In-person tickets will be made available only to students, staff and faculty. Friends and family members should reach out to their graduate for all pertinent information and tickets.

Herbst Theatre
Located in: San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center
Address: 401 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102

Program

Caleb Brosnac · BM ’25, trumpet
Conrad Smith · MM ’25, trumpet
Yolanda Zheng · BM ’25, horn
Neil Advant · BM ’25, trombone
Gary Jones · MM ’25, bass trombone

WELCOME
Timothy Foo, Chair of our Board of Trustees

INTRODUCTION OF STUDENT SPEAKERS
Jonas Wright, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

STUDENT SPEAKERS
Alan Jones · BM ’25, for the undergraduate students
Manuel Fernando Calderon · MM ’25, for the graduate students

CONFERRING OF FACULTY EMERITI
David H. Stull, President

CONFERRING OF HONORARY DEGREE
David H. Stull, President

Sir Clive Gillinson: Doctor of Music, honoris causas

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
Sir Clive Gillinson

PRESENTATION OF STUDENT AWARDS
Provost’s Award for Academic Achievement: Caroline Feitosa · BM ’25
President’s Award for Academic Achievement and Leadership: William Cameron · MM ’25

PERFORMANCE
Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 2
I. Allegro moderato
IV. Presto

Amaru Quartet
Jeeihn Kim · AD ’26, violin
Mark Chen · MM ’26, violin
Erika Cho · MM ’26, viola
Seoyeon Koo · MM ’26, cello

REMARKS TO THE GRADUATING CLASS
David H. Stull, President and Special Guest

CONFERRING OF DEGREES IN COURSE
Jonas Wright, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
David H. Stull, President
Ryan Brown, Dean

CLOSING REMARKS
David H. Stull, President

RECESSIONAL
Earth, Wind, & Fire: The Stone
The RH Factor: Crazy Race

Daniel Alonso, BM ’25, saxophone
Lucas Davis · BM ’25, trumpet
Carlo Rabano · BM ’25, trombone
Nate Gilbreath · BM ’25, trombone
Tri Pham · BM ’26, guitar
Alan Jones · BM ’25, bass
Jaeden Baclay · BM ’26, drums
 

Commencement Full Program pdf

About the 2025 Commencement Speaker

Sir Clive Gillinson.

Known for his arts leadership and commitment to music education, Sir Clive Gillinson will speak as part of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s (SFCM) 2025 commencement ceremony on May 23 at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco. He will also be awarded an honorary doctorate as part of this year's graduating class celebrations.

Executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall since 2005, Gillinson is also known for his long tenure as managing director of the London Symphony Orchestra after joining the LSO as a cellist in 1970.

Under Gillinson’s leadership, Carnegie Hall has embarked upon many bold new directions over the last 20 years, transforming its concert, education, and social impact programming. This has included creating annual citywide arts festivals collaborating with leading New York City cultural institutions to explore major issues of the day through music, the visual arts, literature, film, theater, and dance; establishing Ensemble Connect, a fellowship program for the finest US-based post-graduate musicians; and launching three celebrated national youth ensembles—the National Youth Orchestra of the USA (NYO-USA), NYO2, and NYO Jazz—free programs that invite the finest teen players from across the country to gather each year for a two-week, intensive summer training residency followed by concerts at Carnegie Hall and major tours where they perform as international youth ambassadors for their country. 

“It is a great honor for me to be invited to make the commencement speech at SFCM,” Gillinson said. “It is very special to work in music in this remarkable country, where standards of performance are astonishingly high across so many genres of music. This is not only a country of great musical performers, but also a country of remarkable music institutions, none more so than the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.”