The curtain has officially risen on the 108th season of SFCM, and the music's only getting better.

SFCM President David H. Stull, Provost Jonas Wright, and Dean Ryan Brown welcomed students to the start of another school year Friday, and this fall, there is plenty to celebrate.

"This institution stands for freedom of expression across the world," President Stull began. "Music is essential to life, and education is the best promise for tomorrow … Our mission as artists is to express our common humanity."

President David Stull addresses SFCM students at Convocation.

This year, SFCM has 447 total enrolled students across its undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate programs. "You are part of .001 percent of all college students in America because you can focus, you can take constructive criticism. You are light years ahead of the rest.'

"If there's one thing I want to say to you," President Stull added, "It's that technique and craft are essential, but only in how much they liberate you and your talent, your creativity, your imagination. Those are the reasons why you're here, why we're here."

Stull added that while discipline and rigor are important parts of studying music, "You're allowed to have fun as musicians,' and jokingly ordered the students to take time out the following day to do an activity just for themselves.

This year's convocation included speeches from school leadership, performances and awards to faculty and staff.

Presser Undergraduate Scholarship winner Carlos Alvarez.

Dean Brown awarded the annual Presser Undergraduate Scholarship, naming Carlos Alvarez, a percussion student studying with Jacob Nissly, as the recipient. The award is named for Theodore Presser, whose namesake company is the longest continually operating music publisher in the United States. The Presser Foundation supports music organizations, undergraduate and graduate music students, and retired music teachers.

Alvarez's teacher, Jake Nissly, said, "Carlos has been a role model for the percussion studio since he arrived on campus. I have never had a student work harder nor show more progress during their time at SFCM. Carlos made his SF Symphony debut alongside me in May; I can't think of a more deserving student to have that opportunity."

From left: President David Stull, Provost Jonas Wright, and Director of Recording Services Jason O'Connell.

Provost Wright awarded the Sarlo Award to professor Jason O'Connell, Director of SFCM's Recording Services and a longtime faculty member in the Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program, as well as a multi-GRAMMY winner. The Sarlo Family Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes exceptional faculty members for their outstanding contributions to teaching.

"Jason was hired here on July 17, 2007—and I'm saying that because, what, were you 17 when we hired you?" Provost Wright quipped about O'Connell, before adding, "Jason embodies to me what it means to be a teacher."

"Receiving this award today means a great deal to me," O'Connell said, revealing that he had severe hearing problems as a child that affected his hearing and speech for years afterward. His therapy, he says, "taught me what it means to be heard .. Music was a language that didn't care how I spoke, only how I listened."

O'Connell—whose career as a violist was derailed when he broke a finger on a hike before he shifted to audio engineering—closed by saying, "If I have one piece of advice, it's 'Set lofty goals, but stay open to the unexpected, because sometimes life takes you in different directions, and it might turn out to be better than you'd ever expected."

The Amaru Quartet performs at SFCM's 2025 Convocation.

SFCM's 2025 Convocation concluded with a performance of the first movement of Mozart's String Quartet No. 17 in B-flat Major by the Amaru Quartet, a student chamber ensemble consisting of Jeeihn Kim and Mark Chen on violin, Erika Cho on viola, and Lindsay McKenna on cello.

"Each and every one of you is a storyteller, whether you know it or not, and we really need stories in the world right now," President Stull said. "It's this incredible superpower you have inside of yourselves.."

With that, the superheroes of SFCM got back to work.

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