Just months after joining forces as an ensemble and with only a handful of private concerts under their belt, the Telegraph Quartet surprised themselves by winning the 2014 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in May. But a combination of training, individual experience and personal chemistry primed Telegraph for success. Advice from their former teachers at SFCM helped, as well. Violist Pei-Ling Lin '12 spoke with Take Note about lessons Telegraph learned and applied on their way to winning one of the world's top chamber music contests. Read more   

SFCM Soloists Anchor SF Symphony's Britten Celebration

Photo: Stefan Cohen

Two SFCM musicians commanded the spotlight last month while helping the San Francisco Symphony celebrate the centennial of Benjamin Britten's birth. Soprano Elza van den Heever '04 appeared as Ellen Orford in the Symphony's semi-staged production of Peter Grimes opposite tenor Stuart Skelton in the title role, leading what the San Francisco Chronicle called "as perfect a cast as one could hope for." Reviewer David Wiegand wrote that van den Heever "continues to show why she is a singer to watch and hear at any opportunity." Earlier in June, horn faculty and San Francisco Symphony principal Robert Ward joined tenor Toby Spence to give Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings the "performance of a lifetime" according to the Chronicle. Reviewer Joshua Kosman wrote that it was possibly the finest performance he had heard from Ward, saying, "The horn can be a recalcitrant, unpredictable beast, and on Thursday, Ward was its genial master."

Summer Music West's 30th Anniversary
For thirty years, budding musicians have spent summers at the Conservatory studying and writing music, learning to play in chamber ensembles and, for the past twelve years, stretching their wings on stage in full productions of Gilbert & Sullivan scenes, all thanks to Summer Music West. This year's crop of young stars shines from July 18 through August 1 in concerts featuring strings and piano, new compositions and chamber music. On July 25, Summer Music West throws itself a party with a special 30th Anniversary Concert featuring student and faculty performances - and even a bit of audience improvisation - followed by a special reception. Admission is free at all events!
More information (also see listings below)

Composers, like all entrepreneurs, face a daunting task trying to sell the fruit of their labor. Publishers have historically handled the job of marketing and, of course, printing music - in exchange for taking ownership of composers' work and reaping the lions' share of profits. In the digital age, self-publishing and self-marketing allow composers to control the process, but at a steep cost in time and effort. Swirly Music, a new website developed by composer and SFCM Pre-College faculty member, Michael Kaulkin '96, offers a new way for composers to publish on their own - without breaking a sweat.
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Chessa's Night at the Museum

Photo: SRGF/Chad Heird

New York's Guggenheim Museum invited faculty member and composer Luciano Chessa to accompany its installation of Italian Futurism with an oration of Futurist poetry. Chessa impressed one reviewer with his vocal and dramatic dexterity, alternately whispering, wielding a bullhorn and "jumping around the stage, yelling and playfully mimicking the onomatopoeic sounds of early 20th-century industry." His program "PAAAAAAroooooooooooole in Libertà Futuriste (Futurist Wwwwwwoooooords-in-Freedom)" demonstrated how Futurism, a twentieth-century utopian art form, sought to "free our voices from the rigid strictures of language." Chessa was also mentioned recently in Architectural Digest as a contributor to a new book of essays published by Venice's Fondazione Prada complementing its show Art or Sound, an examination of noise-making objects, from elaborate instruments to clocks and sculptures.

In This Issue

American Bach Soloists Festival and Academy
July 11-20

The Conservatory proudly hosts the American Bach Soloists Festival and Academy once again this summer. This year's festival, titled "Bach's Inspiration," traces how earlier composers such as Vivaldi, Pergolesi and Buxtehude influenced the music of J.S. Bach. Concert highlights include Handel's oratorio L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato and Bach's monumental Mass in B Minor conducted by ABS Music Director Jeffrey Thomas. The public can also attend lectures, master classes and performances that are part of the Academy, a training program for students and emerging professionals co-directed by Corey Jamason, himself the director of the Conservatory's own historical performance program.

Fiore Releases iv
July 31

Guitarist and faculty member Giacomo Fiore '09 releases his fourth solo album this month, a collection of four works for electric guitar by contemporary American composers. Fiore won grant funding for the album, aptly titled iv, from New Music USA. It features the first-ever recordings of two works, hair of the thing that bit you by SFCM alumnus Anthony Porter '11 and freeHorn by Larry Polanksy. While the record is available as a digital download, Fiore chose to release it physically only on vinyl to offer a different aural experience, showcase the artwork and satisfy "those of us who are into musical artifacts." An album release party takes place July 31 at the Center for New Music at 7:30 PM.