What better way to remember a beloved collaborator than an annual commission for a collaboration?

The Kristin Pankonin American Art Song Award Showcase, an annual opportunity by the Conservatory to remember one of its own, returns in 2025 on Nov. 12.

From left: David Garner, Cathy Cook, and Lisa Delan.

Pankonin received her master's degree in Collaborative Piano from SFCM in 1989 and quickly established herself as a dedicated collaborator at both the Conservatory and Mills College. If one measure of a musician's caliber is the company they keep, Pankonin was a sterling example of that: She championed new composers, working frequently with John Corigliano, Gordon Getty, and SFCM's Jake Heggie and David Garner, and had long-lasting musical partnerships with SFCM and Bay Area opera icons Catherine Cook and Frederica "Flicka" Von Stade.

"Kristin and I had kind of the same track at the Conservatory," Garner (below right) recalls. "We never left, you know? My first teaching job there overlapped with my bachelor's degree, and Kristin got her degree here and was a collaborative pianist for a long time."

Xingyue Song

Pankonin was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, and Garner remembers, "I called her 'the Iron Lady,' because she worked up until the point where she couldn't play anymore. She died in July 2014 and was still gigging in 2013, which was unheard of."

Singer Lisa Delan, a frequent collaborator of Pankonin's, commissioned and premiered works of Garner's with Pankonin. Some of these were recorded and released on three albums for Pentatone, years before the record label was acquired by SFCM in 2022, part of the Conservatory's alliance of leading industry partners including Askonas Holt and Opus 3 Artists.

"As a collaborative pianist, Kristin was unparalleled," Delan says. "She could spend hours with her musical partners delving into multiple interpretations, all while coaching diction or articulation, giving gentle technical reminders, and reading scores like a bat out of hell." 

Delan continued, "Kristin worked with a plethora of living composers and ushered countless new works into the canon. She was fearless. And whether on stage or in the recording studio, she was a rock, a foundation that would not let you falter. To make music with Kristin was a joy. Gordon Getty and I established the Kristin Pankonin fund to honor our dear friend and treasured colleague by nurturing new works and collaborations, enriching the world of art song Kristin loved so passionately, and upon which she left her inimitable mark."

The award named for her is a $3,000 commission given to a currently enrolled student composer, singer, and pianist to work together to create an extended vocal work or set of songs. Recipients are announced in spring, and perform their winning works in the fall semester.

Judges for this years' competition included Jodi Goble, whose work Meow and Forever won a National Opera Association Award after it was staged at SFCM, and SFCM alumni Brian Thorsett (voice faculty at Virginia Tech) and Brian Fitzsousa, now a coach/accompanist at The Metropolitan Opera.

This year's Pankonin Award winners are Xingyue Song, composer (BM 2025; studio of Mason Bates), Mila Zhou, mezzo-soprano (BM 2026; studio of Susanne Mentzer), and Niyang Wang, pianist (MM 2025; studio of Tim Bach).

SFCM student Zoe Yost.

However, in a first for the Pankonin Awards, based on the strength of the applicants, a runner-up composer will also be showcased at the recital: Composer and violist Zoe Yost, who studies with David Conte and Dimitri Murrath, will have a song featured at the Nov. 12 concert, alongside Charles McGregor, baritone (BM 2027; studio of Matthew Worth), and Oliver Moore, pianist (BM 2023; MM 2025; studio of Garrick Ohlsson).

Garner says that the first several years of the Pankonin Showcase performances were programmed with singers who had worked directly with Kristin. But even as the Showcase evolved to reflect student singers, Pankonin's legacy as a generous and talented collaborator ensures that new generations of musicians will get a chance to have their music heard—something she no doubt would have loved.

Reserve your seats here for The Kristin Pankonin American Art Song Award Showcase on Nov. 12, and learn more about studying Voice, Collaborative Piano, or Composition at SFCM.