The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) will acquire Opus 3 Artists, forming an unprecedented strategic alliance that links the leading management company for professional musicians and ensembles with the students, faculty and community of one of the world’s finest conservatories. The acquisition is the first of its kind and creates a new operating model committed to artistic excellence from the training of young musicians to the premier representation of professional artists around the world. The alliance is effective immediately.

Opus 3 Artists will continue to operate as an autonomous company, delivering global management services for over 250 distinguished artists. SFCM remains an independent conservatory serving almost 500 of the most talented students from around the world. David H. Stull, President of SFCM, will serve as Chairman of the alliance, overseeing a joint strategic leadership team charged with building a sustainable economic model that leverages infrastructure and provides new resources for collaboration and creative production. David V. Foster will continue as President and CEO of Opus 3 Artists. The alliance is being announced concurrently with the launch of the new SFCM Bowes Center, a state-of-the art residence, training and performance facility for students and professional artists, opening this month.

“SFCM and Opus 3 are dedicated to supporting the finest artists of our time and cultivating the emerging talent of tomorrow,” said Stull. “This ambitious model will support a mutual amplification of mission and provide a platform for limitless artistic collaboration and project development. By coming together, our two institutions will also create new pathways for diverse artists and leaders to enter the profession. I am deeply grateful to our anonymous angel investor who made this possible.”

Foster added, “The alliance is a triumph of new thinking and possibility for the future at a critical time in the performing arts. Thoughtful and imaginative collaboration is the currency of success for our common future. Opus 3’s artist managers and staff enthusiastically embrace this opportunity for ourselves and our clients, and we all share the aspiration to keep music vibrant and to support participation for all in every community.”

SFCM and Opus 3 Artists Alliance Program

Driven by a common mission of advancing music at the highest level, SFCM and Opus 3 Artists believe that the path to the future must represent the magnificent diversity found in all of our communities. The ethos of the alliance—that creativity and excellence can only prosper in a culture of equity and inclusion—will inform the following initiatives, which will be announced independently by the Fall of 2022:

Commissions, recordings, and innovative projects

Opus 3 artists will have opportunities to advance their own work through commissions from composers, undertake new recording projects, and test new ideas in collaboration with colleagues. The alliance will allow Opus 3 artists to visit San Francisco, reside in the Bowes Center, and experiment with new ideas. This opportunity for creative work expands on the SFCM’s existing commitment to a 10-Year Emerging Black Composers Project with the San Francisco Symphony. In addition, SFCM’s Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program, in which over half the students are women, leads in developing educational partnerships with pioneers in music production based in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Dolby Laboratories, Sony Music Entertainment, Skywalker Sound, Meyer Sound Laboratories, sE Electronics, and Electronic Arts. These commissions, recordings and innovative projects will leverage the favorable economies of being hosted in the educational and production facilities of SFCM.

SFCM/Opus 3 Artist Apprentice Program

Opus 3 Artists and SFCM will develop a global program to identify the leading artists of tomorrow. These young apprentices will be fully funded and based in San Francisco at the new Bowes Center. They will be mentored and presented on occasion by Opus 3, and work closely with artists from within the profession toward the goal of a career in the performing arts sector.

Arts Leaders Professional Degree Program

Students interested in careers in arts management will have internship opportunities with Opus 3 Artists and work within a Professional Degree program at SFCM. This will provide an unparalleled opportunity for emerging arts leaders.

Enhanced global engagement


SFCM and Opus 3 Artists share the belief that every child, regardless of circumstance, must have the opportunity to engage with music and the performing arts. To that end, both institutions are committed to harnessing their collective resources to advance this goal through advocacy, collaboration, teaching, performance, and programming. Through the alliance, SFCM and Opus 3 will launch new ideas and models for supporting arts education, publish and distribute scientific evidence that informs the necessity of music for child development, and more. Further details on these initiatives will be announced in the year ahead.

Ute and William K. Bowes, Jr. Center for Performing Arts


SFCM’s new Ute and William K. Bowes, Jr. Center for Performing Arts, a 12-story residence and education center within steps of San Francisco’s leading performing arts organizations, provides affordable, high quality housing for over 400 students and seven residential suites for visiting professional artists and guest faculty. The SFCM and Opus 3 Artists communities will have access to these state-of-the art education and artistic facilities that include a recording studio, two recital halls, a restaurant with a live performance venue, and a street level recital space for free community performances.

About the Organizations:

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), located in the Civic Center of San Francisco, is a nexus of creativity and achievement with unparalleled educational resources and support. Recognized in the National media for its ground-breaking initiatives, SFCM has embarked on a decisive path to provide exceptional opportunities for aspiring 21st-century artists and innovators. Through partnerships with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, and SFJAZZ, and within a curriculum that prizes craft, imagination, intellectual discovery, and business acumen, the Conservatory offers students a unique pathway to success in any endeavor. Legendary for its enduring commitment to chamber music, SFCM has continually amplified its offerings with new opportunities such as Roots, Jazz, and American Music (RJAM) and the ground-breaking Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program which allows students to collaborate with pioneers in music production and enjoys a nearly 100% placement rate within the profession.
Recent student success includes membership in the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet and Opera Orchestras, the Dallas and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras, as well as numerous arts leaders and gold medalists in the Naumburg Competition. In addition, graduates are pursuing degrees at Stanford Medical School, as well as working at Facebook, Google, Pixar and many other Silicon Valley companies. Distinguished alumni include individuals ranging from Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin and George Duke, to Aaron Jay Kernis, Gordon Getty, Elsa van den Heever, Barbara Eden, and James Freeman, the founder of Blue Bottle Coffee. While SFCM alumni are Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize Winners and found in every major orchestra and opera company in the world, they proudly undertake extraordinary work as teachers and advocates. The new and ultra-modern Bowes Center provides a $200M expansion to the exceptional campus at 50 Oak Street that was completed in 2006. SFCM is committed to advancing music at the highest level within a culture of equity and inclusion, while providing each student with a transformative education for life. 

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Opus 3 Artists, an established leader in artist management, represents an extensive roster of many of the world’s most distinguished artists and performing ensembles including classical instrumentalists, vocalists, conductors and composers as well as managing the touring activities of an impressive array of orchestras, chamber ensembles, vocal ensembles, jazz and world music artists and ensembles; dance companies; theater companies, family and holiday concerts; special attractions and those who defy categorization. Opus 3 is internationally recognized as a known leader in identifying and nurturing young artists, working with them to establish the network and foundation necessary for the development of their careers. With offices in New York and Berlin, Opus 3 Artists employs a respected team of managers, booking agents, publicity and tour production specialists who share a passion for artistic excellence, responding to the needs and expectations of the artists they represent as well as those of orchestras and presenting organizations of every size throughout the world.

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