SFCM to Honor Terry Riley at CommencementSFCM will grant Terry Riley, one of America's most influential living composers, an honorary doctorate at commencement ceremonies on May 22. With his 1964 landmark composition In C, Riley pioneered the movement that came to be known as minimalism. His influence has been felt in everything from chamber music to rock and roll. Riley, who studied with SFCM faculty composer Robert Erickson in the 1950s, continues to perform and to inspire new generations of musicians, including SFCM students and alumni. Read more.
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Composition Prizes Awarded  First-year graduate student Michael Kropf '16 has won the Highsmith Award, the Conservatory's top composition prize awarded annually to a current student or recent alumnus. Eric Choate '14 was selected as the first-ever runner-up for the prize. The Conservatory Orchestra will premiere Kropf's winning piece High Spirits next season and both composers will hear the Orchestra read their works during a May 6 rehearsal. Kropf and Choate are students of composition department chair David Conte.  The 2015-16 concert season will also feature the premiere of a work by alumnus Jeffrey Parola '05, recipient of the Conservatory's prestigious Hoefer Prize. In addition to commissioning the work, the $15,000 award sponsors a week-long teaching residency culminating in the concert premiere and recording. SFCM also announced alumnus Ilya Demutsky '09 as the Hoefer Prize winner for 2016-17. Read more.
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Season Finales Showcase Britten  SFCM's concert season ends with high notes, hijinks and two favorite works by Benjamin Britten. From piccolo to timpani, every section of the Conservatory Orchestra gets to shine in The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Scott Sandmeier also conducts Cantabile for Strings by Pēteris Vasks while the triumphal strains of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor will serve as a fitting send-off to the class of 2015. Saturday, May 2, 8 PM and Sunday, May 3, 2 PM.....................  Concert Hall, $20/$15 More information Purchase ticketsThe Conservatory Opera spins Britten's delightful coming-of-age comedy Albert Herring around the maypole in a fully-staged workshop presentation. The sly musical allusions of Britten's chamber orchestration add surprising depth to the whimsical story of a shy, small-town boy coming out of his shell. Curt Pajer conducts and Heather Mathews directs. Wednesday, May 6 7:30 PM and Friday, May 8, 7:30 PM..................... Concert Hall, FREE, RR* More information
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Elixir Goes to Washington
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On April 19, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. presented Conservatory Opera students performing selections from this year's spring opera L'elisir d'amore. The center's Conservatory Project showcases talent from the country's top music schools in a series of free events. Watch the performance and view SFCM concerts from previous years on The Kennedy Center website.
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A Quartet's New Fellowship  The Thalea String Quartet is the first ensemble admitted to SFCM's new String Quartet Fellowship Program. The program, offered to existing string quartets, provides two years of tuition-free study towards a Master of Music degree or Artist Certificate. In addition to working with SFCM's elite chamber music faculty, fellows receive one-on-one mentorship with professional ensembles during each year of study. Thalea will work with the renowned Borromeo String Quartet which holds a week-long residency of coachings, master classes and public performances in March, 2016. Other perks include sponsored Bay Area performances, professional development support, a professionally produced recording and a stipend.
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Armienta Featured at Opera America Conference Excerpts of Cuentos de Peregrinacíon (Tales of Pilgrimage), a song-cycle opera by Hector Armienta '97, will be featured in a showcase of new works at the Opera America conference in Washington D.C on May 8. Based on true stories related by Mexican immigrants who have made the arduous journey to the United States, Cuentos was first performed last year in San Jose by Armienta's community-based company Opera Cultura.
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Upcoming ConcertsAPRIL23 Thursday, 4 PM FREE String and Piano Chamber Music 23 Thursday, 8 PM FREE String and Piano Chamber Music 24 Friday, 8 PM FREE Accompanying Department Recital 24 Friday, 8 PM FREE Guest Artist Recital | Sergei Babayan, piano 25 Saturday, 7:30 PM FREE Master Class | Sergei Babayan, piano 25 Saturday, 7:30 PM FREE Opera Scenes 25 Saturday, 8 PM FREE Composition Department Recital 26 Sunday, 2 PM FREE Opera Scenes 26 Sunday, 7 PM FREE Master Class | Marcin Dylla, guitar 27 Monday, 8 PM FREE.................... Baroque Ensemble 17th and 18th Century Chamber Music 27 Monday, 8 PM FREE Woodwind Chamber Music 29 Wednesday, 8 PM FREE Brass Ensemble 29 Wednesday, 8 PM FREE Voice Department Recital 30 Thursday, 8 PM FREE String and Piano Chamber Music MAY
1 Friday, 8 PM FREE Accompanying Department Recital 2 Saturday, 8 PM $20/$15.................... Conservatory Orchestra | Scott Sandmeier, conductor 3 Sunday, 2 PM $20/$15.................... Conservatory Orchestra | Scott Sandmeier, conductor 4 Monday, 1 PM FREE Baroque Cello Recital 5 Tuesday, 8 PM FREE Cello Department Recital 6 Wednesday, 1 PM FREE Master Class | Jeffrey Thomas, conductor 6 Wednesday, 7:30 PM FREE, RR*............... Conservatory Opera | Britten Albert HerringCurt Pajer, conductor, Heather Mathews, director 6 Wednesday, 8 PM FREE Woodwind Chamber Music 7 Thursday, 4 PM FREE String and Piano Chamber Music 7 Thursday, 8 PM FREE String and Piano Chamber Music 8 Friday, 12 PM FREE Accompanying Department Recital 8 Friday, 7:30 PM FREE, RR*............... Conservatory Opera | Britten Albert HerringCurt Pajer, conductor, Heather Mathews, director
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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.
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What do conductors do (besides beating time with a stick)? Scott Sandmeier describes a few of his many tasks as music director of the Conservatory Orchestra.
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For more than four decades Robert Commanday has helped audiences track the Bay Area's rich classical music scene, first as a critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and then as founder of the online journal San Francisco Classical Voice. Faculty member Corey Jamason asks Commanday about his career on the stage, in the lecture hall and at the keyboard (or typewriter) in the latest addition to SFCM's Oral History Project.
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The final Conservatory donor event this spring is the Orchestra Open Rehearsal on Friday, May 1 at 3:30 p.m. The program includes Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra which was commissioned in 1946 for the educational film Instruments of the Orchestra, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op.64. Don't miss this insider's opportunity! Not a Conservatory donor?
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Master Artists and
Master Classes
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The first pianist from the former USSR to compete internationally without government sponsorship, Sergei Babayan won a string of major competitions during the 1990s and went on to garner acclaim as a performing and recording artist. Babayan performs Pärt, Liszt, Ryabov, Bach, Chopin and Rachmaninov in a guest recital on Friday, April 24 at 8 p.m. and returns for a master class on Saturday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m. Both events are free. Two other acclaimed guest artists hold master classes with Conservatory students in coming weeks. Marcin Dylla, hailed by The Washington Post as "among the most gifted guitarists on the planet," appears Sunday, April 26 at 7 p.m. Jeffrey Thomas, artistic and music director of American Bach Soloists, coaches period performances of Rameau, Monteverdi and Telemann
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Ovations to SFCM students and alumni who have won outstanding recognition this spring: Soprano Ashley Valentine '16, a junior in the studio of voice department chair Catherine Cook, won first prize and $4,000 at the recent Pacific Musical Society Competition. She performs in a winners concert at Kohl Mansion in Burlingame on May 14. Soprano Sabrina Romero '16, a first-year graduate student studying with Jane Randolph, won third place. |
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SFCM pianists captured both top piano awards at the Fresno Musical Club this year. Michael Delfin '15, an M.M. candidate studying with Yoshikazu Nagai, won first place in the Bell T. Ritchie Award competition, a contest open to advanced vocal and instrumental students. Alumna Suvida Neramit-aram '14, a former student of Mack McCray and Sharon Mann, received first place in the Susan Torres Award for Pianists.
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 Pre-College pianists have also scored recent triumphs. Elliot Wuu (pictured) won first prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, a $7,000 award that includes a solo appearance with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. Wuu studies with Yoshikazu Nagai. Sarah Tuan won first place in the junior solo category of the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition and Josephine Chan took third place. Both study with Corey McVicar. Tristan Yang and Leyla Kabuli won second and third place respectively in the Waring intermediate concerto competition. Both study with John McCarthy.
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| Composer Louis Cruz '12 has received the honor of being admitted to Juilliard's C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellows Program, the school's most advanced course of study. The fellowship includes full tuition for study towards a D.M.A. degree plus a living stipend. Cruz was a student of David Conte.
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BART is planning improvements that will affect safety, cleanliness and accessibility at Civic Center Station. The public is invited to offer input at open houses and through an online survey. Find out more and let your opinion be heard!
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Café menu with beer and wine available from