus Stephen Kim, a former student of faculty violinist Bettina Mussumeli also currently attending Curtis, placed fourth in the senior division. Pre-College student Alex Zhou took fourth place in the junior division. At twelve years old, Alex was the youngest competitor in the junior finals. He is a student of Pre-College faculty violinist Zhao Wei '05. Alumna Alina Ming Kobialka, a former student of Lin and of faculty violinist Wei He '98, also competed in the senior division.

The BluePrint New Music Series concludes its season Sunday, March 16 with the premiere of a work by alumnus Ryan Brown '05, winner the Conservatory's most prestigious honor in composition, the Hoefer Prize. Artistic Director Nicole Paiement conducts the The Exact Location of the Soul by Brown in a New Music Ensemble concert that also features works by Lou Harrison, Terry Riley and former faculty member John Adams. Brown, a rock guitarist who often constructs chamber music around chords, riffs and beats, breaks new ground with his Hoefer commission - a meditative piece that invokes a space where intensely physical and spiritual realms meet. Read more.   

 

Sunday, March 16, 8 PM*................
Concert Hall, $20/$15

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*Tête à tête with Ryan Brown at 7:20 p.m.  

Norman Fischer rose to fame as cellist with the Concord String Quartet, an ensemble called "supervirtuosic" by The New York Times and praised internationally for its performances of chamber masterpieces and new works. Fischer is joined by faculty members Ian Swensen, violin, and Paul Hersh, viola, and a select group of students for a concert on Thursday, March 6 titled "1945" featuring Britten's String Quartet No. 2 in C Major, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Villa Lobos, and the septet version of Metamorphosen by Strauss.

Thursday, March 6, 8 PM............
Concert Hall, $20/$15
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An Opera Pseudo-Seria
As they do in most baroque operas, the lovers in Handel's Serse trace a geometry much more complicated than a triangle. But this opera seria stood out in its day by mixing humor with heartache and wedding both to some of Handel's most beloved melodies. The Baroque Ensemble, led by co-directors Corey Jamason and Elisabeth Reed, performs one of opera's original romantic comedies in a concert setting. Faculty member Bruce Lamott gives a pre-concert talk before Sunday's matinee.


Saturday, March 8, 7 PM and
Sunday, March 9, 2 PM.....................
Concert Hall, Free - RR*
Pre-concert lecture on Sunday at 1:15 p.m.
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The Family Crest Rides High
The orchestral rock group The Family Crest is making waves with its new release Beneath the Brine. The group claims Laura Bergmann '09, flute, George Samaan '13, trombone, Charles Akert '08, cello, and Owen Sutter '09, violin, among its core seven members, while a host of Conservatory alums belongs to the Crest's "extended family," a constellation of instrumentalists and singers who lend the group's arrangements a symphonic sweep. After getting prominent play on National Public Radio, the group heads to Austin, Texas, this month to play the South by Southwest Festival before heading off on a family tour of the Intermountain West and West Coast.

Hampton Explores a Legacy
Faculty member Bonnie Hampton, regarded as an exceptional performer and expert teacher, herself learned the cello from great teachers, among them, legendary artist Pablo Casals. In a special Faculty Artist Series presentation titled "The 20th Century Cello Legacy," Hampton discusses her own musical lineage and reviews films of Casals and Mstislav Rostropovich in an exploration of the teaching and impact of the instrument's great masters.

Longtime faculty member Joan Gallegos died on February 22 at her home in Kensington, California. During almost three decades at the Conservatory, Gallegos played many roles, most notably in developing the musicianship program and directing the New Music Ensemble. Known as a staunch advocate for women and a pioneer in the field of new music, Gallegos was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Conservatory upon her retirement in 1997. "Joan was a fierce advocate for ear-training and musicianship as a central part of our curriculum and for the performance of contemporary music," says faculty member and former Composition Department Chair Elinor Armer. "She devoted her life at the Conservatory to both of these with complete dedication."

A recent interview with Gallegos can be heard on the Conservatory's Oral History Project webpage.

In This Issue

 

The romantic intrigues and filigreed melodies of baroque opera are an ideal fit for intimate stages. Black Box Baroque, a company formed by Conservatory alums, is bringing Handel's Orlando to San Francisco's 50-seat Boxcar Theater in a fully-staged production with chamber orchestra. It's debut performance on March 15 features Sara Hagenbuch '11, faculty member Michael Mohammed '00 and Kindra Scharich '03.  

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Old First Concerts in San Francisco features four alumni groups this month. ZOFO duet, the alliance of Keisuke Nakagoshi '06, Eva-Maria Zimmermann and one piano, performs a program of world and West Coast premieres on Friday, March 7 at 8 PM. Three more alumni ensembles join forces Friday, March 14 at 8 PM as the bass clarinet duo Sqwonk celebrates the release of its third album Sqwonk +. Sqwonkers Jonathan Russell '03 and faculty member Jeff Anderle '06 welcome the alumni chamber group Nonsemble 6 for a performance of Russell's Bass Clarinet Double Concerto, among other works, and the Real Vocal String Quartet makes it real with Slacker Ridge by quartet member Alisa Rose '07.