Brass and Woodwind Chamber Music
Conservatory Baroque Ensemble
Conservatory Chorus
The Conservatory Orchestra
Guitar Ensemble
Jazz and Improvisation
Musical Theater Workshop
New Music Ensemble
Conservatory Opera Program
Orchestral Training
Percussion Ensemble
String and Piano Chamber Music
Outreach Programs


Performance is central to Conservatory programs. The Conservatory presents over 400 performances a year, representing the full range of music, from solo recitals by students and faculty to small ensembles, fully-staged operas, and symphonic programs. Highlights include the Chamber Music Masters series, where guest artists perform together with students and faculty members.

Conservatory Ensembles provide students with the opportunity for concentrated study and performance. They are directed by notable faculty members and conductors, many of whom perform in professional ensembles themselves. Concerts at the Conservatory and other locations attract an audience of 100,000 annually.

Gregory Barber, woodwind coordinator
Mark Lawrence, brass coordinator
Paul Welcomer, brass choir

Brass Choir is a weekly class required for all brass majors. Its principal purpose is to develop ensemble skills through regular reading rehearsals, orchestral repertoire readings, and rehearsals for public recitals, which are presented twice annually. In addition, the class is used as a forum for master classes by faculty and guest artists. The class also serves as a workshop on chamber music, auditions, and solo performances. Brass Chamber Music explores the repertoire for smaller brass ensembles through the formation of quintets, quartets and trios. The ensembles are coached weekly, participate in chamber music performance workshops and perform twice each semester.

Students from the Woodwind Department form trios, quartets and quintets. Some of these ensembles continue throughout the year. One concert of woodwind chamber music is presented each semester.

Corey Jamason, co-director
Elisabeth Reed, co-director
The Conservatory Baroque Ensemble performs music of the 17th and 18th centuries in large and chamber formations. Past concerts have included Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites, Telemann's Tafelmusik, Handel's Concerti grossi, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Music for the Fairy Queen, and Vivaldi's L'estro armonico and Il cimento. The ensemble performs twice each semester, and in early spring a complete Baroque opera or oratorio is presented . Past repertoire includes Handel's Serse (2005), Bach's Magnificat. and Handel's Ode for St. Cecelia's Day (2006)Performances are with modern instruments. A limited number of period instruments are available for use by interested students, including gamba, with new faculty specialist Elisabeth Reed.

Singers in the vocal section of Conservatory Baroque perform as soloists and choir in the spring opera/oratorio production. In addition, singers participate in concerts of arias and cantatas in the winter and late spring with the participation of instrumentalists from the Conservatory Baroque Ensemble.

David Conte, director
The Conservatory Chorus performs three concerts annually. Works featuring student soloists are emphasized. Past repertoire has included Fauré's Requiem, Vivaldi's Gloria and Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. The Chorus also performs works by student and faculty composers, and participates in an annual Student Composition Contest in the spring semester.

Andrew Mogrelia, music director
Alasdair Neale, principal guest conductor
The Conservatory Orchestra provides an intensive experience in the rehearsal and performance of orchestral literature from all stylistic periods. Participation is required of all orchestral instrument majors. During the academic year, the Orchestra performs five full concerts. Student soloists with the Orchestra are chosen by competition. In addition, the Orchestra presents four performances of the annual Conservatory Opera Theatre production.

David Tanenbaum
Lawrence Ferrara
Marc Teicholz
The Guitar Ensemble performs works for large groups of conducted guitars, and also breaks into smaller guitar ensembles and mixed ensembles with other instruments. The smaller ensembles are coached regularly and perform each semester. In fall 2000, the Guitar Ensemble went on a five-concert tour of Northern California with composer Steve Reich, and in fall 2001 it performed the United States premiere of Terry Riley's Y Bolanzero. The ensemble's programs regularly blend new compositions with transcriptions.

Mario Guarneri
Mark Levine
The Conservatory offers a Jazz Improvisation course and several opportunities for the class to perform. Talented faculty and guest artists give periodic master classes and concerts.

Heather Carolo, director
Brian Nies, music director
Students study and perform scenes from musicals and present cabaret evenings. Recent performances have been given at Piaf's, the Francisca Club, the Concordia Club, Town and Country, and at the Conservatory.

Nicole Paiement, director
Jacques Desjardins, assistant conductor
The New Music Ensemble involves students in the classical music of their own time. Members of the ensemble, who are accepted by audition, perform a variety of works written in the 20th and 21st centuries in four major concerts each year. The works range from 20th-century classics to brand new works by contemporary composers. Personal contact with composers is provided whenever possible. In addition, several concerts and readings of works by student composers are presented each year.
BluePrint is an annual event or festival that celebrates new music and includes the New Music Ensemble as well as special guests. The format and repertoire vary from year to year depending on the focus. Participation in BluePrint is open by audition and consent of the instructor.

Richard Harrell, director
An integral part of the Conservatory's collegiate program, the Conservatory Opera Theatre draws exceptionally talented young singers from around the world and provides them with advanced training in vocal style, acting, stage movement and other essentials of operatic craft. Graduates go on to the professional stage well-served by their Conservatory background. In the fall semester, the Opera Theatre presents an hour-long version of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel with sets and costumes in four matinee performances for children, in addition to outreach performances. Recent fully staged operas presented in the spring semester have included La Bohème, Così fan tutte, faculty composer Conrad Susa's Transformations, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Marriage of Figaro, Die Fledermaus, The Crucible, Count Ory, Tales of Hoffmann and Albert Herring. In addition, seven programs of opera scenes with piano accompaniment from the Opera Workshop program are presented each year.

Milissa Carey, art song as theatre
Kathryn Cathcart, music director, opera program
Darryl Cooper, assistant music director
Heather Carolo, assistant director

Working professionals from the San Francisco Symphony, Opera and Ballet orchestras lead Conservatory instrumentalists in sectionals before each concert.

Barbara Andres
Luis Baez
Gregory Barber
Jeffrey Biancalana
Jeffrey Budin
Leonid Gesin
Jodi Levitz
Bettina Mussumeli
Douglas Rioth
Adam Smyla
Stephen Tramontozzi
Chen Zhao

Jack Van Geem, director
Percussion Ensemble members study performance techniques and works for percussion and present two performances each year, sometimes including performers from other music disciplines. In addition, students prepare for twice-yearly Peer Performance Presentations.

Mark Sokol, chair
In addition to extensive undergraduate and graduate opportunities in chamber music, the Conservatory offers a Master's degree and an Artist Certificate in chamber music performance in strings and piano.

Designed to prepare the most exceptional chamber musicians for professional careers, the program gives committed students the opportunity to connect with other musicians and to apprentice with chamber music professionals.

Faculty chamber music concerts held throughout the year include advanced students in mixed ensembles. In the Chamber Music Masters series, three master chamber musicians per year are invited to rehearse and perform with chamber music students and faculty and to conduct a chamber music master class. Recent visitors have included Robert Mann, founder and former first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet, Joel Krosnick of the Juilliard String Quartet, Leon Fleisher, Menahem Pressler, Sharon Robinson, Timothy Eddy, Jeffrey Kahane, Peter Oundjian of the Tokyo String Quartet and Kim Kashkashian.

Jennifer Culp
Jean-Michel Fonteneau
Paul Hersh
Jodi Levitz
Robert Mann
Yoshikazu Nagai
Mark Sokol
Axel Strauss
Ian Swensen

Community Service Program
Elisabeth Lowry, community outreach manager
The Community Service Program benefits both the performance needs of the students and the people of the Bay Area. For more than two decades, the Community Service Program has taken live music into schools, hospitals, retirement homes, children's facilities and other places where people of limited means and mobility are seldom reached. Approximately 280 performances are presented each year. Students audition for acceptance into the Community Service Program and receive compensation for their performances. Four to six class sessions each semester, for which students receive academic credit, often include guest speakers addressing a variety of career-related topics.

Elisabeth Lowry, community outreach manager
The Conservatory in the Schools Program provides Conservatory students with invaluable classroom training while supporting music education in the San Francisco public schools. Conservatory student mentors teach instrumental lessons, lead sectionals, coach chamber groups and assist classroom teachers. Students are accepted into the program through an interview process. Teaching time is compensated; attendance at seminars featuring guest educators is required. The program accepts chamber music groups for educational performances in our partner schools.

Elisabeth Lowry, community outreach manager
Student musicians are always in demand to perform at private functions throughout the year. Performances run the gamut from special events such as corporate celebrations to garden tours to raise money for the symphony, or graduations. Students placed through the Conservatory's Music to Go! office are paid for their services. An audition is required.