San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Encyclopedia
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, formerly the California Conservatory of Music, founded in 1917, is a music school
, with an enrollment of about 400 students. It was launched by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodgehead in the remodeled home of Lillian's parents on Sacramento Street. It was called the Ada Clement Piano School. It was within a few years, additional classes were offered for instruments, voice, composition and theory. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the school was under the direction of Swiss-born composer Ernest Bloch
and two violinists, Isaac Stern
(age 5) and Yehudi Menuhin
(age 12) were welcomed into the school. Both Stern and Menuhin continued their relationship with the school throughout their lives.
Currently the school offers undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees as well as offering adult education and pre-college education. The only school of its kind on the west coast, it offers degrees in orchestral instruments, chamber music, composition, and conducting. Faculty include members of the San Francisco Symphony and Opera orchestras, as well as many internationally recognized soloists, chamber musicians, and composers.
Moved to 1201 Ortega Street in 1956.
Moved to 50 Oak Street as of August 14, 2006.
San Francisco Conservatory of Music offers music education in addition to community enrichment programs and world-class performances. This expansion of the school will dramatically increase its instructional and performance opportunities as well as its contribution to the cultural life of the Bay Area. The Oak Street facility almost doubles the square footage of the Conservatory's old site at Ortega Street in the largely residential Sunset District and positions the 84-year-old college of music in the arts nexus of San Francisco, amid Davies Symphony Hall, the War Memorial Opera House, new Asian Art Museum and other prominent arts-related venues and institutions.
Acquired around March 2000, the Conservatory's Civic Center location includes two existing buildings, 50 and 70 Oak Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin. With its historically significant facades and relatively sound structure, 50 Oak Street has been restored and reconfigured, while adjoining 70 Oak has been rebuilt in a complementary and contemporary design. Together almost 73,000 net square feet of space are available to accommodate the Conservatory's needs for acoustically correct studios, practice rooms and performance spaces as well as classrooms, offices and an expanded library.
"The space is a wonderful metaphor for the Conservatory's past and the future promise embodied by our students," said Colin Murdoch, Conservatory president. "When completed, the building will be a transfixing combination of historical architecture and contemporary new design," he said.
Among the facility's highlights is the innovative utilization of the existing grand ballroom with its elegant gilt columns and ornate 38' ceiling as the audience chamber for the new Concert Hall, augmented by state-of-the-art performance amenities. This Concert Hall seats up to 450; a new Recital Hall seats up to 160 and a smaller Salon seats up to 120.
The new Conservatory's library has almost tripled the square footage of the old library and faces an open rooftop terrace. The number of practice rooms has increased from 15 to 39 and the number of faculty offices has tripled. Contrasting areas of public and private spaces have been incorporated into the building, with a dramatic 3-story atrium lobby linking the main entrance to the performance halls. A new street-level entrance will facilitate access for people of all abilities to attend the 365-plus performances and events presented by the Conservatory each year.
The official dedication convocation of the 50 Oak Street building was dedicated on November 13, 2006. The approximate project cost is $80 million.
The award recipients:
Music school
The term music school refers to an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music.Different terms refer to this concept such as school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department or conservatory.Music instruction can be provided...
, with an enrollment of about 400 students. It was launched by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodgehead in the remodeled home of Lillian's parents on Sacramento Street. It was called the Ada Clement Piano School. It was within a few years, additional classes were offered for instruments, voice, composition and theory. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the school was under the direction of Swiss-born composer Ernest Bloch
Ernest Bloch
Ernest Bloch was a Swiss-born American composer.-Life:Bloch was born in Geneva and began playing the violin at age 9. He began composing soon afterwards. He studied music at the conservatory in Brussels, where his teachers included the celebrated Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe...
and two violinists, Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern was a Ukrainian-born violinist. He was renowned for his recordings and for discovering new musical talent.-Biography:Isaac Stern was born into a Jewish family in Kremenets, Ukraine. He was fourteen months old when his family moved to San Francisco...
(age 5) and Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
(age 12) were welcomed into the school. Both Stern and Menuhin continued their relationship with the school throughout their lives.
Currently the school offers undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees as well as offering adult education and pre-college education. The only school of its kind on the west coast, it offers degrees in orchestral instruments, chamber music, composition, and conducting. Faculty include members of the San Francisco Symphony and Opera orchestras, as well as many internationally recognized soloists, chamber musicians, and composers.
Location and facility
School began on Sacramento St. in 1917.Moved to 1201 Ortega Street in 1956.
Moved to 50 Oak Street as of August 14, 2006.
San Francisco Conservatory of Music offers music education in addition to community enrichment programs and world-class performances. This expansion of the school will dramatically increase its instructional and performance opportunities as well as its contribution to the cultural life of the Bay Area. The Oak Street facility almost doubles the square footage of the Conservatory's old site at Ortega Street in the largely residential Sunset District and positions the 84-year-old college of music in the arts nexus of San Francisco, amid Davies Symphony Hall, the War Memorial Opera House, new Asian Art Museum and other prominent arts-related venues and institutions.
Acquired around March 2000, the Conservatory's Civic Center location includes two existing buildings, 50 and 70 Oak Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin. With its historically significant facades and relatively sound structure, 50 Oak Street has been restored and reconfigured, while adjoining 70 Oak has been rebuilt in a complementary and contemporary design. Together almost 73,000 net square feet of space are available to accommodate the Conservatory's needs for acoustically correct studios, practice rooms and performance spaces as well as classrooms, offices and an expanded library.
"The space is a wonderful metaphor for the Conservatory's past and the future promise embodied by our students," said Colin Murdoch, Conservatory president. "When completed, the building will be a transfixing combination of historical architecture and contemporary new design," he said.
Among the facility's highlights is the innovative utilization of the existing grand ballroom with its elegant gilt columns and ornate 38' ceiling as the audience chamber for the new Concert Hall, augmented by state-of-the-art performance amenities. This Concert Hall seats up to 450; a new Recital Hall seats up to 160 and a smaller Salon seats up to 120.
The new Conservatory's library has almost tripled the square footage of the old library and faces an open rooftop terrace. The number of practice rooms has increased from 15 to 39 and the number of faculty offices has tripled. Contrasting areas of public and private spaces have been incorporated into the building, with a dramatic 3-story atrium lobby linking the main entrance to the performance halls. A new street-level entrance will facilitate access for people of all abilities to attend the 365-plus performances and events presented by the Conservatory each year.
The official dedication convocation of the 50 Oak Street building was dedicated on November 13, 2006. The approximate project cost is $80 million.
Jim Highsmith Composition Award
An annual award for orchestral composition given by The San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The competition is open to current students and recent alumni of the Conservatory. The winner is selected by an independent panel of judges each spring, and the winning composition is performed by the Conservatory Orchestra in the fall.The award recipients:
- Nicholas Pavkovic, 2011
- Joseph Stillwell, 2010
- Jeffrey Parola, 2009
- Ilya Demutsky, 2008
- Joseph Gregorio, 2007
- Darren Jones, 2006
- Ian Dickenson, 2005
- Ian James Dicke, 2004
- Thomas Conroy, 2003
- Jonathan Russell, 2002
- Brent Goodbar, 2001
- Michael Kaulkin, 2000
- Bruce Rockwell, 1999
- Jason Martineau, 1998
- Aleksandra VrebalovAleksandra VrebalovAleksandra Vrebalov is a Serbian composer based in New York City. She studied composition with Miroslav Statkic at Novi Sad University, then with Zoran Erić at Belgrade University, Elinor Armer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Ivana Loudova at the Prague Academy of Music...
, 1996 - William Campbell, 1995
Notable faculty
- Sergio Assad (guitar)
- Timothy Bach (piano accompanying)
- Alexander BarantschikAlexander BarantschikAlexander Barantschik is a violinist who has been principal violin of several orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony.After training at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, he performed with various Soviet orchestras, including the St Petersburg Philharmonic, before emigrating in 1979 to...
(violinist and Concertmaster of the San Francisco SymphonySan Francisco SymphonyThe San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
) - Dusan BogdanovicDušan BogdanovicDušan Bogdanović is a Serbian-born American composer and classical guitarist. He has explored musical languages which are reflected in his style today: a unique synthesis of classical, jazz and ethnic music...
(composer and guitarist) - David ConteDavid ConteDavid Conte is an American composer. He has been a Professor of Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1985, and Composer-in-Residence with Thick Description since 1990....
(composer) - Catherine Cook (voice)
- Jennifer Culp (cellist)
- Jacques DesjardinsJacques DesjardinsJacques Desjardins is a Canadian composer whose music has been performed by important ensembles internationally like the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Ijsbreker Ensemble...
(composer) - Jean-Michel Fonteneau (cello)
- Pamela Fry (voice)
- David Garner (composition)
- Paul Hersh (pianist and violist)
- Corey Jamason (harpischord)
- Leroy Kromm (voice)
- Jodi LevitzJodi LevitzJodi Levitz is an American viola player and academic. She has performed throughout Europe, South America, the USA, and the Far East as a solo violist and has recorded works for the viola on several record labels including Erato Records...
(violist) - Mack McCray (pianist)
- Bettina Mussumeli (violinist)
- Yoshikazu Nagai (pianist)
- Sonja Neblett (conducting)
- Axel StraussAxel StraussAxel Strauss was the he first German artist to ever win the international Naumburg Violin Award in New York. The Salt Lake Tribune praised his well-rounded artistry by saying, "Strauss quickly established that he is a virtuoso to be reckoned with. But amid his technical acumen, there was a genuine...
(violinist) - Ian Swensen (violinist)
- Petunia pigPetunia PigPetunia Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. She looks much like her significant other, Porky Pig, except that she wears a dress and now has braided black hair, although the character did not originally have...
(cowbell) - Conrad SusaConrad SusaConrad Stephen Susa is an American composer, particularly known for his operas. His 1973 chamber opera, Transformations, set to texts from the poems of Anne Sexton, is one of the most frequently performed operas by an American composer and was one of the featured operas of the 2006 Wexford Opera...
(composer) - David TanenbaumDavid TanenbaumDavid Tanenbaum is an American classical guitarist.Tanenbaum made his concert debut at the age of 16. He has since become known as an enthusiastic promoter of new music for his instrument, although his repertoire also includes much music from other periods...
(guitar) - Cesar Ulloa (voice)
- Wei He (Violinist)
- Sharon Mann (Pianist)
Notable graduates
- Sergio AssadSergio AssadSérgio Assad is a Brazilian guitarist, composer, and arranger who often performs with his brother in the guitar duo Sérgio and Odair Assad, commonly referred to as Assad Brothers or Duo Assad.-Biography:...
(composer and guitarist) - Adolph BallerAdolph BallerAdolph Baller was an Austrian-American pianist.- Early years :...
(pianist) - Ed BullerEd BullerEd Buller is a British record producer and former musician. He primarily works with Australian and British bands like Suede, Pulp, The Raincoats....
(music producer), alumni - John del Carlo (bass-baritone)
- Jennifer Culp (cellist)
- Miguel del AguilaMiguel del AguilaMiguel del Águila is an Uruguayan-born American composer of contemporary classical music.-Life:After studies in his native Montevideo, Águila moved to the United States in 1978, where he graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music...
(composer), alumni - Jack Curtis DubowskyJack Curtis DubowskyJack Curtis Dubowsky is a San Francisco-based American composer who has scored four independent feature films and composed music for television, advertising, and public performance. His music has been performed by the San Francisco Choral Artists, the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco, the...
(composer) - George DukeGeorge DukeGeorge Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...
(pianist) - Krista Bennion Feeny (violinist)
- Desirée GoyetteDesirée GoyetteDesirée Goyette is a singer, composer, lyricist and voice-over artist. She has been nominated for two Grammy Awards and has voiced such characters as Betty Boop, Barbie, Nermal, Petunia Pig, Honey Bunny and numerous others for radio, television and toys...
(singer and composer) - Mario Guarneri (jazz trumpeter)
- Elza van den Heever (mezzo-soprano)
- Eddie Henderson (musician)Eddie Henderson (musician)Eddie Henderson is an American jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player. Henderson's influences include Booker Little, Clifford Brown, Woody Shaw and Miles Davis.-Family influence and early music history:...
(jazz trumpeter) - Paul Hersh (pianist and violist)
- Wendy Hillhouse (mezzo-soprano)
- Andrew HullAndrew HullAndrew Hull was a Canadian born film maker, film director and architect. Born Andrew Mackenzie Hull, August 15, 1963, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada and died May 8, 2010 in London.-Early life:...
(guitarist) - Aaron Jay KernisAaron Jay KernisAaron Jay Kernis is an American composer and professor at the Yale School of Music.-Biography:Aaron Jay Kernis is Jewish, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Yale University .,Notable works include the...
(composer) - Jeffrey KahaneJeffrey KahaneJeffrey Alan Kahane is an American classical music pianist and conductor. He is music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.-Personal history:...
(conductor and pianist) - Mark KosowerMark KosowerMark Kosower is an internationally renowned cellist. Kosower is currently Solo Cellist of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in Germany and was Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 2005-07. He studied with János Starker at Indiana University and Joel...
(cellist) - Peter Scott LewisPeter Scott LewisPeter Scott Lewis is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His works have been commissioned and/or performed by the Rotterdam Philharmonic; Chamber Symphony of Princeton; Berkeley Symphony; Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; Alexander, Orion, and Ciompi String Quartets;...
(composer) - Yehudi MenuhinYehudi MenuhinYehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
(violinist) - Daniel MontenegroDaniel MontenegroDaniel Gastón Montenegro is an Argentine footballer who mainly plays as an attacking midfielder. He currently plays for Club América, in the Mexican first division....
(tenor) - Catherine NaglestadCatherine NaglestadCatherine Naglestad, born in 1965 in San Jose of Scandinavian parentage, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, is an American soprano singer....
(soprano) - Jean-Paul PeninJean-Paul PeninJean-Paul Penin is a French conductor.-Biography:Jean-Paul Penin is a graduate of the Strasbourg Conservatory of Music and the University of Strasbourg where he obtained a PhD. in biophysics in 1974 and a Master's degree in musicology in 1978...
(conductor) - Hai-Ye Ni (cellist)
- Gyan Riley (guitarist)
- Isaac SternIsaac SternIsaac Stern was a Ukrainian-born violinist. He was renowned for his recordings and for discovering new musical talent.-Biography:Isaac Stern was born into a Jewish family in Kremenets, Ukraine. He was fourteen months old when his family moved to San Francisco...
(violinist) - Robin Sutherland (pianist)
- David TanenbaumDavid TanenbaumDavid Tanenbaum is an American classical guitarist.Tanenbaum made his concert debut at the age of 16. He has since become known as an enthusiastic promoter of new music for his instrument, although his repertoire also includes much music from other periods...
(guitarist) - Matt Vander EndeMatt Vander EndeMatt Vander Ende is an American drummer and percussionist from Oakland, California. A graduate from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he was the original drummer for the thrash metal band Defiance...
(percussion) - Alieksey Vianna (guitarist)
- Aleksandra VrebalovAleksandra VrebalovAleksandra Vrebalov is a Serbian composer based in New York City. She studied composition with Miroslav Statkic at Novi Sad University, then with Zoran Erić at Belgrade University, Elinor Armer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Ivana Loudova at the Prague Academy of Music...
(composer) - Babak Falsafi (guitarist, composer)