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As SFCM turns the calendar to another year, the Newsroom is looking back on a busy year for the Conservatory and its students, who celebrated everything from new immersive concert hall technology to big job wins.

SFCM Debuts New Immersive Concert Hall Technology, Multi-Genre Voice Curriculum  with Joyce DiDonato

Joyce DiDonato performs with SFCM students in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall.

The SFCM community was introduced to the game-changing technology soon to transform the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall at 50 Oak Street in January, with a performance starring students and acclaimed soprano Joyce DiDonato in January. Utilizing projection technology, the “digital proscenium” revolutionizes the Conservatory’s approach to staging operas and other performances in its largest space. In addition SFCM’s announced its expanded Voice curriculum, which will include a diverse ensemble program, multi-genre performance with microphone, and unique performance opportunities that represent the vast career paths in the music world.

The SFCM Orchestra Stars in a Reimagined Rhapsody

To coincide with the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s immortal Rhapsody in Blue, SFCM Pre-College alumni Lara Downes partnered with arranger Edmar Colón for a new vision of the piece, incorporating new parts more reflective of New York of the time, with Afro-Caribbean and Chinese folk instrumentation. After a stunning live debut, the SFCM Orchestra, Downes and the additional musicians reconvened in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall to record the piece under the direction of the Conservatory’s Music Director, Edwin Outwater, for a release on SFCM’s Alliance partner PENTATONE Records.

Michael Tilson Thomas Graces SFCM Throughout the Year

Michael Tilson Thomas and SFCM students in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall.

Legendary conductor and San Francisco icon Michael Tilson Thomas was appointed Distinguished Professor of Music at the Conservatory in April, and wasted no time in getting involved, coaching a chamber music trio the day after his new job was announced. He later returned not only for more coaching sessions, but for a celebratory concert of his life’s work commemorating a new box set release of his compositions for PENTATONE, Grace, which raised over $32,000 for cancer research.

SFCM Gets a High Score at Video Game Conference

SFCM’s TAC Department leveled up at San Francisco’s annual Game Developer Conference in 2024, holding panels and hosting visiting developers and composers at the school as well as putting on a special performance for the Game Audio Network Guild Awards ceremony. The command performance went so well, the TAC Department is returning for the 2025 ceremony in March.

Emerging Black Composers Project Grows Exponentially

2024 was a milestone year for the Conservatory and San Francisco Symphony’s groundbreaking Emerging Black Composers Project. In addition to naming the next winner of the Michael Morgan Prize, Tyler Taylor (above), the EBCP expanded with the addition of a prize awarded to a composer working in the jazz idiom (Jordyn Davis) and new partnerships with Birdsong Publishing and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.

Awadagin Pratt’s Art of the Piano Festival Held at SFCM

Awadagin Pratt’s long-running Art of the Piano festival moved with him from Cincinnati to San Francisco for its 2024 iteration, which featured other SFCM piano luminaries like Jon Nakamatsu, Piano Department Chair Yoshikazu Nagai, and Garrick Ohlsson. The young artists in the program included SFCM's Christian Douglas, who studies with Pratt, as well as pianists from Poland, Puerto Rico, Japan, Italy, China, and South Korea. Pratt’s plan is for the Art of the Piano to alternate in San Francisco and Cleveland going forward, along with his organization’s other festival, the Nina Simone Competition for African-American Pianists.

SFCM Goes to Washington

Nate Berry and Michail Thompson.

In 2024’s audition season, a trio of SFCM students won prestigious jobs in the nation’s capital in both the civilian and military branches of D.C.’s musical community. Oboist and English hornist Belinda Rosen, trombonist Nate Berry, and trumpeter Mikhail Thompson will be donning their dress uniforms and tails as they embark on new careers with the “President’s Own” Marine Corps Band, the US Army Field band, and the National Symphony Orchestra. Next stop: A TAC graduate in the White House.

Bold New Hires Join SFCM

SFCM bolstered its already-impressive faculty with a number of new additions across departments. Richard Cox (voice), Richard Aaron (cello), Lester Lynch (voice), Katherine Siochi (harp), and Yubeen Kim (flute) joined the Conservatory in the 2023-2024 academic year and have either already started their studios or will in 2025. In Kim and Siochi’s case, SFCM is adding to the number of faculty teaching at the Conservatory who are principals on their instruments with the San Francisco Symphony.
 

SFCM Students to Perform with Joshua Bell and The Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

In November it was announced 30 SFCM students will perform with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields at Davies Symphony Hall next year. In addition, SFCM violinist Fiona Cunninghame-Murray closed out 2024 on a high note, winning an internal competition at the Conservatory. The first prize? The opportunity to perform solo with Joshua Bell and The Academy of St Martin in the Fields during the San Francisco Symphony’s Great Performers Series on February 26, 2025.

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