Adams Chosen for Merola Program
 Soprano Julie Adams '13 has been admitted to the 2014 Merola Opera Program, one of the country's most prestigious young artist programs and a training ground whose singers have gone on to perform regularly with San Francisco Opera and other major companies. Adams is one of 23 singers selected from a worldwide pool of some 900 applicants. The summer program includes master classes with opera luminaries and performances at various venues in San Francisco. It also offers financial support to developing artists after they leave the program.
Next Sunday, Adams reaches for the holy grail of opera competitions at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. As one of twenty regional winners, Adams has already earned a cash prize and a trip to the National Semi-Finals in New York on March 23. She is the second Conservatory alum and student of voice faculty César Ulloa to make it to New York in consecutive years. Read more. |
A Crazy Day Winds Down
Four months makes for a long intermission, but the comic intrigues and glorious melodies of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro continue to unwind at a brisk pace when the Opera Program picks up the story with "The Crazy Day, Part II: the Evening." Following November's staging of Acts I and II, this performance finds the Count still looking for a pretense to block Susanna's wedding to Figaro, the Countess plotting to put her wayward husband in his place, and Cherubino searching for any woman who will return his affections. Wednesday-Thursday, March 19-20, 7:30 PM Concert Hall, Free More information
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A Trumpeter on Trial
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It's not over yet, but junior Mark Grisez has cleared a major hurdle in his audition for an open position in the trumpet section of the San Francisco Symphony. This spring, he takes a seat beside his teacher, the symphony's principal trumpet Mark Inouye, in a bid to join him at work and play. Read more.
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 A Presidential Evening
On March 27, the Conservatory holds a special event anticipating and celebrating the role the school will play in its second century. "Transforming the Future: A Vision for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music" will be hosted by President David H. Stull and Board of Trustees Chair Timothy W. Foo, together with respective spouses Jessica Downs and Virginia Foo. Before an audience of invited guests, Stull will announce a range of initiatives that focus and advance the Conservatory's mission to prepare artists for success in the twenty-first century. The evening's performance will showcase special guest artists New Century Chamber Orchestra (NCCO) led by Music Director Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and cross-over bluegrass band Punch Brothers featuring mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile.
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 A Long-Awaited Victory Lap
As a supremely talented high school student, Sedra Bistodeau was the first violinist in six years to win a top instrumental competition in Minneapolis. She promptly claimed the $1,500 prize but had to wait more than two years to take her victory lap. On March 2, Bistodeau finally got her chance to perform with the Minnesota Orchestra, playing the third movement of Sibelius' violin concerto in a special concert welcoming family audiences back to Orchestra Hall following the orchestra's 16-month lockout. During the labor dispute, Bistodeau enrolled at the Conservatory where she is now in her first year studying with Ian Swensen, the Conservatory's Issac Stern Distinguished Chair in Violin. "I remembered thinking it was never going to happen," she says about the concert. But after the long buildup, Bistodeau says the quality of her own performance was almost beside the point. "The coolest part of the experience... was that they had finally been able to come back together again and sound as good as they always did. And it was an incredible feeling to be able to play with them. My home orchestra was back. I felt like I was home. And it reminded me why I am doing this, why I am playing the violin. I can't put it into words." |
Levitz's "Desert Island" Pieces
 Bach's six cello suites are "like the bible" to violist and String Department Chair Jodi Levitz. Many musicians share that feeling. The suites have been transcribed for a wide range of instruments and are generally approached with hushed reverence. Even cellist Pablo Casals, who brought the suites to public attention in the twentieth century, didn't attempt to record them until he was 60 years old. After presenting half the works in a Faculty Artist Recital last year, Levitz completes her journey with an upcoming performance of Suites No. 1, No. 6 and No. 5 (in its challenging altered tuning). "These are my 'desert island' pieces and it means so much to me be able to play all of them."
Friday, April 4, 8 PM............................ 
Recital Hall, $20/$15
More information Purchase Tickets
*Watch a profile of Jodi Levitz. See this issue's featured video.
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Remembering Conrad Susa
 Faculty composer Conrad Susa had a simple goal. As he told the Conservatory's Oral History Project, "I wanted my music to be used, not admired. I wanted to provide people with music they would like to sing." In fact, choirs around the world both use and admire Susa's music. Students, faculty and friends will remember Susa, who died in November, at St. Mark's Lutheran Church on April 5 in a program of favorite works including the Joyce Madrigals and his popular arrangement of Shenandoah. Susa's most frequently performed opera Transformations will represent his work in that genre. Says faculty composer David Conte, "The scene entitled 'Consider the Wonderful Musician' seems a perfect choice to honor Conrad." Conte's Conservatory Chorus will be joined by the Conservatory Chamber Choir led by Ragnar Bohlin, the Opera Program led by Curt Pajer and speakers including Conte and faculty composer Elinor Armer.
Saturday, April 5, 8 PM
St. Mark's Lutheran Church
1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, Free
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Cook Plays Quickly
Voice Department Chair Catherine Cook added a role to her repertoire this month along with an opera company debut. Appearing in Verdi's Falstaff at Opera Santa Barbara, Cook helped keep
 | | Catherine Cook with Todd Thomas in Opera Santa Barabara's Falstaff |
the audience chuckling from beginning to end as the conniving Mistress Quickly. The Santa Barbara News Press wrote that "The radiant-voice mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook was sonorously glowing and theatrically sneaky."
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San Francisco is about to receive a very special delivery from Portland, Oregon. Postcard from Morocco by Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer Dominick Argento opens at Portland Opera this week before coming to the Conservatory's Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall for performances from April 10 through 13. In a groundbreaking collaboration, the Conservatory Opera Program and Portland Opera are sharing both the production and the talents of acclaimed stage director Kevin Newbury. Opera Program Music Director Curt Pajer conducts and Newbury directs a cast made up entirely of Conservatory students portraying seven stranded travelers who unpack their baggage (so to speak) to music that covers ground from Wagner to cabaret. Thursday-Saturday, April 10-12, 7:30 PM and Sunday, April 13, 2 PM.....................  Concert Hall, $20/$15 More information Purchase tickets
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Upcoming Concerts
Wednesday, March 19, 7:30 PM FREE
Opera Program
The Crazy Day, Part II: the Evening
Mozart Le nozze di Figaro, Acts III & IV
Thursday, March 20, 7:30 PM FREE
Opera Program
The Crazy Day, Part II: the Evening
Mozart Le nozze di Figaro, Acts III & IV
Thursday, March 20, 8 PM FREE
Guitar Department RecitalFriday, March 28, 5 PM PRIVATE EVENT Master Class | Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano Friday, April 4, 8 PM $20/$15............... Faculty Artist Series | Jodi Levitz, viola Saturday, April 5, 8 PM FREE Conrad Susa Memorial Concert St. Mark's Lutheran Church 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco Sunday, April 6, 11 AM FREE Trumpet Department Recital
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Call the Box Office for tickets and reservations at 415.503.6275. Conservatory SupportersTo reserve tickets, please contact June Hom at 415.503.6201 or jhom@sfcm.edu. To become a Conservatory supporter visit our website.
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 | | A profile of faculty violist Jodi Levitz, chair of strings and co-chair of chamber music |
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Marilyn Horne
Master Class
Mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, one of opera's most honored performers, visits the Conservatory on March 28 for a private master class presented in cooperation with San Francisco Opera. Performers include Conservatory student Molly Hill and alumni Emma McNairy '11 and San Francisco Opera Center Adler Fellows A.J. Glueckert '10 and Efrain Solis '13. Since retiring from the stage, Horne has become a leading advocate for gifted young singers as Vocal Program director at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and founder of the Marilyn Horne Foundation.
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Switchboard Presents
Switchboard Presents
Finding the circuits of its annual new music marathon jammed with talent, the Switchboard Music Festival has created another outlet by powering up a monthly concert series. Switchboard Presents hosts composers and performers who embody the festival's eclectic ethos. Alumni will get ample stage time as they do at the festival, founded and run by Jeff Anderle '06, Ryan Brown '05 and Jonathan Russell '03. Switchboard Presents happens the third Friday of each month at the Center for New Music in San Francisco. The March 21 lineup includes composer Danny Clay '13 and the alumni-founded Americana Orchestra. This year's full-day festival takes place Saturday, April 12. Look for more info in the next Take Note.
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Takács in Town
One of the great ensembles of our time, the Takács Quartet, returns to Cal Performances on March 22 and 23 with a rare treat: the complete cycle of Bartók string quartets, performed over two days. Bartók's quartets have been at the heart of Takács' repertoire for nearly 40 years, and the quartet plays these masterpieces with unmatched clarity, buoyancy and finesse.
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The Trinity Alps Chamber Players, an alumni group founded and led by Ian Scarfe '10, brings a touring production of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf to cities around California in April. The family-friendly concerts are free, but donations will help support the fourth annual Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival planned for this June. Peter and the Wolf comes to San Francisco on April 6 with performances also scheduled in Weaverville, Hayfork and Redding.
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Choral Rarities
by Holst and Elgar
The San Francisco City Chorus presents two rarities later this month: Holst's Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda and Elgar's The Music Makers. Performances feature Conservatory Music History and Literature Chair Emily Laurance on harp and take place March 28 in San Francisco and March 30 in Oakland.
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