Curricular Focus and Season's Events Linked to Highlight

Intersection of Performance and Study

Event Highlights:

Kick-off Weekend featuring a special "100 Guitars" concert that includes the West Coast premiere of David Lang's questionnaire

Artist residencies (Leon Fleisher, Garrick Ohlsson, Warren Jones, Geoff Nuttall, Donald and Vivian Weilerstein, Patricia Racette, and the Miró Quartet)

Third Biennial Stephen and Cynthia Rubin Institute for Music Criticism

Opera performances including Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw,
Handel's Atalanta, Puccini's Suor Angelica, Massenet's Le portrait de Manon, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas

Lou Harrison centennial celebration concert

Special pre-election New Music Ensemble concert with activist Angela Davis

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today announces the details of its 2016-17 season. Continuing the trend set in recent years by SFCM's intrepid approach to programming and curricular focus, this season offers events devoted to interlinking themes that stretch from academics to performance. The fall semester covers music, politics, and social justice, investigating aspects of social and political change in musical commentary from Beethoven's political influences to nineteenth-century French opera to the activism of Lou Harrison. The spring semester concentrates on folk elements and regional traditions in music and literature throughout the repertoire. These domains are explored in the contexts of history, theory, the humanities, and performance.

"The 2016-17 season at SFCM is exceptional in both quality and scale," says San Francisco Conservatory of Music President David H. Stull. "We are pleased to welcome celebrated artists Deborah Voigt, Susanne Mentzer, and Eric Dudley to our faculty, who will be featured throughout the year. Our connected learning series will focus on politics and social justice in the fall and global folk influences in the spring. This new direction in long-form curation intertwines the academic focus of each term with the events and performances at SFCM, creating an elegant season linked by themes and ideas. The series is designed to tell a story, harnessing every outlet at the institution from the classroom to the concert hall."

An SFCM tradition, Kick-off Weekend showcases the breadth of programs at SFCM by presenting several department-specific concerts. This short festival runs from September 16-18 and features a chamber music concert highlighting works by Shostakovich and Rzewski; an orchestra concert welcoming incoming music director Eric Dudley (of Roomful of Teeth); a "100 Guitars" extravaganza with works by Terry Riley and Henry Brant, as well as the West Coast premiere of David Lang's questionnaire; and a historical performance program covering social justice and income inequality through the music of Rodgers and Hart, Noël Coward, Kurt Weill, Irving Berlin, and other masters of vaudeville and early American and British musical theatre.

As artist residencies have been a staple at SFCM, the 2016-17 season offers several unique opportunities for students and concertgoers to experience performances and master classes featuring world-renowned artists. Of particular note are the season-long residencies with pianists Leon Fleisher (September, November, February, and March) and SFCM's most recent honorary doctorate recipient Garrick Ohlsson (October, January, and April). Additional residencies include those of pianist Warren Jones (October), violinist Geoff Nuttall (November), violin and piano duo Donald and Vivian Weilerstein (November), soprano Patricia Racette (January), and the Miró Quartet (January).

In October, SFCM will again host the biennial Stephen and Cynthia Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. This third incarnation of the Institute will feature internationally recognized journalists from the classical music world including Anne Midgette, Tim Page, John Rockwell, Alex Ross, and Heidi Waleson, as well as San Francisco critic Joshua Kosman. The Rubin Institute offers a select number of fellows the opportunity to receive mentorship from some of the most visible and respected classical music writers today. Fellows will observe and comment on performances by the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and more. On the final day of the Institute, the $10,000 Rubin Prize in Music Criticism will be awarded to one Rubin Institute fellow demonstrating outstanding promise in music criticism. The public is also invited to vie for the chance to win the $1,000 Everyone's a Critic Audience Review Prize by submitting a review of one or more performances during the Institute.

The 2016-17 opera season at SFCM offers four works, giving students the opportunity to experience firsthand the styles that have defined musical periods. Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw comes to the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall for multiple performances in December. In addition, the opera program teams with the historical performance department to present Handel's Atalanta (concert version) in March and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in April. Also in April, a double bill features two one-act operas: Puccini's Suor Angelica and Massenet's Le portrait de Manon.

The Conservatory Orchestra is also taking on adventurous programming in the new curated season with incoming music director Eric Dudley. Tying into the theme centered around music, politics, and social justice, the year's first orchestra performance in September features Joan Tower's Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1 and John Adams' The Chairman Dances, as well as Beethoven's Symphony No. 3. An additional orchestra concert in October features works by Shostakovich and Brahms, and the world premiere of SFCM student David Grahame Taylor's Within a Forest Dark (a winner of SFCM's Highsmith Award). In the spring semester, SFCM's annual Concerto Competition winners - Ian Rowe (guitar), Yilin Liu (piano), and Won Lee (flute) - will perform works by Joaquín Rodrigo, Liszt, and Lowell Liebermann, respectively. Two additional concerts highlight global folk influences with works by Smetana, Ravel, Dvořák, Barber, Stravinsky, and Ruth Crawford Seeger.

The New Music Ensemble, a fixture at SFCM since former faculty member John Adams helmed the group in the 1970s, will perform several concerts this year. In September, conductor Nicole Paiement leads the group in a concert featuring works by Hans Werner Henze and Giya Kancheli, and on November 4, visiting artist Alan Pierson (Alarm Will Sound) gives a pre-election concert featuring Ted Hearne's Katrina Ballads and Frederic Rzewski's Coming Together with special guest Angela Davis. In April, Paiement once again conducts the New Music Ensemble in a concert in observance of the centennial of Lou Harrison.

The popular Faculty Artist Series returns in the 2016-17 season to feature acclaimed SFCM artists from multiple departments. (See chronological listing for details.) Another active SFCM series is Alumni Artist Insights, which welcomes back exceptional graduates who continue to perform at the highest level. This season, SFCM presents tenor Brian Thorsett ('04) in October and pianist Elizabeth Dorman ('09) in March in addition to several artists performing on the Faculty Artist Series who are both graduates and faculty members. The Hot Air Music Festival, an SFCM tradition, returns this year for an all-day contemporary music event on March 5, programmed and produced by alumni and current SFCM students and featuring a number of new works.

For more information on programs, faculty, and events, visit sfcm.edu.

Chronological Listing of Events:

*CHH: Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall
*RH: Sol Joseph Recital Hall
*OS: Osher Salon

(More details on programs, repertoire, and other events not listed here are updated throughout the season and are available at sfcm.edu/performances.)

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Paul Hersh piano/lecturer
Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 2 PM, CHH
with Hye Yeong Min '09 piano

Brahms: Chaconne in D Minor for the Left Hand (after Bach's Partita for Solo Violin, BWV 1004)
Schubert: Fantasy in F Minor for Four Hands, D. 940

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Richard Savino guitar
Monday, September 12, 2016 at 7:30 PM, CHH

KICK-OFF WEEKEND | Music for Strings and Piano
Friday, September 16, 2016 at 8 PM, CHH

Works by Shostakovich and Frederic Rzewski

KICK-OFF WEEKEND | Pre-College Concert
Saturday, September 17, 2016 at 5:30 PM, RH

KICK-OFF WEEKEND | Orchestra
Saturday, September 17, 2016 at 8 PM, CHH
with Eric Dudley conductor

Joan Tower: Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1
John Adams: The Chairman Dances
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica"

KICK-OFF WEEKEND | 100 Guitars
Sunday, September 18, 2016 at 2 PM, CHH
with David Tanenbaum '78 guitar
and others

Terry Riley: When bad things fall from the sky
Henry Brant: Rosewood
David Lang: questionnaire (West Coast Premiere)

KICK-OFF WEEKEND | Historical Performance
Sunday, September 18, 2016 at 5 PM, RH

"The Good Ol' Dollar Bill"
Songs about social justice, economic inequality, and treasuring the small things in life from vaudeville and early American and British musical theatre. Works by Rodgers and Hart, Noël Coward, Marc Blitzstein, Kurt Weill, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern.

KICK-OFF WEEKEND | Technology and Applied Composition (TAC)
Sunday, September 18, 2016 at 7 PM, OS

Performances by TAC students and faculty

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Jean-Michel Fonteneau cello
Monday, September 19, 2016 at 7:30 PM, RH
with Jodi Levitz viola
Bettina Mussumeli violin
Alisa Rose '07 violin
Xin Zhao '17 piano

Piatigorsky: Three Pieces for Solo Cello
Hindemith: Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 25, No. 3
Porter: String Quartet No. 3
Shostakovich: Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor, Op. 40

NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE | Intentions
Wednesday, September 21, 2016 at 8 PM, CHH
with Nicole Paiement conductor

Works of Hans Werner Henze and Giya Kancheli

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Wei He '98 violin
Sunday, September 25, 2016 at 2 PM, CHH
with Jay Liu viola
Amos Yang cello
Yoshikazu Nagai piano
Amy Chiu '93 piano

Dvořák: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 87
and other works TBA

ARTIST RESIDENCY | Leon Fleisher piano
Tuesday-Thursday, September 27-29, 2016

SPECIAL EVENT | Pacific Voice Conference Concert
Saturday, October 1, 2016 at 8 PM, CHH

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Jeffrey Anderson tuba
Sunday, October 2, 2016 at 8 PM, RH

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Jodi Levitz viola
Monday, October 3, 2016 at 7:30 PM, CHH
with Robin Sutherland '75 piano
and Carlos Ortega clarinet

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Switchboard Music
Monday, October 10, 2016 at 7:30 PM, CHH
with Ryan Brown '05 composition
Jeff Anderle '06 clarinet
Annie Phillips '10 clarinet

ALUMNI ARTIST INSIGHTS | Brian Thorsett '04 tenor
Tuesday, October 11, 2016 at 8 PM, RH

ARTIST RESIDENCY | Garrick Ohlsson piano
Friday, October 14, 2016

SPECIAL EVENT | Rubin Institute for Music Criticism
Thursday-Monday, October 20-24, 2016

ORCHESTRA | Concert
Saturday, October 22, 2016 at 8 PM, CHH
Sunday, October 23, 2016 at 2 PM, CHH
with Eric Dudley conductor
Evan Kahn '18 cello

David Grahame Taylor '17: Within a Forest Dark (World Premiere, Highsmith Award Winner)
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 107
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98

MASTER CLASS | Warren Jones '77 collaborative piano
Friday, October 28, 2016 at 7:30 PM, CHH

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Timothy Higgins trombone
Monday, October 31, 2016 at 6 PM, RH

Featuring works by Hindemith, Mahler, and Philip Wharton

ARTIST RESIDENCY | Leon Fleisher piano
Tuesday-Thursday, November 1-3, 2016

ARTIST RESIDENCY | Geoff Nuttall violin
Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 7:30 PM, RH

Master Class

ARTIST RESIDENCY | Geoff Nuttall violin
Thursday, November 3, 2016 at 8 PM, CHH

Concert

NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE | Pre-election Concert
Friday, November 4, 2016 at 8 PM, CHH
with Alan Pierson conductor
and special guest Angela Davis narrator

Ted Hearne: Katrina Ballads Frederic Rzewski: Coming Together

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE | Baroque Ensemble
Sunday, November 6, 2016 at 2 PM, RH
with Corey Jamason director

"Mozart Arias"
Voice students present rarely heard treasures from early Mozart operas such as La finta semplice, Mitridate, and La finta giardiniera accompanied by SFCM piano students on a Mozart-era fortepiano.

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Indre Viskontas '08 soprano/lecturer
Monday, November 7, 2016 at 7:30 PM, RH

"Music and the Mind"

ARTIST RESIDENCY | Donald Weilerstein violin, and Vivian Weilerstein piano
Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 8 PM, RH

Concert

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE | Baroque Orchestra
Sunday, November 13, 2016 at 2 PM, CHH

Brilliant concerti for strings by Antonio Vivaldi and other composers presented by the SFCM period instrument orchestra.

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Sarah Cahill piano
Monday, November 14, 2016 at 7:30 PM, CHH

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | William Wellborn piano
Sunday, November 20, 2016 at 2 PM, CHH

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Giacomo Fiore '09 guitar
Monday, November 28, 2016 at 7:30 PM, RH

"Sixty Years and Counting: The Electric Guitar as a 'Concert' Instrument"

NEW MUSIC | Concert
Friday, December 2, 2016 at 8 PM, CHH
with Ted Hearne
Mellissa Hughes
Philip White
and The Living Earth Show

New music for voices and electronics by Ted Hearne, David Coll, and Philip White.

SFCM OPERA
Friday, December 9, 2016 at 7:30 PM, CHH
Sunday, December 11, 2016 at 2 PM, CHH

Britten: The Turn of the Screw

ARTIST RESIDENCY | Garrick Ohlsson piano
Monday-Friday, January 9-13, 2017

SPECIAL EVENT | Special Leadership Seminar
Monday-Saturday, January 9-14, 2017
with Peter Pastreich and David Gockley

ORCHESTRA | Concerto Winners Concert
Friday, January 13, 2017 at 8 PM, CHH
with Scott Sandmeier conductor
Ian Rowe '16 guitar
Yilin Liu '17 piano
Won Lee '16 flute

Rodrigo: Fantasía para un gentilhombre
Liszt: Totentanz, S. 126
Lowell Liebermann: Flute Concerto

MASTER CLASS | Patricia Racette soprano
Monday, January 16, 2017 at 4 PM, RH

ARTIST RESIDENCY | Miró Quartet
Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at 7:30 PM, RH

Master Class

ARTIST RESIDENCY | Miró Quartet
Thursday, January 19, 2017 at 8 PM, CHH

Concert

MASTER CLASS | Patricia Racette soprano
Friday, January 20, 2017 at 6 PM, RH

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Concert
Monday, January 23, 2017 at 7:30 PM, OS
with MaryClare Brzytwa
and TAC Faculty and Students

Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) Concert

MUSICAL THEATRE
Friday, January 27, 2017 at 8 PM, RH
Sunday, January 29, 2017 at 8 PM, RH

Quilters by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek

MASTER CLASS | Barry Snyder piano
Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at 7:30 PM, RH

MASTER CLASS | Tekla Cunningham '01 baroque violin
Monday, February 6, 2017 at 7:30 PM, OS

Historical Performance Master Class
Co-sponsored by American Bach Soloists

MASTER CLASS | Ning Feng violin
Wednesday, February 8, 2017 at 7:30 PM, RH

MASTER CLASS | Steven Schick new music/percussion
Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 7:30 PM, RH

ARTIST RESIDENCY | Leon Fleisher piano
Tuesday-Thursday, February 21-23, 2017

MASTER CLASS | David Russell guitar
Friday, February 24, 2017 at 7 PM, RH

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Paul Hersh piano
Sunday, February 26, 2017 at 2 PM, CHH

All-Beethoven program: "The last three piano sonatas"

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | David Conte composition
Monday, February 27, 2017 at 7:30 PM, CHH
with José Granero clarinet
Brian Thorsett '04 tenor
Kay Stern violin
Emil Miland '75 cello
John Churchwell piano
Keisuke Nakagoshi '06 piano

David Conte: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (World Premiere)
and other works

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Historical Performance
Thursday, March 2, 2017 at 8 PM, RH
with Elizabeth Blumenstock baroque violin
Tekla Cunningham '01 baroque violin
Elisabeth Reed viola da gamba
Corey Jamason harpsichord

ORCHESTRA | Concert
Saturday, March 4, 2017 at 8 PM, CHH
with Eric Dudley conductor
Madeline Hocking '17 violin

Smetana: The Moldau
Ravel: Tzigane
Dvořák: Symphony No. 6 in D Major

SPECIAL EVENT | Hot Air Music Festival
Sunday, March 5, 2017, all day, CHH/RH/OS

A student-produced SFCM tradition of concerts featuring new music, written and performed by students, alumni, and faculty.

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Marc Teicholz guitar
Monday, March 6, 2017 at 7:30 PM, RH

ALUMNI ARTIST INSIGHTS | Elizabeth Dorman '09 piano
Thursday, March 9, 2017 at 8 PM, RH

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE | Baroque Opera
Saturday, March 11, 2017 at 7 PM, CHH
Sunday, March 12, 2017 at 2 PM, CHH

Handel: Atalanta (concert version)

MASTER CLASS | Steven Lehning violone
Monday, March 13, 2017 at 7:30 PM, OS

Historical Performance Master Class
Co-sponsored by American Bach Soloists

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Bettina Mussumeli violin
Monday, March 13, 2017 at 7:30 PM, RH
with Keisuke Nakagoshi '06 piano

All-Beethoven program

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Kayleen Asbo '94 lecturer
Monday, March 27, 2017 at 7:30 PM, RH

"From Grief to Grace: Music and Poetry"

MASTER CLASS | Boris Allakhverdyan clarinet
Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 12 PM, RH

ARTIST RESIDENCY | Leon Fleisher piano
Thursday-Saturday, March 30-April 1, 2017

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Jeff Anderle '06 clarinet
Monday, April 3, 2017 at 7:30 PM, RH

"History of the Bass Clarinet"

SFCM OPERA
Friday, April 7, 2017 at 7:30 PM, CHH
Sunday, April 9, 2017 at 2 PM, CHH

Puccini: Suor Angelica
Massenet: Le portrait de Manon

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES | Stephen Tramontozzi '81 bass
Monday, April 10, 2017 at 7:30 PM, RH

Works by Bartók, Martin, Geoff Keezer, David Conte, David Garner, and Stephen Tramontozzi

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE | Baroque Orchestra
Saturday, April 15, 2017 at 8 PM, CHH

A presentation of SFCM's Baroque Ensemble Concerto Competition winners. Additionally, a performance of Telemann's celebration of folk music, Ouverture des nations anciens et modernes, known as Les Nations.

NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE | Nicole Paiement conductor
Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 8 PM, RH

Lou Harrison: The man, the poet, the artist
"A Birthday Celebration"

MASTER CLASS | Steven Isserlis cello
Friday, April 28, 2017 at 11 AM, CHH

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE | Baroque Opera
Friday, April 28, 2017 at 7:30 PM, CHH
Sunday, April 30, 2017 at 2 PM, CHH

Purcell: Dido and Aeneas

MUSICAL THEATRE
Friday, May 5, 2017 at 8 PM, RH
Sunday, May 7, 2017 at 8 PM, RH

"Side by Side by Sondheim"
A revue featuring music from Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, and Pacific Overtures, and works written with musical theatre giants Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne, and Richard Rodgers, this dazzling array of some of Sondheim's best-known songs demonstrate his masterful craft and astounding creativity.

ORCHESTRA | Concert
Saturday, May 6, 2017 at 8 PM, CHH
with Eric Dudley conductor
Natalie Image '17 soprano

Crawford Seeger: Rissolty, Rossolty
Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915
Stravinsky: Petrushka (1947 Version)