Want to see just how good SFCM's faculty members are? You can do that—for free.

Earlier this year SFCM, launched the biggest and most ambitious season of its 108-year history, which include 11 Faculty Artist Series (FAS) concerts, in which Conservatory professors show off their talents. As with the overwhelming majority of SFCM's concerts, these showcases are open to the public and free to attend.

FAS performances allow faculty to program an entire evening highlighting their personal work and repertoire: This season, the series includes Corey Jamason, Yubeen Kim, Nancy Zhou, Lester Lynch, Sarah Cahill, David Conte, Jason Hainsworth, Amos Yang, Marc Teicholz, David Garner, and Jennifer Ellis.

In December alone, concertgoers can experience a holiday-inspired program on December 7 by longtime Composition Chair Conte and an evening with Kim, recently appointed Principal Flute at the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), on December 15.

Conte's recital includes a preview of his new opera, A Christmas Carol, based on the novella by Charles Dickens, featuring a roster of Bay Area voices and the SFCM Chamber Ensemble. Conte is an award-winning composer of more than 200 works, and the latter half of this concert features The Masque of the Red Death performed for the first time since 1994 and brought to the stage by the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony.

Conte calls the evening an "ambitious milestone" that celebrates both his 40 years of teaching at SFCM and his 70th birthday. "Audiences will have offerings of both opera and symphony, performed by some of the Bay Area’s most accomplished artists," Conte said.

Yubeen Kim's concert is another momentous occasion: his first official solo recital since joining the SFS. Highlighting the "outstanding collaborators" on the evening with him, Kim says he's thrilled for the performance. "I'm opening the recital with works by French composer Philippe Gaubert, often considered the origin of the flute repertoire, and closing with Prokofiev's monumental Flute Sonata."

Looking ahead, FAS performances include internationally acclaimed violinist Nancy Zhou's January 26 program. Winner of the 2018 Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition, Zhou—who has an English degree from Harvard in addition to her performance degree—is presenting an evening of classic violin works from Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Ferruccio Busoni. Her pianist for the evening is 1977 SFCM grad Jeffrey Kahane, who, in addition to accompanying the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell in performance, is also currently Music Director of the San Antonio Philharmonic.

 
February will see performances from recent Voice faculty appointee Lester Lynch on February 2 and pianist Sarah Cahill on February 9. A veteran of international stages for 30 years, Lynch is hailed as a Verdi baritone specialist, though his repertoire expands far beyond that: One of his most frequently performed roles is Crown in Porgy & Bess, and he's performed in everything from Il Trovatore to Aida to the title role in Rigoletto. 

Bay Area piano icon Cahill, meanwhile, has been hailed by NPR (who featured her on their popular Tiny Desk Concert series) as "[commanding] a near-godlike status among fans of contemporary classical music." Her performance will demonstrate that: She's using the evening to launch a new project, No Ordinary Light, with commissioned homages from Samuel Adams and Clarice Jensen, works from famed Bay Area composers Pauline Oliveros and Lou Harrison, and command pieces from the classical piano repertoire.

In addition to its 39 marquee productions, SFCM puts on more than 500 free performances every school year including chamber, opera, and musical theater showcases, orchestral concerts, student and faculty recitals, and masterclasses. Because of limited capacity at its concerts, guests are asked to reserve seats early.

Learn more about SFCM's historic 2025-2026 season and check out our Performance Calendar to reserve tickets for concerts.