1. (continued on page 6)
(continued on page 7)
Innovative. Intimate. Inspiring. News FROM San Francisco Conservatory of Music SPRING 2011, Volume 4, No. 2
SPRING 2011 1
Pepe Romero is both a living legend and
an ambassador of the guitar. He has been
honored by kings and heads of state and
lauded by critics and audiences worldwide.
On April 14, Romero will be this year’s
guest of honor at the Conservatory Gala,
“Romanza de Romero”—a celebration of
his life and career, his close relationship
with the Conservatory and the San
Francisco Bay Area’s status as a premier
center for guitars and guitarists. In
addition, Romero will receive an honorary
doctorate in music at the Conservatory’s
2011 commencement ceremonies.
The gala program includes music by
Bach, Bizet and Turina and features
mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook (voice
department chair and San Francisco
Opera veteran) as well as the Pacific
Guitar Ensemble, faculty and students,
and Romero himself. Rounding out
the evening’s festivities is a top drawer
events team. Lisa Grotts, former director
of protocol for the City and County of
San Francisco and a member of the
Conservatory Society Committee, chairs the
event, with catering by McCall Associates
and décor by J. Riccardo Benavides of Ideas.
Wells Fargo is the official Corporate Patron;
the Nob Hill Gazette will be the exclusive
print media sponsor, with RedCarpetSF as
electronic media sponsor and Kiamie as
wine sponsor.
Faculty News 3
Student News 4
Alumni News 5
Welcome to ,
a bi-annual newsletter of the
San Francisco Conservatory
of Music. To receive our
performance calendar,
request or download one at
sfcm.edu.
Help the Conservatory go green.
To receive our publications
electronically, contact
Mario Lemos at 415.503.6268
or mlemos@sfcm.edu
I N S I D E > > >
And Then There Were Nun:
The favored son of Spain’s royal guitar family
The nuns of a French convent grapple with issues of
life, death, faith and martyrdom in Poulenc’s opera
Gala 2011: Romanza de Romero
Dialogues of
the CarmelitesAn eighteenth-century convent might
seem an unlikely setting for a music
drama, but throw in an angry mob, a
guillotine and the sweep of history, and
you have the strong bones of an opera.
For its annual spring production, the
Conservatory Opera Theatre is staging
Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the
Carmelites, adapted by the composer
from a play based on historical events by
George Bernanos.
“Dialogues of the Carmelites is one of the
most important operatic works of the
late twentieth-century, and it a great
privilege to be able to introduce it to
the Conservatory community,” says
Richard Harrell, director of the Opera
Theatre program. “It not only requires
a sophisticated level of musicality, but
it also demands a broad range of acting
skills. There are profound psychological
conflicts which the

2. Faculty RecordingsFaculty Recordings
Faculty News
Student ImpresariosStudent Impresarios
SPRING 2011 32
Thanks to a generous grant from the Cha family of Hong
Kong and the invaluable assistance of Trustee Timothy
Foo, the Conservatory is proud to announce an annual
international chamber music festival in partnership with
its sister school, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. The
inaugural festival is set for May 8-12 in Shanghai as part
of “Shanghai Spring,” one of China’s largest music events.
(Future festivals will rotate in alternate years between San
Francisco and Shanghai.) Conservatory faculty members
Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Axel Strauss, Wei He, Yoshikazu
Nagai, David Conte, Mark Sokol and Ian Swensen will
coach and perform with students and faculty from both
conservatories. Chamber music concerts on May 11 and
12 will feature premieres of works commissioned for the
festival, with VIP receptions following each performance.
To become involved in this pioneering adventure to the
world’s fastest moving city, contact Alexander Brose in the
Advancement Office at awb@sfcm.edu or 415.503.6263.
A Pacific International
Chamber Music Festival
Triumphs in Parallel
In nearly a century of existence,
the Conservatory has developed a
comprehensive educational curriculum
to produce generations of outstanding
performers, composers and teachers.
At the same time, and befitting the
Conservatory’s status as vibrant center
of creativity, students sometimes like
to bend the established curricular
boundaries.
The Conservatory’s independent
study program offers an ideal outlet
for these impulses. In recent months,
students have used this program
to develop an array of self-initiated
projects, encompassing everything
from operatic productions to new music
collaborations.
The most recent endeavor came to
fruition February 6, when students
Matthew Cmiel, Carolyn Smith and
Kelsey Walsh presented the second
annual Hot Air Music Festival. This
eight-hour extravaganza brought
together myriad students, alumni
and faculty from the Conservatory’s
collegiate and preparatory divisions, in
performances of music almost entirely
by living composers. (“Only ONE PIECE
on the festival by a DEAD COMPOSER,”
trumpeted the event’s advertisements.)
To launch a project, students submit
proposals to the Conservatory’s Ad Hoc
Committee, as well as the Academic
Affairs Committee if they want academic
credit for independent study. These
committees evaluate the proposals
for viability, creativity and educational
value. For the current academic year
seven projects were approved: the Hot
Air festival, a collaboration between
composers and the student/alumni
ensemble Nonsemble Six, plus a bevy
of opera stagings including Così fan tutte,
Orpheus and Euridice and three separate
Rossini projects (La scala de seta, Otello
and Il barbiere di Siviglia).
“These projects teach students to
figure things out on their own,”
says Mary Ellen Poole, dean of the
Conservatory. “They are given logistical
support with hall time, Concert Office
staff, recordings of their events and
web site publicity, but they have to
solve the problems of financing,
volunteer organization, scheduling and
motivation all by themselves.”
The benefits of these undertakings
can extend beyond the sponsors’
own artistic satisfaction. Hot Air, for
instance, has attracted attention from
wide-ranging media outlets, perhaps
even making a few new-music converts
in the process. As one blogger wrote in
her festival review, “I feel like I don’t
understand a lot of [modern music],
and enjoyment of it isn’t even in the
picture. . . . Despite this, I was willing
to be open minded and was pleasantly
surprised by the result.”
Down the road, events like Hot Air
could eventually play a larger role in
Conservatory students’ education.
“These projects are great transitional
training for real life,” Poole observes. “I
hope we can eventually institutionalize
this so that there might be a mini-
course in subjects like how to produce
concerts.”
The Conservatory’s resident Ensemble
Parallèle and its leadership team,
Artistic Director/Conductor Nicole
Paiement and General Manager Jacques
Desjardins, are crowded with glory
these days. The San Francisco Chronicle
hailed the January 2010 production
of Berg’s Wozzeck as one of the year’s
top 10 classical music performances.
Wozzeck also took third place in the
professional category of the National
Opera Association’s annual Opera
Production Competition. This year, both
the San Francisco
Chronicle and San
Francisco Classical
Voice featured
the ensemble’s
production of
Philip Glass’s
Orphée in 2011
season highlight previews. And the Aspen
Music Festival is co-commissioning a
production of John Harbison’s The Great
Gatsby in a new re-orchestration by
Desjardins, slated for February 2012.
A new CD by The Bay Brass, Sound
the Bells! American Premieres for Brass,
presents the first recordings of recent
American works for brass, including
pieces by John Williams, Bruce
Broughton, Michael Tilson Thomas,
Morten Lauridsen, Kevin Puts and
Scott Hiltzik, plus several ensemble
commissions to boot. The collection
showcases conductors Alasdair Neale,
Thomas and Broughton leading their
own works, and members of the group
who take turns at the podium. An
egalitarian collective with neither a
standing musical director nor principal
players, The Bay Brass spans virtually
the entire roster of Conservatory brass
faculty: trumpeter David Burkhart, horn
players Jonathan Ring, Bruce Roberts and
Robert Ward, trombonists John Engelkes,
Mark Lawrence and Paul Welcomer and
tubist Peter Wahrhaftig. Recorded at the
Skywalker Ranch with Conservatory faculty
David Herbert on percussion, the album
will be released by Harmonia Mundi on
March 8, with a CD launch concert set for
March 27 at the Conservatory.
Richard Savino received a Grammy
nomination as principal instrumentalist/
continuo for Johann Hasse’s Marc Antonio
e Cleopatra, recorded for the Dorian-Sono
Luminus label. The opera features soloists
Ava Pine and Jamie Barton with Ars Lyrica
Houston under the direction of Matthew
Dirst. Unequivocal in its admiration, the
Toronto Star raved, “One couldn’t ask for
a finer world-première recording of this
1725 operatic dialogue between Cleopatra
and her lover, Marc Antony.”
Opera Colorado
Debut for Cook
Voice Department Chair Catherine
Cook made her debut with Opera
Colorado as Jezibaba the witch in
Dvorˇák’s Rusalka in February. The
tragic fairytale of a water sprite who
falls in love with a mortal prince,
Rusalka features soprano Kelly
Kaduce in the title role with conductor
Alexander Polianichko and director
Eric Simonson. The Denver Post called
Cook “a wonderfully complete singer”
who “brings all the menace and zest
one could ask for in the role.” She
also gave a master class for the Opera
Colorado Young Artist Program.
Meanwhile, kudos for our Naxos faculty
recordings from the fall continue to pour
in. San Francisco Classical Voice praised
violinist Axel Strauss for the “incredible
nimbleness” and “utterly lovely cantabile”
of his Kreutzer violin concertos, while
David’s Review Corner gave an approving
nod to Music Director Andrew Mogrelia
and the Conservatory Orchestra, whose
accompaniments were “played by a
student orchestra of exceptional quality.”
And in a review of Awakenings: New
American Chamber Music for Guitar,
Examiner.com saluted guitarist David
Tanenbaum’s steady stewardship,
commenting that the Guitar Ensemble
performances are a “valuable reminder of
just how much talent has emerged from
the Conservatory’s Guitar Department.”

3. Student News Alumni News
SPRING 2011 54
Circus Runaway An Alumni Recital
Series is Born
Harpsichord
Honors
In January, Preparatory Division
harpsichordist Hilda Huang appeared
as soloist with Nicholas McGegan and
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra,
performing Bach’s Concerto for
Harpsichord in D Major. At age 14,
Hilda is the youngest soloist ever to
perform with the orchestra. She studies
harpsichord with Corey Jamason. Just
days earlier, and with equal facility
on piano, Hilda took second prize in
the Fremont Symphony’s 45th annual
Young Artist Competition for piano
and harp players. Finally, she clinched
first prize in the 2011 Marilyn Mindell
Concerto Competition and received
the prize for best performance of a
Beethoven sonata movement. Fellow
Conservatory prep pianist Connie Chen
received third prize and, in the junior
division, Charlene Ma received honorary
mention. Hilda and Charlene are piano
students of John McCarthy, and Connie
is a student of William Wellborn.
Voice major Joi Marchetti is taking a
leave of absence from the Conservatory
to fulfill a one-year contract with Cirque
de Soleil. Marchetti is on call to cover the
role of the child Zoe, the protagonist in
Quidam. After rehearsals in Canada and
Nashville, the show embarks on a North
American tour, with stops in California
slated throughout the spring. Quidam
opens in San Francisco on April 6.
Marchetti is a student of Ruby Pleasure.
YouTube Symphony Winners
Congratulations to violist Omar
Shelley and piccolo player Daniel
Sharp, two of five Bay Area musicians
to win spots in the second annual
YouTube Symphony Orchestra.
YouTube picks up the tab to send the
90-piece orchestra to Australia for a
performance at Sydney Opera House
A Presidential Tenor
Freshman tenor Roy Patten, Jr., sang
in a vocal quartet at the White House
for President and Mrs. Obama over
the summer. He appeared with three
of his classmates from the Duke
Ellington School of the Arts in the East
Room of the White House for the First
Lady’s “Broadway Series.” The group
sang “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from
Hairspray, with moves schooled by none
other than Jerry Mitchell, choreographer
of the show’s original Broadway
production, who flew out just to coach
them. Patten and the members of his
quartet were specifically requested
by Michelle Obama. He now has six
performances for the President under
his belt, including the Inauguration in
January 2009—a claim few artists can
boast over a lifetime, let alone upon
graduation from high school! Patten
studies with César Ulloa.
Soprano Soars Not
For Last Time
Last fall, soprano Elza van den Heever
(M.M., voice, ’04) sang Richard
Strauss’s Four Last Songs with Michael
Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco
Symphony. She also presented her
first major recital debut for San
Francisco Performances’ Young Master
Series. In a review of her Symphony
performance, the San Francisco Chronicle
noted, “Ever since her days as a young
mezzo-soprano at the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music . . . van den
Heever has consistently brought tonal
luster and enormous eloquence to a
range of repertoire, and her switch to
soprano has only deepened her artistic
instincts.” Other engagements this
season include major roles in leading
opera houses and concert halls in
Frankfurt, Munich, London, Paris and
Bordeaux, where she currently resides.
Hoefer Prize
Premiere
On March 12, Nicole Paiement and the
New Music Ensemble present the world
premiere of Doppelgänger for two solo
violins, two solo trumpets and double
ensemble by Manly Romero (M.M.,
composition, ‘91). Doppelgänger is the
inaugural winner of the Conservatory’s
annual Hoefer Prize, created at the
bequest of former trustee Jacqueline
Stanhope Hoefer to commission
new works from outstanding alumni
composers. In addition to the premiere
and professional recording of his piece,
Romero received an award of $15,000
and will attend the performance during a
week-long residency at the Conservatory.
Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam
Weigang Li (’82) and pianist Melvin
Chen will inaugurate an Alumni Recital
Series with a free performance of
Brahms’ three sonatas for violin and
piano on Saturday, April 23 at 2 p.m. at
the Conservatory. In light of both the
silver anniversary of the Conservatory’s
chamber music program and an
upcoming chamber music festival with
the Shanghai Conservatory in May, Li
represents an auspicious choice to found
the series.
Born into a noted Shanghai
musical family, Li attended both the
Shanghai and later the San Francisco
conservatories through the first
cultural exchange program between the
two sister cities, eventually completing
his studies at The Juilliard School. Li
has been first violinist of the Shanghai
Quartet since its founding in 1983, with
which he has recorded 30 albums and
maintains a busy international touring
schedule. In addition to professorships
at Montclair State University in New
Jersey and Bard Conservatory in New
York, Li is guest concertmaster of the
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and
guest professor of chamber music at
the Beijing Central as well as Shanghai
conservatories.
“The Alumni Recital Series will
be an important extension of the
Conservatory’s efforts to engage
its wider alumni community,” said
Alexander Brose, associate vice president
of advancement and member of the
Alumni Committee. “As our graduates
leave 50 Oak Street and embark upon
their careers, we want them to see the
Conservatory as a continuing source
of guidance, inspiration, collegiality
and a place to reconnect with their
peers.” For tickets to this debut concert,
call the Conservatory’s Box Office at
415.503.6275.
Wilderness Magik
White Wilderness, the new release by
indie pop artist John Vanderslice,
showcases Magik*Magik Orchestra on
nine tracks arranged and conducted
by the group’s founder, Minna Choi
(M.M., composition, ‘08). The album,
which boasts strings, horns, reeds,
vibraphone, pedal steel guitar and
piano as well as Choi’s vocal backups,
was recorded in San Francisco and
features students and graduates of the
Conservatory. Previewed on NPR’s All
Songs Considered last fall, the record hit
stores on January 25.
under the baton of Michael
Tilson Thomas on March 20.
On the program is the premiere
of Mothership, a new work for
orchestra, electronics and—get
this—soloists via webcast that was
commissioned from composer
Mason Bates, who teaches music
history at the Conservatory. Contest
winners hail from 30 countries,
including China, Singapore,
Turkey, Italy and Brazil. “It’s a great
opportunity to meet performers
from around the world,” said an
enthusiastic Shelley. It doesn’t look
bad on the resume, either. Sharp
studies with Tim Day, and Shelley is
a student of Jodi Levitz.

4. SPRING 2011 766
Gala 2011(cont. from page 1)
Taking it to Eleven
James H. Schwabacher, Jr., has been
named a Lifetime Trustee in memoriam
of the Conservatory. Following his debut
Readers of Conservatory publications
may have noticed a few changes over
the past year. Spruced-up photos, a
fresh tagline and a novel orange-themed
color scheme are all the result of an
ongoing collaboration with Eleven
Inc., a San Francisco-based integrated
marketing firm providing pro bono
communications consulting to the
Conservatory.
Beyond assisting with the publications
revamp, Paul Curtin, founder and
creative director of Eleven Inc., has
made a three-year commitment to refine
the Conservatory’s communications
priorities. His in-kind contributions
include consulting on a web site
redesign with partner Michael Borosky
(watch for it later this year), plus regular
guidance on marketing strategies.
Through these contributions, Eleven
Inc., has become a model corporate
partner for the Conservatory and is now
part of both the Conservatory Society
and the Corporate Council.
Moving forward, Curtin sees exciting
possibilities ahead—especially in
showcasing the Conservatory through
electronic media. “We have an
incredible opportunity through digital
media and video to find new ways to
bring what is happening inside the
Dialogues of the Carmelites
(cont. from page 1)
as tenor soloist with San Francisco
Opera in 1948, Schwabacher quickly
established himself as a renowned
recitalist throughout Europe, Israel and
the United States. He was a founder of
the Schwabacher Debut Recital Series,
the Merola Opera Program and San
Francisco Performances. He served on
the boards of the San Francisco Opera
and the Stern Grove Festival and was
a Life Governor of the San Francisco
Symphony. Deeply devoted to the
Conservatory, Schwabacher was chair
of its Board of Trustees from 1962 to
1969 and a member of the collegiate
faculty for more than 20 years, with an
endowed scholarship in his name.
The recipient of an honorary doctorate
in music from the Conservatory, he was
beloved by those who underwrote and
dedicated the James H. Schwabacher,
Jr., Memorial Teaching Studio at 50 Oak
Street to “San Francisco’s Gentleman
of Music.” In recognition of his
contributions to music, Schwabacher
was selected by the San Francisco
Examiner as a “Distinguished Citizen”
in 1976.
James H. Schwabacher, Jr.,
Lifetime Trustee in memoriam
characters encounter in this tragic story of sixteen
Carmelite nuns during the French Revolution.
The final scene, in which the nuns are executed,
is simply one of the most moving moments in
the entire operatic repertoire.”
Young Blanche, full of anxiety for the future,
enters the Carmelite order only to witness the
agonized death of the convent’s Prioress, who
foresees that the Carmelites will not escape the
maelstrom of the Terror. When the authorities
shut down the convent and arrest the sisters,
a panic-stricken Blanche flees as the sisters
take a vow of martyrdom. Recovering her faith,
Blanche at last finds grace, taking her place in the
company of her sisters as one by one they are led
to the scaffold and face the guillotine.
Premiered in 1957 (and staged shortly thereafter
in San Francisco), Dialogues represents the
culmination of Poulenc’s rediscovery of his
Catholic conviction, rekindled in the late 1930s
after a friend’s sudden death sparked a new
seriousness and religious thrust to his work.
Though set during the Revolution, the opera’s
true subject is not politics but the transference of
grace, as Blanche grows from the anxiety of fear
to the calm and certainty of martyrdom.
Asked about the challenges in mounting this
work, Harrell is practical. “We worry about the
wimples. With a cast of women dressed in nun’s
habits, singers have difficulty hearing each other and the orchestra with
their ears covered. We hope the costumes we ordered from Santa Fe Opera
won’t be too thick, but we won’t know until we get them.”
Whereas professional opera companies typically make artistic decisions
first, choosing repertoire and then assembling an artistic team to realize
a production, the Conservatory’s faculty—Harrell, Music Director
Kathryn Cathcart and Assistant Music Director Darryl Cooper—takes
the opposite approach, creating a production based on the character
and quantity of voices available. This more inclusive process benefits
voice students, who, according to Harrell, “have more opportunities to
perform here than in most conservatories.”
Harrell stresses that the training faculty and staff provide for the performers,
by way of diction, acting, choreography and technical assurance, are merely
the point of artistic departure rather than the summit of aspiration. “While
the program builds the frame, it’s up to the students to create a painting in
that frame, making art come to life onstage.”
See Dialogues of the Carmelites March 31-April 3 at the Cowell Theater,
Fort Mason Center. Sung in English with supertitles.
Former student David Marsden at Guitarrada 2009 with
L. John Harris, Romero, Richard Brune and Marc Teicholz
A frequent guest artist of the Conservatory, Romero has
given concerts and master classes as well as co-hosted four
“Guitarrada” guitar festivals with L. John Harris and the Harris
Collection of Classical Guitars. His vital presence has raised
the profile of the guitar department, which San Francisco
Classical Voice recently called “a magnet for gifted young
guitarists from around the globe” that has “helped make the
Bay Area a mecca for classical guitar.”
David Tanenbaum, chair of the Conservatory’s guitar
department and artistic director for the gala, considers Romero
an ideal candidate for Conservatory recognition this spring.
“We are delighted that our first honorary degree to a guitarist
will go to the great Pepe Romero,” says Tanenbaum. “Pepe has
been at the top of the classical guitar field for half a century,
both as a soloist and as a member of the first guitar quartet in
history, and all the while he has been unfailingly generous to
the students here.”
The second son of Spain’s “Royal Family of Guitar,” Romero
learned to play at the feet of his father, Celedonio Romero.
With his father and brothers Celin and Angel he achieved
fame with the Romero Quartet, which became the most
celebrated guitar ensemble in the world. His discography
of 60 releases includes 20 concertos recorded with the
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and either Neville
Marriner or Iona Brown. As a soloist, Romero has appeared
with many of the world’s finest orchestras. He has premiered
numerous works written for him by composers such as
Joaquín Rodrigo and Federic Moreno Torroba and has
championed the rediscovery of lost works by Fernando Sor
and Luigi Boccherini. He has played at the White House and
the Vatican and has performed for Pope John Paul II, Prince
Charles, Prince of Wales, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía
of Spain and Queen Beatrice of Holland.
Romero’s other awards include an honorary doctorate in music
from the University of Victoria in Canada and Spain’s “Premio
Andalucía de la Música,” the highest recognition given by his
native land, for his contribution to the arts. Together with his
father and brothers, Romero has also received the President’s
Merit Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts
and Sciences, producers of the Grammy Awards. In addition,
King Juan Carlos has knighted Romero and his brothers into
the Order of “Isabel la Católica.”
For tickets to the Gala, contact Christian Mills at
cmills@sfcm.edu or 415.503.6291.
school to our audiences,” he says. “The
transparency these new marketing
forms will afford us is extremely
valuable. We will show our best self
to the people who need to know about
us.” In giving audiences this insider
view, Curtin stresses that modern-day
marketing is not necessarily about
telling people a story, but trying to bring
people into the story as it’s being made.
“The Conservatory’s history has been
unfolding for nearly 100 years, and
it’s a great story to tell.”

5. SPRING 2011 9
UpBeat is published by the
Marketing Communications
department of the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music.
We welcome comments, suggestions
and mailing list corrections; please
call 415.503.6265 or e-mail
ssmith@sfcm.edu.
Writing
Rik Malone
Joseph Sargent
Sam Smith
Design and Production
Beatriz Américo
Photography
Aerial Fabric Artists by Britta Ambauen
(graphic design Cheryl Ruby)
Beatriz Américo
Cirque du Soleil
Dario Acosta Photography
Dorian Sono-Luminus
Eleven Inc.
Antón Goiri
Harmonia Mundi
Betsy Kershner
Nancy Bea Miller (violas by Hiroshi Iizuka)
San Francisco Guitar Quartet
Brian Smeets
Sydney Opera House
Karla Ticas
Autumn de Wilde
(Courtesy Dead Oceans)
8
Sarlo Earns International Accolade
Congratulations to Trustee George Sarlo, who was saluted in November by the International Rescue
Committee at the 2010 Freedom Award Dinner in New York. The committee honored ten distinguished
men and women who fled tyranny and persecution and who have made the most of the opportunity to
begin again and thrive in the United States. Sarlo has been a tireless supporter of the Conservatory and
its students, many of whom would not have been able to study here without his assistance.
On the Beat:
The New Reach of
Student Programs
Chamber Music in Marin
The 25-year tradition of the Conservatory’s chamber music
program has taken root in the fertile soil north of the Golden
Gate Bridge. Chamber Music Department Chair Jean-Michel
Fonteneau and Steven Reading, director of music at United
Methodist Church in Novato, have established San Francisco
Conservatory Chamber Music in Marin, a series showcasing
conservatory students, faculty and alumni. Artists-in-residence
the Delphi Trio headlined the first performance in September,
and capacity crowds swelled three subsequent events. The
series fixed on a regular venue in February, with concerts by
the Delphi Trio and Nonsemble Six at St. Paul’s Episcopal
Church in San Rafael.
As Reading explained in San Francisco Classical Voice, the
series “has become a real grassroots effort, starting from the
church members via their club and friends and family e-mails.
Most of the audience are not church members, and most
have had little or no contact with chamber or classical music.
. . . The enthusiasm of our audience and the Conservatory
musicians has been a huge pleasure for me to host.”
Davis Art Center
Guitar Series
Heading eastward, an analogous concert
series for guitar in Davis prominently
features Conservatory alumni, faculty
and students. The brainchild of Mark
Grasso (’94), with able assistance from
Tanenbaum, the Davis Art Center’s
Guitar Series lets guitarists fine-tune
their professional performance poise.
In February, the guitar and composition
departments hoisted the flag with the
unfurling of their Doublespeak program.
Subsequent performances throughout
the spring feature the San Francisco
Guitar Quartet (March 11), the Pacific
Guitar Ensemble (April 22) and Grasso’s
Trio 7 (May 6) in programs ranging from
ancient works to traditional arrangements
as well as original compositions written
for the performers.
If student-initiated projects like the Hot
Air Music Festival typify the “hands-
off” nature of the Conservatory’s
independent study program (see page
2), then the “hands-on” character of the
Conservatory experience is demonstrated
by several recent endeavors that push
students beyond the practice room and
into the wider world.
Two kindred species of extracurricular
activity are at work these days:
collaborations between composition
and performance departments and
off-site ensemble concert series.
Each provides vital field experience
students need to hone their skills for
success in a global music market.
Uniting both strands of these student-
empowering extracurricular programs
is their influence in the larger music
community, both locally and further
afield.
The Viola Project
Violist Jodi Levitz knew she had
stumbled onto something promising
when composition faculty member
Elinor Armer wrote a piece called API to
display the individual styles of Levitz and
violinist Bettina Mussemeli. Wanting
the same experience of working directly
with composers for her students, Levitz
tapped composition faculty member
Dan Becker to craft a program of mutual
partnership, and the Viola Project was
born in 2004.
Composers began by working with
private teachers and in group seminars,
later attending viola lessons to better
shape their piece to suit its player.
Becker and Levitz considered both skill
and personality in matching composer
to performer. Close collaboration
was key, says Levitz; each pair was
responsible for forging a positive
working relationship, learning to
cope with “the real-life situation of
imposing reasonable deadlines
on professional colleagues.”
To her surprise and delight,
Levitz noticed that such direct
interaction encouraged students
to take responsibility and embrace
challenge. “Students would make
extreme efforts to stretch their technique
to new heights to perform ‘their’ works,”
she noted. “This made me realize the
power of ‘ownership’ of a work. This new
composition was the student’s and the
student’s alone.”
Since the project’s inception, 48 new
solo viola works have entered the
repertoire. The initiative has even
sparked spinoff ventures in other music
departments at New York University, led
by head of strings Stephanie Baer, and
the University of Wisconsin–Madison,
in a program headed by former
students of Levitz.
Doublespeak
Another endeavor modeled on the
Viola Project is the guitar department’s
Doublespeak, a joint undertaking of
Conservatory composers and guitarists
initiated in spring 2010. Like the Viola
Project, Doublespeak motivates student
guitarists and composers to take real
ownership of their works, striving
together on a personal level to help fresh
pieces come to life.
Composition Department Chair
Becker and Guitar Department Chair
David Tanenbaum designed the
initial structure and oversaw student
cooperation. Tanenbaum was amazed by
the results. “More than 20 composers
created 150 minutes of music, in time
for guitarists to learn it all and take
the show on the road,” he notes. A
December premiere at the Conservatory
quickly expanded into a winter tour of
northern California.
Tanenbaum explains that a profound
need for an enlarged guitar repertory
helped incite the Doublespeak
enterprise. “When Andre Segovia
began his career in 1916, he found
a small band of players writing and
playing mostly for each other in small
rooms,” he relates. “But Segovia had a
bigger vision; he sought out composers
to expand the instrument’s currency,
famously saying, ‘my kingdom for a
repertoire.’ Half a century later we are
doing the same thing, and I would argue
that contemporary guitar music holds its
own with what is now being written for
any instrument.”
For Becker, the “chemical reaction”
between composer and performer “fires
up a dynamic of curiosity, exploration
and self-expression that infiltrates all
their activities.” He also stresses the
unique nature of the Conservatory’s
collaborative undertakings. “Other
schools have similar projects, but I
haven’t yet discovered one that does
them to the degree that we do. It’s
something that distinguishes our
school, and it’s being noticed.”
On the Road
Just as the Viola Project and
Doublespeak activate greater personal
investment in a student’s artistic
development, so too do burgeoning Bay
Area concert series nudge performers
to improve their game by playing on the
road. Conservatory faculty and alumni
have helped create concert series in
Marin and in Davis that serve as offsite
vehicles for Conservatory performances.
These “colonies” give students a
footbridge from the classroom to the
concert hall as well as widen the orbit of
Conservatory exposure.

6. Lisa Grotts, chair
David Tanenbaum, artistic director
Décor by J. Riccardo Benavides of Ideas
Catering by McCall Associates
Featuring performances by Romero, mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook
and Conservatory students, faculty and guest artists
Contact Christian Mills at cmills@sfcm.edu or 415.503.6291
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
50 Oak Street San Francisco, CA 94102
in honor of Pepe Romero
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Electronic Media sponsorCorporate Patron PRINT MEDIA sponsor wine sponsor
50 Oak Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
Non-Profit
Organization
U.S. Postage
PAID
San Francisco
Conservatory of Music