From the Top National Public Radio's hit program From the Top with Host Christopher O'Riley devotes an entire broadcast to the extraordinary students of SFCM's Pre-College Division when it holds a live taping on Saturday, February 14 in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall. Guests also include acclaimed cellist, musical pioneer and Pre-College alumnus Matt Haimovitz, as well as collegiate alumna and noted soprano Lisa Delan '89. From the Top may be heard locally on Classical KDFC on Sundays at 7 p.m. This episode will air nationally the week of March 9, 2015.

Saturday, February 14, 8 PM...................
Concert Hall, $45
New Music Gathering Resonates

New Music Gathering For three days in January, SFCM became a national clearinghouse for ideas about creating, performing and supporting new music, from raising cash and growing audiences to building new instruments. Referred to as an "anti-conference," the New Music Gathering embraced all comers with a relaxed, congenial vibe. But it also made Conservatory halls hum with an entrepreneurial energy and grass-roots fervor for creating new work. The event received national attention including a write-up in The Wall Street Journal, calling attention to SFCM's success in fostering innovation and creativity in music. Read more and watch video from the event.  

Recording Studio Takes Flight
Apsis Recording Session at SFCM In January, SFCM unveiled its new professional grade recording suite, a keystone of its Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program. Sporting a 32-channel console by Rupert Neve Designs and state-of-the-art equipment by Meyer Sound and sE Electronics, the mixing room is wired to SFCM's three concert halls and a live room. Students and faculty immediately tested the setup in a three-day recording session for Apsis, a visually captivating video game that gives players a birds-eye view as they lead a flock through changing environments. TAC advisor and visiting faculty member Dren McDonald composed the score. SFCM's director of recording services Jason O'Connell (pictured) was recording engineer. McDonald, whose credits include major titles like Ghost Recon Commander and Transformers: Age of Extinction, spoke with Take Note about the experience. Read more.
Orchestra Expands its Orbit
Conservatory Orchestra The Conservatory Orchestra is launching its busiest month. On February 7 and 9, conductor Scott Sandmeier pairs Holst's enduringly popular The Planets (featuring a cameo by Ragnar Bohlin's Conservatory Chorus) with the premiere of the Highsmith Award-winning Lunar Prelude by Nathan Campbell '14. On February 28 William Cedeño '15 plays Jolivet's Concerto for Flute and String Orchestra and Sandmeier leads performances of "The Lover" from Sibelius's Rakastava Suite and Mozart's Symphony No. 36 in C Major, "Linz." The Orchestra reprises the program at the Mertes Center for the Arts at Las Positas College in Livermore on March 1. After giving a free master class on February 16, Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster David Kim conducts and performs with the Orchestra in a concert featuring Bach's second violin concerto and Dvořák's Serenade in E Major on February 17.

Tickets for all Orchestra Concerts are $20 general admission and $15 for students, seniors and Friends of the Conservatory. Purchase tickets here.

Dreams and Prayers Several recordings by SFCM alumni, faculty and staff are in the running at this year's Grammy Awards. They include nomimees for Best Classical Music/Small Ensemble Performance and Best Engineered Album. Dueling candidates are vying for Best Musical Theater Album (hint: think pocket knife vs. magic carpet). Read more.
Cappella SF Sings Susa and Conte
Cappella SF SFCM welcomes the Bay Area's new professional chamber choir Cappella SF for a concert featuring two composers admired by choral connoisseurs at home and abroad: composition department chair David Conte and former department chair Conrad Susa (1935-2013). Founded and led by SFCM chorus director Ragnar Bohlin, Cappella SF includes alumni and staff members in its ranks. Bohlin chose to dedicate the performance and an upcoming CD entirely to music by the two composers, noting their wide acclaim and that "both are rooted in a personal approach to tonality, but are stylistically quite different." The program includes Conte's The Composer, Invocation and Dance and A Whitman Triptych, and Susa's Landscapes and Silly Songs and Six Joyce Songs, Volume II.

Friday, February 6, 8 PM
Concert Hall, Free
More information
Switchboard Honored for Innovation
The alumni-founded and run Switchboard Music Festival received a CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming at Chamber Music America's national conference in New York. Of eight honorees, Switchboard was the only one located outside the northeast U.S. Read more.

February Concert Highlights

Ian Swensen, violin, and Elisabeth Reed, cello, present a concert of Haydn trios with guest artist Kenneth Slowik on fortepiano on Thursday, February 5 at 8 p.m. Free

Cellist Matt Haimovitz and pianist Christopher O'Riley bring their adventurously inquisitive sensibilities to Beethoven, Period., a recital on period instruments that traces the flowering of Beethoven's genius and the creation of a new musical genre. Tuesday, February 10 at 8 p.m. Free

Noted recitalist Lisa Delan '89 invites Matt Haimovitz, Christopher O'Riley, Jake Heggie and others to share the stage when she headlines a special Alumni Recital Series concert featuring vocal works by living composers, including a world premiere by John Corigliano. Wednesday, February 11 at 8 p.m. Free

SFCM hosts the Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet for a week-long residency with a free, public master class on Tuesday, February 10 at 4:30 p.m. and a concert with SFCM students featuring Shostakovich, Dohnanyi and Mendelssohn on Thursday, February 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets

Harpsichordist Corey Jamason, director of SFCM's historical performance program, plays Bach's Goldberg Variations on Thursday, February 19 at 8 p.m. Free, RR*

SFCM welcomes the award-winning alumni ensemble the Telegraph Quartet for a master class on Thursday, February 26 at 7:30 p.m. Telegraph also appears in a concert featuring Mozart, Beethoven and a west coast premiere by the distinguished British composer Mark Anthony Turnage (who counts Miles David and Led Zeppelin among his influences) on Friday, February 27 at 8 p.m.  Tickets

Upcoming Concerts

JANUARY

28 Wednesday, 7:30 PM  FREE
Voice Concerto Competition Finals

29 Thursday, 8 PM  FREE
Cello Project | Premieres by SFCM composers

30 Friday, 7 PM  FREE
Master Class | Denis Azabagic, guitar

30 Friday, 7:30 PM  FREE
Master Class | Bill Fitzpatrick, violin

30 Friday, 8 PM  FREE
Musical Theatre Workshop | Yeston and Kopit Nine

31 Saturday, 8 PM  $35/$25/$10........  
San Francisco Contemporary Music Players with the SFCM Percussion Ensemble
Steve Reich Drumming

FEBRUARY

1 Sunday, 8 PM  FREE
Musical Theatre Workshop | Yeston and Kopit Nine

3 Tuesday, 2:30 PM  FREE
Master Class | Kenneth Slowik, cello

4 Wednesday, 7:30 PM  FREE
Guitar Concerto Competition Finals

4 Wednesday, 8 PM  FREE
Voice Department Recital

5 Thursday, 8 PM  FREE
Faculty Recital | Ian Swensen, violin and Elisabeth Reed, cello

6 Friday, 8 PM  FREE
Faculty Recital | Cappella SF sings Susa and Conte

7 Saturday, 8 PM  $20/$15..............
Orchestra | Scott Sandmeier, conductor
with the Conservatory Chorus, Ragnar Bohlin, conductor

8 Sunday, 7:30 PM  FREE
Mark Sokol Memorial Concert

9 Monday, 8 PM  $20/$15...............
Orchestra | Scott Sandmeier, conductor
Chorus | Ragnar Bohlin, conductor

10 Tuesday, 2:30 PM  FREE
Master Class | Matt Haimovitz, cello

10 Tuesday, 4:30 PM  FREE
Master Class | Pacifica Quartet

10 Tuesday, 8 PM  FREE
Beethoven, Period. | Matt Haimovitz, cello and Christopher O'Riley, piano

11 Wednesday, 8 PM  FREE
Alumni Recital Series | Lisa Delan '89, soprano

12 Thursday, 8 PM  $20/$15...........
Chamber Music Presents | Pacifica Quartet

12 Thursday, 8 PM  FREE
Guitar Department Recital

13 Friday, 7:30 PM  FREE
Opera Program | Children's Scenes

13 Friday, 8 PM  FREE
Cello Department Recital

14 Saturday, 8 PM  $45..............
NPR's From the Top with Host Christopher O'Riley

16 Monday, 7:30 PM  FREE
Master Class | David Kim, violin

17 Tuesday, 8 PM  $20/$15.............
Orchestra | David Kim, violin/conductor

18 Wednesday, 8 PM  FREE
Paul Binkley Memorial Concert

18 Wednesday, 8 PM  FREE
Piano Department Recital

19 Thursday, 8 PM  FREE, RR*
Faculty Recital | Corey Jamason, harpsichord

20 Friday, 8 PM  FREE
Viola Project X | Premieres by SFCM composers

23 Monday, 7:30 PM  FREE
Master Class | Derek Chester, tenor

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

26 Thursday, 7:30 PM  FREE
Master Class | Telegraph Quartet

27 Friday, 8 PM  $20/$15................
Chamber Music Presents | Telegraph Quartet

28 Saturday, 8 PM  $20/$15............
Orchestra | Scott Sandmeier, conductor
with William Cedeño, flute

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
January 28, 2015
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Featured Video
SFCM's President, David H. Stull, on New Music and the New Music Gathering
SFCM President
David H. Stull remarks on the history and future of new music at the
New Music Gathering
Friends' Podium
Guitar Ensemble

If you've visited SFCM, you've probably been entranced by the wonderful sounds of guitarists practicing in the halls. On February 9 at 3 p.m., SFCM donors will have a special opportunity to attend a Guitar Ensemble class and rehearsal led by David Tanenbaum, chair of the Conservatory guitar department and a world-renowned guitarist, recording artist and author. The Ensemble performs works for large and small groups of conducted guitars as well as works for mixed ensemble. This rehearsal will include James Tenney's Septet for Six Electric Guitars & Bass and Joaquin Rodrigo's Fantasia para un gentilhombre. Find out more about becoming a Conservatory supporter.
More News
Patrick Galvin

Rubin Fellows to Write for SFCV

 

San Francisco Classical Voice has chosen four student writers from the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism to join its new program for emerging writers. SFCM senior Patrick Galvin (pictured), a violinist and participant last fall in the Rubin Institute hosted at SFCM, is among the group of apprentices hired to regularly write reviews under the mentorship of SFCV founder Robert Commanday and other prominent music journalists. Read more.  

 

Shan Huang '14 Huang Wins Hong Kong Post

Trumpeter Shan Huang '14 has been appointed to a principal, tenure-track position with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, one of the region's major orchestras. Huang, who received his M.M. last May, was a student of Mark Inouye and a member of the SFCM showcase ensemble Noble Trumpets.
  
Ars Minerva SFCM Musicians Revive Carnival's Operatic Spirit

A new company devoted to resuscitating 17th and 18th-century operas of the Venetian Carnival debuts in March with numerous SFCM alumni and students in the pit, on stage and behind the scenes. Ars Minerva presents the "modern world premiere" of La Cleopatra, written in 1662 by Daniele da Castrovillari, on March 14 and 15 at the Marines' Memorial Theater in San Francisco.
  
Sokol and Binkley Remembered

Members of the renowned Concord String Quartet join students, faculty and the entire Conservatory community in a concert celebrating the life of faculty member and Concord co-founder Mark Sokol who passed away last November. SFCM also honors guitarist and Pre-College faculty member Paul Binkley '79 in a special memorial concert and reception on
Other Events
The award-winning Opera Parallèle presents a new production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking with a cast featuring SFCM voice department chair Catherine Cook and alumni Mark Hernandez '92, Andres Ramirez '14, Jonathan Smucker '04 and Krista Wigle '03. The company's artistic director, SFCM faculty member Nicole Paiement, conducts performances that run from February 20 to 22 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and March 7 and 8 at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.
Tenor Daniel Bates '13 opens the spring season at Florida Grand Opera by singing Ferrando in performances of Così fan tutte from January 25 through February 15. An FGO young artist, Bates stars again in March as Nadir in the company's production of The Pearl Fishers. Bates studies with voice department chair Catherine Cook.
Soprano Chelsea Hollow '14 appears as the faithful maid Blonde in Mozart's early singspiel Abduction from the Seraglio with West Bay Opera from February 13 to 22. Hollow was a student of Pamela Fry.
More information


Baritone Sergey Khalikulov stars in performances of Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George at Foothill Music Theater in a production directed by SFCM faculty member Milissa Carey. Khalikulov, studying for a postgraduate degree with César Ulloa, shares the role in performances that run from February 19 to March 8.
 
 Café menu with beer and wine available from Café Crème two hours before performance and during intermission. Order in advance at 415.503.6295 or cafecreme@sfcm.edu.
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