The San Francisco Conservatory of Music announced the appointment of Grammy-winning musician and conductor Eric Dudley as music director of the SFCM Orchestra for the 2016–17 academic year. Scott Sandmeier, music director of the SFCM Orchestra since 2013, will resume his European conducting and teaching activities on a year-round basis beginning in the fall of 2016.

Eric Dudley enjoys a busy schedule of performances in the U.S. and abroad as a multifaceted 21st-century musician. After distinguished tenures as assistant conductor for both the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Princeton Symphony, he also recently appeared as principal conductor for the 2015 Bendigo Festival of Exploratory Music in Australia. Recent career highlights include guest conducting engagements with the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), Hartford Symphony Orchestra (Connecticut), TENET Vocal Ensemble and Signal Ensemble (New York City), International Contemporary Ensemble at the Ojai Music Festival (California), and the Melbourne International Arts Festival (Australia). He currently teaches at Mannes School of Music in New York, where he is the music director of the Mannes Prep Philharmonic and The New School Chorus. In addition to Eric’s work as a conductor, he is a member of the cutting-edge vocal ensemble, Roomful of Teeth. The ensemble won their first Grammy in 2014, and is currently nominated for “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance” for their album Render, which includes one of Dudley’s compositions.

“Our orchestral program is thriving thanks to Scott Sandmeier's leadership. We are grateful to Scott for his extraordinary contributions over the past three years, and we look forward to welcoming him back as a guest conductor in upcoming seasons,” said SFCM Provost and Dean Kate Sheeran. “I know our orchestra and our entire community will benefit from Eric’s experience, artistry and joy, and Scott and Eric will work together to ensure a smooth transition and continued excellence.”

Scott Sandmeier will be resuming his position as professor of conducting and director of orchestral studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, and he recently celebrated his 25th anniversary as artistic director of Orchestre de Chambre de la Gironde, a chamber orchestra and summer festival in southwestern France. He has ongoing relationships as a guest conductor with orchestras in France, Germany and Portugal, and he has taught and conducted at prominent conservatories throughout the U.S. and Europe, notably the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and DePaul Universities, the Berlin University of the Arts and the Paris Conservatory. From 1998 through 2006 he was also conductor-in-residence at the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina. A native of Los Angeles, Sandmeier received his training at California Institute of the Arts, the University of Southern California, the University of Michigan, The Juilliard School and the Paris Conservatory.