SFCM announces its Fall 2020 concert series, launching September 28 and featuring an expansive line-up of free live-streamed performances. While SFCM’s concert halls and campus are closed to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic, this digital concert series will bring performances from SFCM’s talented students, renowned faculty, and accomplished alumni directly to audiences around the globe.

“SFCM has extraordinary capabilities at the forefront of audio and streaming technology, allowing our students to perform together seamlessly from various spaces on campus,” said Conservatory President David H. Stull. “This real-time collaboration forms the basis for our live-streamed concerts and offers a distinct advantage to students competing in a densely populated digital performance market.”

Music and (e)Motion

SFCM’s 2020–21 season theme, “Music and (e)Motion,” features thematically linked repertoire and curriculum exploring the ways in which music moves us, from meaningful emotional connections to the more literal embodiment of breath and rhythm experienced by instrumentalists, singers, and dancers.

As SFCM returns this fall with a hybrid learning model, state-of-the art technology in the new Bowes Center and the existing campus allow for students to continue ensemble training while remaining safely distanced from one another. Via the Dante system of A/V connectivity, students can rehearse and perform in separate spaces utilizing ethernet signal rather than traditional analog cables. This enhanced audio networking capability means ensembles of all sizes can see and perform together without latency. The digital audio feed is then able to be mixed via software and streamed to audiences.

(e)Motion Boost

Of the 68 concerts streaming this fall, eight performances across genres have been specially chosen to bring audiences an “(e)Motion Boost.” These programs will feature expertly filmed, multi-camera HD video in addition to composer interviews, faculty storytelling, trivia factoids, and mini-documentaries on how each program was made.

Thursday, October 15

Telegraph Quartet: A Beethoven favorite and Telegraph Quartet’s origin story, plus living composer Eleanor Alberga speaking from London.

Friday, October 30

String and Piano Chamber Music: Students, alumni, and faculty perform together; high profile alums and department chair Dimitri Murrath share how SFCM’s chamber music program keeps producing big job winners.

Wednesday, November 18

Brass Ensemble: Works by acclaimed brass composers and players, including a piece for brass, wood, stone, and steel.

Thursday, November 19

RJAM (Roots, Jazz, and American Music) Side-by-Side: Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder, and other legends anchor this program in which jazz faculty superstars perform alongside their students.

Monday, November 30

Simon James Faculty Recital: Simon James’ career spans an orchestra job with Seattle Symphony, studio recordings for film and game scores, and teaching—all explored here in the making of a multi-dimensional violinist.

Saturday, December 12

Chamber Orchestra with Edwin Outwater: Edwin Outwater makes his debut as SFCM’s new Music Director in a program of Copland, Brahms, and William Grant Still.

Friday, December 18

Radio Operas: Voice and opera students will perform two one-act operas, The Old Maid and The Thief and Comedy on the Bridge, the way they were conceived in the 1930s – as stories to be told via the airwaves!

Friday, January 8

SFCM Orchestra: What We Do On the Stage: A concert filmed on location at SFCM and around San Francisco, led by Edwin Outwater.

For further details about SFCM”s fall “(e)Motion Boost” performances visit www.sfcm.edu/2020SeasonAnnouncement.

Edwin Outwater Debut

This fall marks conductor Edwin Outwater’s official debut as SFCM Music Director, leading two SFCM Orchestra performances as part of the “(e)Motion Boost” series. Streaming on December 12 and January 8, these concerts will feature smaller ensembles performing works by William Grant Still, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Pauline Oliveros, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Ted Hearne, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johannes Brahms, and more.

Jessie Montgomery Residency

American violinist, composer, and music educator Jessie Montgomery joins SFCM as artist-in-residence for the 2020–21 season, offering a series of masterclasses with both collegiate and Pre-College divisions, as well as a composition seminar. Montgomery’s music—which interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, language, and social justice—has been commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, New World Symphony, The Sphinx Organization, and the National Symphony, among others.

More Online

Additional concerts this fall include department performances, wind ensemble concerts, faculty recitals, student recitals, early music performances, and more. All 68 SFCM fall concerts will be streamed for free online. See SFCM’s performance calendar for the complete concert schedule and to register.