The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private

music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, it had 480 students.

History

San Francisco Conservatory of Music Building

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by

Ada Clement Ada Clement (1878 – July 18, 1952) was an American pianist and music teacher. She co-founded what would become the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Life Clement was born in San Francisco in 1878. She studied piano with Mrs. John Vance C ...

and Lillian Hodghead as the Ada Clement Piano School. In 1923, the name was changed to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 1956 the Conservatory moved from Sacramento Street to 1201 Ortega Street, the home of a former infant shelter. It resided there for fifty years, before moving to its next location at 50 Oak Street in 2006. In 2020, the SFCM added the new Bowes Center at 200

Van Ness Avenue Van Ness Avenue is a north–south thoroughfare in San Francisco, California. Originally named Marlette Street, the street was renamed Van Ness Avenue in honor of the city's sixth mayor, James Van Ness. The main part of Van Ness Avenue runs fro ...

(across from

Davies Symphony Hall Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall is the concert hall component of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, California. The 2,743-seat hall was completed in 1980 at a cost of US$28 million to give the San Francisco ...

), a 12-story building that includes dorms (eight floors) with acoustic insulation for 400 of its students, 27 rent-controlled apartments for residents of the older building that was replaced by the construction, and some public performing spaces, including a penthouse concert room with views towards the north and west. The Bowes Center's $200 million cost was largely funded by donors, including $46.4 million from the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation. The San Francisco Chronicle's architecture critic John King characterized the building's design as " ushingagainst the strict rules of the historic district but espectingthe air of gravitas. For starters, the building is skinned in translucent glass that conceals insulation and the structural frame — a touch that adds a milky visual depth ..." As of 2021, the Bowes Center was envisaged to fully open to the public in February 2022. In 2020, SFCM announced a partnership with the talent management company

Opus 3 Artists Opus 3 Artists is an independent artists management firm with offices in New York City, Los Angeles and Berlin and represents several classical artists, as well as artists in the non-classical genres, such as jazz, world music, theater, dance, and ...

, and in May 2022 it acquired the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

classical music label, Pentatone, funded by a private donor. The music website "Classical Voice" described this "combination of a music-education organization with two professional music businesses" as "unusual."

Leaders

* Ada Clement and Lillian Hodghead, 1917–1925 * Ernest Bloch, 1925–1930 * Ada Clement and Lillian Hodghead, 1930–1951 * Albert Elkus, 1951–1957 * Robin Laufer, 1957–1966 * Milton Salkind, 1966–1990 * Stephen Brown, 1990–1991 * Milton Salkind (Acting President), 1991–1992 * Colin Murdoch, 1992–2013 * David Stull, 2013–present

Notable faculty

Jeff Anderson Jeffrey Allan Anderson (born April 21, 1970) is an American film and television actor, director, and screenwriter best known for starring as Randal Graves in ''Clerks,'' ''Clerks II,'' and ''Clerks III''. In between, he has appeared in other Kevi ...

(tuba) * Elinor Armer (composition) *

Alexander Barantschik Alexander Barantschik (born 1953) joined the San Francisco Symphony as Concertmaster in September 2001, having served as Concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. Born in St. Petersburg, after training at ...

(violinist and Concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony) *

Dusan Bogdanovic Dusan may refer to: * Dušan, a Slavic given name * Dusan, a son of Ra's al Ghul * Stefan Dušan (1308–1355), emperor of Serbia See also *Doosan Group Doosan Group () is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation. In 2009, the corp ...

(composer and guitarist) *

Luciano Chessa Luciano Chessa (, born January 12, 1971, in Sassari, Italy) is a musician, performance/visual/installation artist, and musicologist. As a composer, conductor, pianist, and musical saw / Đàn bầu, Vietnamese dan bau soloist, Luciano Chessa ha ...

(composer, music history and literature) *

David Conte David Conte (born 1955) is an American composer who has written over 150 works published by E.C. Schirmer (a division of ECS Publishing), including six operas, a musical, works for chorus, solo voice, orchestra, chamber music, organ, piano, guita ...

(composer) *

Jacques Desjardins Jacques Desjardins is a Canadian composer whose music has been performed by important ensembles internationally like the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Ijsbreker Ensemble. He has won first prize at the Society of Composers, Authors and Musi ...

(composer) *

Mason Bates Mason Wesley Bates (born January 23, 1977) is a Grammy award-winning American composer of symphonic music and DJ of electronic dance music. He is the first composer-in-residence of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and he has also bee ...

(composer) * Patricia Craig (voice) *

Eugene Izotov Eugene Izotov (born 1973) is a Russian-born oboist and recording artist. He is Principal Oboist of the San Francisco Symphony appointed by Michael Tilson Thomas in 2014. He is the first Russian-born oboist in any major U.S. symphony orchestra. ...

(oboe) * Mark Lawrence (trombone) *

Susanne Mentzer Susanne Mentzer (born January 21, 1957) is an American operatic mezzo-soprano. She is best known for singing trouser roles, such as Cherubino in Mozart's ''Le nozze di Figaro'', Idamante in Mozart's ''Idomeneo'', Octavian in Richard Strauss' ''Der ...

(voice) *

Garrick Ohlsson Garrick Olof Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948) is an American classical pianist. He is the only American to have won first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition, at the VIII competition in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Com ...

(piano) * David Tanenbaum (guitar) *

Deborah Voigt Deborah Voigt (born August 4, 1960) is an American dramatic soprano who has sung roles in operas by Wagner and Richard Strauss. Biography and career Early life and education Debbie Joy Voigt was born into a religious Southern Baptist family ...

(voice) *

Indre Viskontas Indre Viskontas is a Lithuanian-Canadian neuroscientist and operatic soprano. She holds a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience and a M.M. in opera. She is a Professor of Psychology at the University of San Francisco and serves on the faculty at the ...

(soprano)

Notable alumni

Léopold Simoneau Léopold Simoneau, (May 3, 1916 – August 24, 2006) was a French-Canadian lyric tenor, one of the outstanding Mozarteans of his time. In 1959 he became the first recipient of the Calixa-Lavallée Award. Life and career Simoneau was born in Sa ...

(tenor) *

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and ...

(violinist)

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Music venues in San Francisco Music schools in San Francisco Universities and colleges in San Francisco Educational institutions established in 1917 Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges American music awards Classical music awards Music of the San Francisco Bay Area Private universities and colleges in California 1917 establishments in California