San Francisco Conservatory of Music

San Francisco Conservatory of Music The San Francisco Conservatory of Music educates exceptionally talented musicians from around the world For more information, visit sfcm.edu.
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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. 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, classical guitar, and jaz

z. The Conservatory offers its 400-plus 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 education and personal attention to more than 200 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. 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. 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.

Ariana Kim's dedication to the violin doesn't know any borders. šŸŽ»šŸŒŽThe GRAMMY-nominated SFCM alum defines the global curi...
06/01/2026

Ariana Kim's dedication to the violin doesn't know any borders. šŸŽ»šŸŒŽ

The GRAMMY-nominated SFCM alum defines the global curiosity the Conservatory strives to instill. On a recent sabbatical from Cornell University, Kim journeyed to India to study Carnatic violin with masters Mysore Manjunath and his son Sumanth.

The style required adapting to a vertical playing posture and unique tuning. "Everything is different from what you've been doing for decades," Kim says, "so the brain has to kind of rewire."

Her new album, "(un)common thread," blends Western classical masterpieces with American folk and Carnatic traditions, proving that musical growth is a lifelong pursuit. "As is the case with classical music," she notes, "it's a life journey."

šŸ”—Read more about Ariana's global study: https://bit.ly/3PQccqa

"SFCM is a very small school. But I think we are better off for it. You can't make music or art by yourself, no matter h...
05/31/2026

"SFCM is a very small school. But I think we are better off for it. You can't make music or art by yourself, no matter how hard you might try. It's simply not possible. Everyone you will ever meet will change you in some way.

"Our art, our music, whatever it is we end up doing, will, at some molecular level, be touched by whom weā€™ve met over these past four years. There's a certain beauty in knowing everyone. If the school had been bigger, if we had been more separated, my life wouldn't be as rich."

ā€” Clara Abrahams, Undergraduate Class Speaker

šŸ“ø Drew Altizer

Commencement may be over, but weā€™re still thinking about it!Before the caps and gowns came out, SFCM Student Life celebr...
05/30/2026

Commencement may be over, but weā€™re still thinking about it!

Before the caps and gowns came out, SFCM Student Life celebrated the Class of 2026 with a party! Students ended their time at SFCM with the people who made these past few years unforgettable.

Proof that the best part of SFCM isn't just the music, it's the community we build together. ā¤ļøšŸ’›

šŸ‘‡ Tag the friends who made your time at SFCM unforgettable!

05/29/2026

When a Grammy-winning alumnus delivers your commencement address, you know youā€™re in for something extraordinary.

Watch SFCM alum Teddy Abrams (ā€˜05) kick off his address with the world premiere performance of a new piece of music by TAC student Megan GĆ¼rer, sampling speeches given by past SFCM honorary degree recipients.

šŸ”— Watch the full performance and speech from the 2026 Commencement: https://bit.ly/49gCCYH

šŸŽ§ Historical speech samples produced by .

From the classroom to the gaming studio! šŸŽ®šŸŽµEvery semester, our TAC Department's Sony Project tasks students with scoring...
05/29/2026

From the classroom to the gaming studio! šŸŽ®šŸŽµ

Every semester, our TAC Department's Sony Project tasks students with scoring a video game and receiving direct feedback from industry leaders at Sony Interactive Entertainment America.

For many graduates, this partnership is a direct bridge to a dream career. 2025 TAC alum Cullen Luper is a prime example, he was hired as an Associate Music Designer at Sony after networking through the project. Today, he helps shape the player experience by adapting and stretching composed scores into dozens of hours of immersive gameplay.

Cullen joins a growing pipeline of SFCM grads finding success at Sony and its subsidiaries, including Udit Srivathsan, Britney Dawn Do (Insomniac Games), and Seira Ishimura McCarthy (Kojima Productions).

Weā€™re proud to see our alumni on the ground level of the gaming industry!

šŸ”— Read more about Cullenā€™s journey here: https://bit.ly/4nXuu5r

05/28/2026

Getting to close your recital with your best friends? Say less.

From the classroom to the stage, collaboration is at the heart of everything we do. Watch Jonathan Trimble close out his Masterā€™s recital with Bernsteinā€™s ā€œSome Other Timeā€ from ā€œOur Townā€ with fellow voice students Akshaya Lakshmi and Lizzie Gaitan.

John Wilson, piano.

ā€œOften, growth is not a clear and smooth process. It might mean starting over again and again... But it is precisely at ...
05/27/2026

ā€œOften, growth is not a clear and smooth process. It might mean starting over again and again... But it is precisely at these moments that we begin to understand the true meaning of learning. We learn to revise, to start over, to listen to feedback, and to admit, ā€˜I donā€™t know yet.ā€™ And these seemingly imperfect moments are the traces left by growth.ā€

ā€” Chong Li, Post-Graduate Class Speaker, delivering her first-ever speech on a stage in a non-native language šŸŽ“

šŸ“ø Drew Altizer

At SFCM, students donā€™t just study new musicā€”they premiere it.Last month, the SFCM Pre-College choir debuted "Most This ...
05/27/2026

At SFCM, students donā€™t just study new musicā€”they premiere it.

Last month, the SFCM Pre-College choir debuted "Most This Amazing" by faculty member and alum Michael Kaulkin. The premiere coincided with the global release of Kaulkinā€™s first string quartet, "City Walks," now available on Navona Records.

A former student of the legendary Conrad Susa, Kaulkin infuses his work with a theatricality inspired by Stephen Sondheim. By bringing his professional projects into the classroom, he provides students with a real-world roadmap for a life in composition.

"Itā€™s important for them to see an example of something 'out in the wild,'" Kaulkin says. "Just the fact that there is an example of how this whole process worksā€”thatā€™s the most of it."

šŸ”— Read the full story: https://bit.ly/4uEgCQ2

Congratulations to conductor Daniel Harding on his appointment as the next Music Director of the LA Phil, beginning in t...
05/26/2026

Congratulations to conductor Daniel Harding on his appointment as the next Music Director of the LA Phil, beginning in the 2027/28 season!

Harding is an Askonas Holt artist, part of the SFCM Alliance that also includes Opus 3 Artists and PENTATONE, providing students with unparalleled access to today's leading artists and on-ramps into the worlds of arts management and recording.

From Walt Disney Concert Hall to the Hollywood Bowl, and his work with the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), including a 2029 international tour, we are excited to see his artistry and leadership at the helm of one of the world's most revered orchestras.

Welcome to the West Coast!

šŸ“ø Polly Brown

05/26/2026

ā€œIt meant a lot to me that SFCM encourages us to confidently be ourselves and perform pieces we genuinely connect with in our recitals. Iā€™m especially appreciative of the opportunity to perform a piece that represented my Filipino heritage, and I loved that my recital program reflected who I am as both a musician and a person. I believe itā€™s so important for musicians to have the creative freedom to express their individuality, and SFCM truly fosters an environment where students can grow artistically while feeling confident in their authentic selves.ā€ - Aaliyah Capili, voice student

In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, weā€™re uplifting the diverse voices that make up our community. In this video, Aaliyah Capili performs Filipino art song ā€œSa Kabukiranā€ by Manuel P. Velez.

Address

50 Oak Street
San Francisco, CA
94102

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 11pm
Tuesday 7am - 11pm
Wednesday 7am - 11pm
Thursday 7am - 11pm
Friday 7am - 11pm
Saturday 7am - 11pm
Sunday 7am - 11pm

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+14158647326

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