Former name | Ada Clement Piano School |
---|---|
Type | Private music conservatory |
Established | 1917 |
Founders | Ada Clement, Lillian Hodgehead |
Accreditation | WSCUC |
Endowment | 43,498,000[citation needed] |
President | David H. Stull |
Dean | Jonas Wright |
Students | 480 (2021)[1] |
Address | 37°46′32″N 122°25′13″W / 37.77556°N 122.42028°W |
Colors | Raspberry and gold [2] |
Website | www |
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California, United States. As of 2021, it had 480 students.[1]
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodghead as the Ada Clement Piano School.[citation needed] In 1923, the name was changed to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 1956 the Conservatory moved from Sacramento Street to 1201 Ortega Street, the home of a former infant shelter.[citation needed] It resided there for fifty years, before moving to its next location at 50 Oak Street in 2006.[citation needed]
In 2020, the SFCM added the new Bowes Center at 200 Van Ness Avenue (across from Davies Symphony Hall), a 12-story building that includes dorms (eight floors) with acoustic insulation for 400 of its students, 27 rent-controlled apartments for residents of the older building that was replaced by the construction, and some public performing spaces, including a penthouse concert room with views towards the north and west.[3][1] The Bowes Center's $200 million cost was largely funded by donors, including $46.4 million from the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation.[4][1] The San Francisco Chronicle's architecture critic John King characterized the building's design as "[pushing] against the strict rules of the historic district but [respecting] the air of gravitas. For starters, the building is skinned in translucent glass that conceals insulation and the structural frame — a touch that adds a milky visual depth ..."[1] As of 2021, the Bowes Center was envisaged to fully open to the public in February 2022.[1]
In 2020, SFCM announced a partnership with the talent management company Opus 3 Artists, and in May 2022 it acquired the Dutch classical music label, Pentatone, funded by a private donor.[5] The music website "Classical Voice" described this "combination of a music-education organization with two professional music businesses" as "unusual."[5]
SFCM is known for its comprehensive audition process. Many of the areas needed to enroll feature a "prescreening" round (which consists of essays, video recordings of them playing, transcripts, and for composition majors - portfolio of works), including composition, voice studies, strings, conducting, TAC (technology and applied composition)...etc.[6] A student can be denied or accepted based of the pre-screening results. Once the student is accepted beyond the prescreening round, they are called to San Francisco for a final audition to get to know the faculty, and perform for their chosen major's instructor. Once that is clear, the student is either accepted or denied admission into the conservatory. [7]