MARCH HIGHLIGHTS AT
THE SAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC
Borromeo String Quartet in Residence March 13-17
Caroline Shaw in Residence March 1-4
Purcell’s The Fairy-Queen March 12 and 13
Faculty Recitals by Bettina Mussumelli, Violin and
Jonathan Vinocour, Viola
Jonathan Vinocour, Viola
Hot Air Music Festival Returns March 6
With the coming of spring, San Francisco Conservatory students, faculty and guest artists present a rich selection of programs in March. As always, all events are held at 50 Oak Street in San Francisco and most are free.
The renowned Borromeo String Quartet, now celebrating their 25th anniversary, present a series of concerts and master classes during their residency at SFCM. Hailed for its “edge-of-the-seat performances,” by the Boston Globe, the quartet offers a rare presentation of six string quartets by Béla Bartók loaned to the Borromeo by the composer’s son Peter Bartók on March 14 at 7:30pm; tickets are $20 general admission, $15 students, seniors and Conservatory members. On March 15 at 7:30pm, the quartet presents a master class with SFCM chamber music students, and on March 16 at 7:30pm, the quartet will present a lecture on the string quartets of Béla Bartók. Trailblazers in the use of laptop computers for reading music, the quartet uses this method to perform entirely from four-part scores and also composer’s manuscripts, a revealing and transformative experience that they now teach to students around the world. In their recital on March 17 at 8pm they will employ projections of handwritten manuscripts to vividly illustrate the creative process as they perform Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major alongside SFCM chamber music students; tickets are $20 general admission, $15 students, seniors and Conservatory members.
Caroline Shaw, recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in music for her work Partita for 8 Voices, will be in residence March 1-4 at SFCM. Shaw, who recently performed as soloist in Lo, a violin concerto she wrote, with both the Cincinnati Symphony and North Carolina Symphony, also won a Grammy Award in 2014, as a singer with the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth. During her time at SFCM, Shaw will bring her expertise as a composer, singer, and violinist to work with choral and instrumental groups, visit studio classes, talk to composers, and work with students in SFCM’s Technology and Applied Composition program. Shaw’s residency culminates with An Evening with Caroline Shaw on March 3 at 8pm, in which she will perform, discuss her career with Provost & Dean Kate Sheeran, and coach and perform with SFCM’s graduate string quartet, the Thalea Quartet. This event is free to the public. Shaw will also appear in SFCM’s Transformations: Baroque Variations concert, featuring faculty and students, on March 4 at 8pm.
The SFCM Baroque Ensemble, directed by Corey Jamason and Elisabeth Reed, invites audiences to experience the enchanted world of Henry Purcell’s Baroque opera The Fairy-Queen. A re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, this early operatic masterpiece will be performed on period instruments by Baroque Ensemble instrumentalists and voice students. These free performances are March 12 at 7pm and March 13 at 2pm; tickets are required.
Conservatory Faculty Artists present an intriguing assortment of free concerts in March. On March 7 at 8pm, renowned violinist Bettina Mussumeli performs a program of works by Beethoven, Franck, and Brahms; free admission, no tickets required. Principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony Jonathan Vinocour presents a recital on March 29 at 8pm of Russian works; free admission, tickets required.
The Hot Air Music Festival, a student-organized marathon that focuses on new music composed and performed by SFCM students, faculty and alumni, presents two world premieres during a free ten-hour marathon on March 6 starting at 10:30am. The festival features works by George Crumb and Caroline Shaw; free admission, tickets not required.
SUMMARY:
CAROLINE SHAW RESIDENCY
March 3, 8pm “An Evening with Caroline Shaw”
Free admission
Caroline Shaw, voice and violin
Thalea String Quartet
March 3, 8pm “An Evening with Caroline Shaw”
Free admission
Caroline Shaw, voice and violin
Thalea String Quartet
Pulitzer-Prize winning musician Caroline
Shaw will perform, talk about her career with
Provost & Dean Kate Sheeran, and coach
SFCM students.
Shaw will perform, talk about her career with
Provost & Dean Kate Sheeran, and coach
SFCM students.
BORROMEO STRING QUARTET RESIDENCY
March 14, 7:30pm Bartók Marathon: The Six Quartets
Tickets: $20 general admission,
$15 students, seniors and Conservatory
members
March 15, 7:30pm Masterclass with chamber music students
March 16, 7:30pm Lecture on Bartók String Quartets
March 17, 8pm Recital of works by Schubert, Webern, Mahler
and Mendelssohn
Tickets: $20 general admission,
$15 students, seniors and Conservatory
members
March 14, 7:30pm Bartók Marathon: The Six Quartets
Tickets: $20 general admission,
$15 students, seniors and Conservatory
members
March 15, 7:30pm Masterclass with chamber music students
March 16, 7:30pm Lecture on Bartók String Quartets
March 17, 8pm Recital of works by Schubert, Webern, Mahler
and Mendelssohn
Tickets: $20 general admission,
$15 students, seniors and Conservatory
members
PURCELL’S THE FAIRY-QUEEN
March 12, 7pm Purcell’s Baroque opera performed on period
March 13, 2pm instruments by Baroque Ensemble
instrumentalists and voice students.
Free admission, tickets required
March 12, 7pm Purcell’s Baroque opera performed on period
March 13, 2pm instruments by Baroque Ensemble
instrumentalists and voice students.
Free admission, tickets required
FACULTY RECITALS
March 7, 8pm Bettina Mussumeli performs works by
Beethoven, Franck & Brahms
Free admission, tickets not required
March 29, 8pm Jonathan Vinocour performs works by
Prokofiev, Glinka & Shostakovich
Free admission, tickets required
March 7, 8pm Bettina Mussumeli performs works by
Beethoven, Franck & Brahms
Free admission, tickets not required
March 29, 8pm Jonathan Vinocour performs works by
Prokofiev, Glinka & Shostakovich
Free admission, tickets required
HOT AIR MUSIC FESTIVAL
March 6, 10:30am-9:30pm New music composed and performed by
SFCM students, faculty and alumni
Free admission, tickets not required
March 6, 10:30am-9:30pm New music composed and performed by
SFCM students, faculty and alumni
Free admission, tickets not required
All events take place at 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, except as noted. For complete information including updates, visit calendar.sfcm.edu. For tickets call (415) 503-6275 or email [email protected].
For further information, visit the SFCM Press Release page.
About The San Francisco Conservatory of Music:
Founded in 1917, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music is the oldest conservatory in the American West and has earned an international reputation for producing musicians of the highest caliber. Notable alumni include violinists Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern, conductor and pianist Jeffrey Kahane, soprano Elza van den Heever, Blue Bottle Coffee founder James Freeman and Ronald Losby, President, Steinway & Sons-Americas, among others. Its faculty includes nearly 30 members of the San Francisco Symphony as well as Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning artists in the fields of orchestral and chamber performance and classical guitar. The Conservatory offers its approximately 400 collegiate students fully accredited bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in composition and instrumental and vocal performance. SFCM was the first institution of its kind to offer world-class graduate degree programs in chamber music and classical guitar. Its Pre-College Division provides exceptionally high standards of musical excellence and personal attention to 365 younger students. SFCM faculty and students give nearly 500 public performances each year, most of which are offered to the public at no charge. Its community outreach programs serve over 1,600 school children and over 6,000 members of the wider community who are otherwise unable to hear live performances. The Conservatory’s Civic Center facility is an architectural and acoustical masterwork, and the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall was lauded by The New York Times as the “most enticing classical-music setting” in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit www.sfcm.edu.
Founded in 1917, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music is the oldest conservatory in the American West and has earned an international reputation for producing musicians of the highest caliber. Notable alumni include violinists Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern, conductor and pianist Jeffrey Kahane, soprano Elza van den Heever, Blue Bottle Coffee founder James Freeman and Ronald Losby, President, Steinway & Sons-Americas, among others. Its faculty includes nearly 30 members of the San Francisco Symphony as well as Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning artists in the fields of orchestral and chamber performance and classical guitar. The Conservatory offers its approximately 400 collegiate students fully accredited bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in composition and instrumental and vocal performance. SFCM was the first institution of its kind to offer world-class graduate degree programs in chamber music and classical guitar. Its Pre-College Division provides exceptionally high standards of musical excellence and personal attention to 365 younger students. SFCM faculty and students give nearly 500 public performances each year, most of which are offered to the public at no charge. Its community outreach programs serve over 1,600 school children and over 6,000 members of the wider community who are otherwise unable to hear live performances. The Conservatory’s Civic Center facility is an architectural and acoustical masterwork, and the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall was lauded by The New York Times as the “most enticing classical-music setting” in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit www.sfcm.edu.
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