A few SFCM students are holding (nearly) every breath they take.

Two-dozen-plus Conservatory musicians are joining Police drummer Stewart Copeland on SFJAZZ's largest stage for two concerts in April for performances celebrating SFCM's donors and raising funds for its programs. Copeland's "Police Deranged for Orchestra" project, in which the drummer rearranges classic hits from the band into pieces with strings, horns, and extra percussion accompaniment, was originally booked for one night, but expanded to two because of high demand.

Amithav Gautam.

And for two students in SFCM's Roots, Jazz, and American Music Program (RJAM), there are deep (and overseas) roots to Copeland's music.

"My dad was actually going to go and see a Sting concert back in India," RJAM guitarist Amithav Gautam says. "And then my mom went into labor, so he had to miss the Sting concert to be there for my birth. So the doctors actually called me Sting when I was born: That was my first name. True story."

Stewart Copeland (Credit: Raphael Pour-Hashemi).

Gautam started at SFCM in 2024, marking his first extended time in the U.S. Like many other guitarists, he grew up entranced by Police guitarist Andy Summers' deceptively complicated guitar work in the Police. "I'm a huge fan, so when I learned this was happening, I was just like, 'This is a dream come true.'"

Gautam—whose guitar playing was highlighted last year by a local CBS station—is notching another first with the concert as well: "I've never played with an orchestra before." He adds, "I played with the RJAM Big Band before, but this, with a huge orchestra string section, is so much fun for me. Gautam is also excited about Copeland's arrangements: "It's quite an interesting concept because he's taking the music of The Police and adding different sections. It's not like direct versions of the piece you hear on the record."

Tania Cosma.

RJAM students frequently play SFJAZZ's Joe Henderson Lab—which has space for 100 audience members, standing—in side-by-side concerts with their teachers, but the venue's Robert N. Miner Auditorium—which seats up to 700—is quite a step up. "Every time I go to SFJAZZ, I'm like, 'OK, one day, maybe I can do it,'" Gautam says about the big room. "And here, it's happening!'" (SFJAZZ was designed by Mark Cavagnero Associates, the same architects who've won multiple awards for designing SFCM's Bowes Center.)

"This overshadows everything," Gautam grins. "It's the biggest gig I've ever had in my life. This is like the highlight of my life so far."

Gautam's fellow RJAM-mer Tania Cosma also grew up listening to the Police, though on a different continent, and, as a drummer, with an ear for Copeland's masterful work on the kit. "Romanians love rock music," she says. "So I grew up playing it, it was my first interaction with music. And Stewart Copeland, especially, was my favorite drummer back then."

Cosma has the intimidating task of occupying Copeland's drum seat for songs in which he picks up the guitar. "At first it was like, 'Okay, I'm playing drums for rehearsal.' Then they explained, 'Stewart's gonna do something else at these points, and you're gonna play the drums for that.' So I got the charts, I knew there would be a couple of rehearsals and then the two shows. Fortunately I knew one of the songs, 'The Bed's Too Big Without You,' already."

Getting an inside-out view of Copeland's drum parts has Cosma thrilled. "I'd heard ['The Bed's Too Big Without You' a bunch of times in my life, but I'd never really sat down with a chart in front of me and to really listen. So the first time, it was like, 'Oh my God, I'm hearing all these things now that I'm also seeing them." She continues, "Stewart makes all his grooves so seemingly easy. But there are all these layers pulling the whole thing together. That's what I find really interesting about his playing: It has all these moving parts that are easy to digest and fluid, and make sense for the song, but he just has so much independence between his limbs. And he has a compositional sense approaching the drum set: Everything he does is so intentional and logical."

Xitlalli Estrella.

"Doing these popular songs with an orchestra sure is really cool to see," Cosma adds. "The arrangements intelligently blend the genres, without making it sound like, 'We're trying to come up with this new genre;' they just feel so cohesive."

Xitlalli Estrella is a walking expression of that blend: At SFCM, she studies both classical and jazz clarinet and saxophone. She's playing baritone sax for the concert, and says, "When he says, 'de-arrangement', he really means it. You listen to the original songs and they're so cool but Stewart did some interesting and creative things to all of them: "Once the arrangements came and we saw all the parts, it was like, "Oh my gosh, he did some really crazy stuff."

Ezekiel (Zeke) Sokoloff.

Meanwhile, violinist Ezekiel Sokoloff found himself occupying a different role in Copeland's work. "Violins are usually a melodic instrument in an orchestra, but we're now part of the rhythm section. The melody lines are obviously being sung, but the saxophones and brass instruments have most of the big melodies, so the violin is really sitting back and grooving, and it's really fun."

Sokoloff is also opposite something of a stranger to the orchestral stage: The drum kit. "We're on one side and the drum set is on the other, so it's just really about locking in with whatever the drummer's doing as soon as possible. As classical musicians, we're trained to be very precise with where the beat is exactly, but when you play with jazz musicians, they have a different sense of pushing and pulling the exact placement of that, where it's still very precise but also loose, and that's so interesting to play with.

Sokoloff is making his SFJAZZ debut with the shows. "We got to play [the San Francisco Symphony's] Davies Hall last year, and now I can I say I got to do the same at SFJAZZ."

Learn more about studying Roots, Jazz, and American Music, clarinet, or violin at SFCM.