Festival Kicks Off Concert Season
From September 11-13, Classical Kick-off Weekend will showcase all SFCM has to offer: symphonies, string quartets, sonatas and song and great discussions led by lecturer Scott Foglesong '77. Stop by for this free festival celebrating classical period standard-bearers Mozart and Haydn a few of their neglected contemporaries. Details.
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October 9 marks the release of Gabrieli, the debut CD of the National Brass Ensemble, as well as the launch of the Conservatory's new record label 50 Oak Music. An all-star ensemble of players from ten major orchestras, including four SFCM faculty members, recorded the album last summer at Sonoma State University's Green Music Center. The project is a partnership with Oberlin Music, the official record label of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. The ensemble celebrates its new recording with a performance in Chicago on September 20 under the baton of guest conductor Riccardo Muti. Read more.
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 Master Classes with Summers and Midori
SFCM gives audiences the rare opportunity to sit in as internationally known artists enlighten, instruct and share trade secrets with students. On September 14, SFCM hosts a voice master class with Patrick Summers, Houston Grand Opera artistic and music director and San Francisco Opera principal guest conductor. Violinist Midori, a distinguished performer, educator and ambassador of chamber music, visits September 29. ( Note: This event is already at capacity.) Details.
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Movin' On Up
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Some 130 students arriving at SFCM this month made a special debut - even before attending their first class. They became the first residents of the Panoramic, a newly built high-rise located just three blocks from campus. The Conservatory is leasing the top five floors of the 11-story building. Read more.
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 SFCM Welcomes Gloria Kim
Gloria S. Kim joins SFCM as Vice President of Artistic Operations on September 1. Kim will oversee the production of events, implement collaborations with other organizations, lead and expand the school's engagement programs and enhance the experience of visitors to its Civic Center campus. She previously served with distinction as Associate Dean for Artistic Programming and Operations at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Read More.
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SFCM Soundtrack Featured in New Video Game
The newly released video game Gathering Sky is winning praise not just for its beautiful design and unconventional premise, but for its enchanting soundtrack recorded in the Conservatory's new sound studios and performed by SFCM students. The game creates the lofty sensation of joining a flock of migrating birds with the help of a score by noted game composer Dren McDonald, visiting faculty member of the Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program. Read his blog post about scoring the game and watch the trailer above.
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 Faculty Artists On Stage
SFCM proudly presents its own acclaimed artists and favorite Bay Area performers in this season's Faculty Artist Series. September alone features classic and contemporary chamber works, music of the French and Italian baroque, and Victorian-era art song. Performers include Jeff Anderle '06, clarinet, Darryl Cooper '98, piano, Ian Swensen, violin, harpsichordist Corey Jamason and baroque violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock, and Jean-Michel Fonteneau, cello (see this month's featured video at right). Details.
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 Alumnus Wins Superbowl Grant
Eugene Rodriguez '88, founder and executive director of the Los Cenzontles Cultural Arts Academy in San Pablo, received a $10,000 grant from a philanthropic initiative organized by the San Francisco Bay Area Super Bowl 50 Host Committee. Los Cenzontles, a center for teaching and practicing traditional Mexican culture, will use the grant to fund programs in video and audio production. Watch the video.
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| | Cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau anticipates discoveries to come from a new school year in this SFCM faculty profile. |
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In 1969, composer Lou Harrison visited SFCM to perform and discuss music from Japan and China. Recordings of these events, shared with permission of the Lou Harrison estate, are the first to be posted on a new YouTube playlist of SFCM archival recordings. Concerts, master classes, lectures and other events dating back to 1967 will be posted in future months. Stop by for a listen!
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Bates Opera to Premiere in Santa FeThe Santa Fe Opera will premiere a new opera by SFCM composition faculty member Mason Bates about the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs during its 2017 season. The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is receiving additional support from Cal Performances and SFCM. Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle. (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)
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Praise for Conte CDEnthusiastic reviews are rolling in for Chamber Music of David Conte, a new CD by SFCM's composition department chair. Fanfare Magazine commends performances by SFCM musicians featured on the recording, including the alumni-led Friction Quartet, pianists Miles Graber and Keisuke Nakagoshi '06, and Pre-College alumnus and San Francisco Opera Orchestra cellist Emil Miland. As for the music itself, Fanfare's David DeBoor Canfield writes, "Conte proves himself a master of the singing line... Moments of palpably exciting drama are interposed with those of quiet reflection, containing Conte's trademark exquisite flowing melodic lines... David Conte is a major composer of our era."
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SFCM Welcomes British Invasion
The concert series Curious Flights, founded by clarinetist Brenden Guy '10, launches its new season at SFCM on August 29 with a concert of English vocal and chamber works. Alumni performers include soprano Julie Adams '13, pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi '06, members of One Found Sound and the Curious Flights Chamber Ensemble. Details.
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