SFCM is proud to welcome Tim Keeler, Music Director of GRAMMY-award winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, as its new Chorus Director.

"I am beyond excited that Tim Keeler is joining SFCM as the new director of the Conservatory Chorus," Voice Department Executive Chair Richard Cox says. "As Music Director of Chanticleer, Tim brings incredible experience as an active singer, conductor, and educator that will inspire our entire community. He is a shining example of the innovative careers musicians can build in the vocal arts!"

Keeler is passionate about "redefining the singer as a consummate musician," and has a wealth of experience in traditional liturgical choral singing as well as the avant-garde and contemporary side of ensemble singing.

"Singing is such an intrinsic part of musical expression, no matter whether you're a violinist or trombone player," Keeler says. "Singing is all around us, and it's a part of everyone, no matter what, and the chorus at SFCM, I think, is really special and really unique: I think it can and should be a great model for any music school."

Chanticleer rehearses with the SFCM Chorus.

SFCM's chorus is a mandatory part of the curriculum, which Keeler says affords an opportunity for building community across the entire student body. "The benefits to this ensemble are twofold. Anyone in a conservatory setting should have the opportunity to experiment with their voice, because if you can audiate and produce a sound yourself, then it becomes so much easier for you to do that on your instrument. It's also an opportunity for so much of the student body to come together to achieve one goal: Not everyone will be in orchestra or opera or a musical together, but all those departments come together in the same room for chorus to do something; the opportunity for class cohesion is through the roof."

Keeler is interested in programming repertoire that overlaps and enhances SFCM instrumentalists' other educational opportunities; for example, the fourth movement of Johannes Brahms's A German Requiem. "He's one of those composers who everybody plays at some point or the other, so having orchestral students sing that gives them another perspective on his work when they come across it as instrumentalists."

Chanticleer's Tim Keeler works with students.

Chanticleer was founded in San Francisco in 1978 and remains an indelible part of the city's arts landscape, having given masterclasses and side-by-side performances at SFCM frequently in recent years. Represented by Opus 3 Artists, one of two management companies that are part of SFCM's alliance of industry partners (alongside Askonas Holt), the ensemble has historically had a focus on community-building Keeler wants to remain a throughline in his work at SFCM.

"You can think of any art as some sort of community-building apparatus, and choruses are the number-one example of that because anybody can join, regardless of musical training," he says. "There are so many different aspects to making music that involve the community. So there's that opportunity within SFCM, but the Conservatory isn't an island, and students don't want to feel like they're alone within the wider community of San Francisco."

Learn more about the Conservatory Chorus.