SFCM Announces Spring 2024 Schedule of Live Performances
Exciting guest artists, innovative collaborations, side-by-side performances, opera and musical theatre showcases, and three full orchestra performances, SFCM’s spring 2024 semester promises an exciting season where 90% of these concerts are free and open to the public!
As we welcome a new year, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is announcing its spring 2024 concert series, which includes three SFCM Orchestra performances, collaborations with distinguished visiting artists, as well as faculty and student concerts, creating an enthralling musical season of hundreds of live performances.
Many of this season’s concerts showcase projects developed and performed in close collaboration with leading artists and students, including several prominent artists represented on the rosters of Askonas Holt and Opus 3 Artists, the management companies acquired in recent years by SFCM.
In February the Chromatic Brass Collective, founded by Black women, will come to SFCM as an artist-in-residence, working directly with students, and culminating in a side-by-side performance with brass students. The CBC is made up of musicians whose mission is to increase the visibility of racially and ethnically underrepresented women and gender non-conforming people through the brass world.
In March, the SFCM Orchestra will welcome Mei-Ann Chen as a guest conductor. Chen, an Opus 3 Artist, is known for her extravagantly physical podium style. The orchestra will also feature the work of composition alumnus Nicolás Benavides in April. SFCM graduate Nikola Printz will also perform with the orchestra. Printz, a mezzo-soprano, has been described as "vibrant and tonally resplendent" with a "richly eloquent" voice.
This spring SFCM will also welcome il Pomo d'Oro to campus as an artist-in-residence. The orchestra, made up of some of the best in the world, is known as an ensemble of outstanding quality that combines stylistic knowledge, the highest technical skills, and artistic enthusiasm. il Pomo d'Oro musicians will deliver a masterclass, improvisation clinic, and side-by-side readings, all culminating in a performance. Il Pomo d'Oro are Askonas Holt and Pentatone recording artists.
Additional highlights:
- Masterclass visits from exciting artists include presentations from Chucho Valdez, Steven Isserlis, the Attacca Quartet, Robyn Bollinger, Christian Lindberg, Third Coast Percussion, and the return of David Russell for his annual residency with the guitar department. In addition, in a first-time collaboration of this kind at SFCM, there will be a shared voice masterclass with acclaimed opera singer Frederica von Stade and composer Jake Heggie.
- Two side-by-side collaborations with SF-based professional ensembles, conductorless chamber orchestra New Century Chamber Orchestra, guest led by Alexi Kenney, and new music ensemble San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, which includes several members of the SFCM faculty. SFCM has also partnered with the Naumburg Foundation in presenting the recent winner of their Piano Competition in recital, with our students joining for a piece.
- In March, Opus 3 Artist The Concert Truck partners with the SFCM community engagement center in bringing pop-up performances to various locations around the city. The Concert Truck is a traveling music venue that strengthens communities by redefining the concert experience and making live music accessible to everyone. SFCM students will work with the directors to program and perform these outdoor performances that will take place on a stage in a truck!
- SFCM’s popular “Chamber Music Tuesday” concert series returns this spring with several exciting guest artists, including musician Melissa White, a violinist and chamber musician critically acclaimed for the “grace, precision, and warmth" in her playing. In addition, the Jupiter String Quartet, known as an "important voice world of chamber music" and one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene," will come to SFCM. Chamber Music Tuesday is presented in collaboration with SFCM alumni, faculty, and students.
- SFCM's Opera and Musical Theatre program will present three productions. Firstly, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, a hilarious romp with unforgettable music and non-stop laughs. Proving Up, a gripping tale on the American dream, which will welcome American stage director and librettist Elkhanah Pulitzer as director of the opera, as well as conductor Steven Osgood. Wrapping up the season is Cendrillon, a re-telling of the classic fairy tale Cinderella, but with a few twists for audiences.
- SFCM's Faculty Artist Series concerts continue this spring with acclaimed baritone and professor Matthew Worth, concertmaster of San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and violin instructor Cordula Merks, principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony Jonathan Vinocour, saxophonist and instructor Jason Hainsworth, San Francisco Symphony cellist Amos Yang, and featuring works by composer David Conte.
SFCM presents over 500 performances a year, including solo recitals by students, faculty, and guest artists, and small ensemble concerts. Music fans are invited to attend these concerts and others, which are held at the new Ute and William K. Bowes, Jr. Center for Performing Arts and in the acoustically-exacting halls at the Ann Getty Center for Education. Both are located steps from City Hall and near the bustling Hayes Valley commercial corridor, home to the Davies Symphony Hall, War Memorial Opera House, and the SFJAZZ Center.
In addition to the Uccello Lounge, found inside the Bowes Center and home to innovative pre- and post-concert dining options, select SFCM concerts will offer food and drink concessions.
Calendar listings are below. Some events require ticketing. Patrons can reserve tickets online using SFCM’s website. More than 90% of these events are free and open to the public!
Please see SFCM’s performance calendar for a complete concert schedule and to register for attendance. Details and programs are subject to change.
Side-by-Side Concert with New Century Chamber Orchestra and guest leader Alexi Kenney
January 19, 2024 at 7:30 pm and January 20, 2024 at 7:30 pm.
Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA
Ann Getty Center for Education
Program:
Angélica Negrón: Marejada
Antonio Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D Major
Aaron Jay Kernis: Musica Celestis
Gabriella Smith: Selections from Desert Ecology
Georges Enescu: Octet for Strings
In a first time collaboration, SFCM students will work with and perform alongside New Century musicians with Opus 3 Artist and SFCM Pre-College alum Alexi Kenney as concertmaster for two side-by-side multi-media performances. Presented as part of SFCM’s Winter Term session, selected students will learn how to rehearse and perform in a conductor-less chamber orchestra through seminars and rehearsals with Alexi and the San Francisco-based professional ensemble.
*Tickets for these concerts must be purchased through the New Century Chamber Orchestra.
About Alexi Kenney
About New Century Chamber Orchestra
Chamber Music Tuesday with Melissa White
Tuesday, February 6th, 7:30 PM
With faculty Dimitri Murrath and Julio Elizalde
Barbro Osher Recital Hall, 200 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA
Ute and William K. Bowes Jr. Center for Performing Arts
Program:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Quartet in G Minor
Johannes Brahms: Violin Sonata in D Minor
Wynton Marsalis: selections from At the Octoroon Balls
Max Bruch: String Quintet in E-flat Major
Violin soloist and chamber musician Melissa White joins as guest artist for a performance with SFCM students, as well as chamber music faculty Dimitri Murrath and Julio Elizalde. First-prize laureate with the Sphinx Competition and founding member of the Harlem Quartet, Melissa’s residency will also include seminars and workshops with students, including yoga for musicians.
SFCM Orchestra with Edwin Outwater
Saturday, February 10th, 7:30 PM
Chih-Yao Chang, assistant conductor
Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA
Ann Getty Center for Education
Program:
Edvard Grieg: The Last Spring
Ellen Reid: Petrichor
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 “Romantic”
Edwin Outwater and his student, Chih Yao Chang, lead the SFCM Orchestra, starting with two works evoking images of nature and ending with a symphonic masterpiece. Grieg’s The Last Spring lyrically describes the beauty of spring’s awakening…possibly seen for the last time. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid gives the audience a spatial experience with Petrichor, spreading the musicians around the hall to create a sonic rain forest. This all leads to Bruckner’s monumental fourth symphony, a work that the composer revised several times in achieving his perfect symphony.
SFCM Musical Theatre presents A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Friday, February 16th, 7:30 PM, and Saturday, February 17th, 7:30 PM
Michael Mohammed, stage director
Michael Horsley, conductor
Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA
Ann Getty Center for Education
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Music by Steven Lutvak, Lyrics by Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman
SFCM’s Musical Theatre presents a hilarious romp with unforgettable music, non-stop laughs, and a scene-stealing role featuring a distant heir to a family fortune set out to speed up the line of succession by using a great deal of charm... and a dash of murder.
About SFCM Opera and Musical Theater
Brass Community Side-by-Side with Chromatic Brass Collective
Saturday, February 24, 2024, 5:00 PM
Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA
Ann Getty Center for Education
The Chromatic Brass Collective, an organization founded by Black women, is embarking on a residency at SFCM with a focus on their mission: celebrating, performing, and educating to enhance the visibility of racially and ethnically underrepresented women and gender non-conforming individuals in the brass world. The residency will culminate with a collaborative performance featuring the CBC brass quintet, in addition to brass students of all ages from SFCM, the Oakland Public Conservatory, and around the Bay Area.
About Chromatic Brass Collective
Chamber Music Tuesday with SFCM Faculty
Tuesday, March 5th, 7:30 PM
Featuring Jennifer Culp, Julio Elizalde and Simon James
Barbro Osher Recital Hall, 200 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA
Ute and William K. Bowes Jr. Center for Performing Arts
Program:
César Franck: Piano Quintet in F Minor
Gabriel Fauré: Piano Quartet in C Minor
Featuring SFCM’s renown chamber music faculty, cellist Jennifer Culp, pianist Julio Elizalde, and violinist Simon James perform with Chamber Music students, including many of their own students. Jennifer Culp is a well-traveled chamber musician, having performed with members of the Juilliard, Cleveland and Amadeus Quartets, as well as Gil Kalish, Felix Galimir, Menahem Pressler, Dawn Upshaw, Irina Schnittke, and Tom Waits. Julio Elizalde is a multifaceted artist with a versatile career as soloist, chamber musician and curator, and is the artistic director of the Olympic Music Festival. Simon James’ students have won many of the world’s top prizes, and as a violinist, Simon has held leadership positions with several prestigious orchestras.
SFCM Opera presents Proving Up
Friday, March 8th, 7:30 PM and Saturday, March 9th, 7:30 PM
Elkhanah Pulitzer, stage director
Steven Osgood, conductor
Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA
Ann Getty Center for Education
Proving Up
Composed by Missy Mazzoli, Libretto by Royce Vavrek
Director Elkhanah Pulitzer and conductor Steven Osgood join the SFCM Opera department for a production of Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up. Adapted from the short story by Karen Russell, this gripping opera is told through the story of Nebraska homesteaders in the 1870s who are trying to achieve the ultimate American dream. Elkhanah Pulitzer is known for her bold and innovative stage direction, having directed projects with major orchestras, and opera and theatre companies. Steven Osgood has conducted the world premieres of over 20 operas, and is the General and Artistic Director of the Chautauqua Opera Company.
About Opera and Musical Theatre
Technology and Applied Composition: The Future is Female Concert
Barbro Osher Recital Hall, 200 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA
Ute and William K. Bowes Jr. Center for Performing Arts
In honor of International Women’s Day, SFCM presents a concert of music by women organized by and featuring the women and gender non-conforming people of SFCM. Hosted by the Technology and Applied Composition program, or TAC, students and faculty throughout the SFCM community participate in composing, performing and celebrating this event. The annual concert features performances that explore the intersection of music, visuals, and technology.
About Technology and Applied Composition
SFCM Orchestra with guest conductor Mei-Ann Chen
Chih-Yao Chang, assistant conductor
Parker van Ostrand, piano
Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA
Ann Getty Center for Education
Program:
Ludwig van Beethoven: Coriolan Overture
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2
Unsuk Chin: Subito Con Forza
Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 4
Praised for her dynamic, passionate conducting style, SFCM welcomes Opus 3 Artist and Music Director of the Chicago Sinfonietta Mei-Ann Chen as guest conductor. The concert opens with Beethoven’s tribute to the Shakespearean story of a lonely man rebelling against the system. SFCM Piano Concerto Competition winner Parker Van Ostrand showcases his virtuosity in Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto. Chin’s short but explosive work is a tribute to Beethoven and even evokes his Coriolan Overture, and Schumann’s fourth symphony closes the concert with an intense and radical approach to the romantic form.
Chamber Music Tuesday with the Jupiter String Quartet
Barbro Osher Recital Hall, 200 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA
Ute and William K. Bowes Jr. Center for Performing Arts
Program:
Anton Arensky: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor
Nathan Shields: Medusa
Max Bruch: String Octet in B-flat Major
SFCM welcomes the Jupiter String Quartet, critically acclaimed as “an ensemble of eloquent intensity.” Grand prize winner of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and the Young Concert Artists International auditions, and recipients of the Cleveland Quartet Award and Avery Fisher Career Grant, the four members of the celebrated quartet also bring their experiences as teachers and coaches to SFCM in the week-long residency with multiple masterclasses and rehearsals.
SFCM Historical Performance Opera presents Serse
Saturday, April 6th, 7:30 PM and Sunday, April 7th, 2:00 PM
Corey Jamason, Elisabeth Reed, Marcie Stapp, directors
Corey Jamason, conductor
Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA
Ann Getty Center for Education
Program:
George Frideric Handel: Serse
One of his last and most intriguing operas, Handel’s Serse is both a dramatic and comic work of love, power and war, set in Persia and with multiple love triangles. Presented by the SFCM Historical Performance program, and performed by students from the Voice program and Baroque Ensemble, SFCM’s production of this fast-paced opera will be sung in Italian.
SFCM Roots, Jazz, and American Music: Big Band Concert
Jason Hainsworth, director
Barbro Osher Recital Hall, 200 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA
Ute and William K. Bowes Jr. Center for Performing Arts
One of SFCM's newer ensembles, this Roots, Jazz, and American Music (RJAM) ensemble pulls nearly a dozen different instruments together to take on music many have never played before. The ensemble is a collaborative performance by musicians from the RJAM, winds and strings programs, and led by the Executive Director of the RJAM program, Jason Hainsworth.
About Roots, Jazz, and American Music
SFCM Orchestra with Edwin Outwater
Nikola Printz, voice
Chih Yao Chang, assistant conductor
Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA
Ann Getty Center for Education
Program:
Nicolás Lell Benavides: Acequia (World premiere)
Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs
Maurice Ravel: Rhapsodie Espagnole
Maurice Ravel: La Valse
The SFCM Orchestra welcomes back SFCM 2013 graduate Nikola Printz to perform a song cycle set to poems by Pablo Neruda. Acequia by SFCM 2014 graduate Nicolás Lell Benavides will be a world premiere performance and was commissioned by the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. This concert also features works by Ravel including one of his first major works for orchestra, as well as La Valse, a dazzling orchestral showpiece that has inspired intense debate about its true meaning.