San Francisco Conservatory of Music

I attended the preparatory division for piano performance here while I was in high school. I can honestly say some of my fondest memories are of this place. Walking down the halls, listening to the beautiful classical music. It’s soothing.

We recently got married in the hillside of Sausalito and hired a couple of SFCM students as a violin and guitar duo for our ceremony and cocktail hour. They were timely, professional and spot-​on with their music. They helped to make an already lovely ambience even more beautiful!

We used a string trio from Music To Go and could not have been happier. Our musician Luis, was top notch professional!!! He e-​mailed me right away once he was assigned to our wedding. He worked with me to do the exact songs we wanted! Some were pop songs (Halo by Beyonce and All of Me by John Legend). He got together with his group to test the songs over the weekend and made sure they could be played.
Everyone thought it was such a nice touch to have students at our ceremony as well! I HIGHLY recommend SFCM for any event!

We have listened to two performances of a family friend and each time we have been blown away just how good the performances here are. Yes, the performances are free and I can’t claim to be a music maven but even a neophyte can find something to enjoy in the performances — the joy and devotion each student brings to his/​her event, the way the instructors welcome us to their school while keeping the attention squarely on the performers, and so on.
It also helps that the venue is just so new and pretty, modern elements everywhere, seats that are whisper quiet, photographs honoring both students and instructors performing and in repose.
As we were leaving the conservatory the other night, in front of us was a professor carrying an enormous cello. He carried the cello to his Honda Odyssey and opened the passenger door. Inside was not one, not two but four other cellos. When my wife commented in an amused voice that she was half expecting child seats, the professor commented that cellos were a family affair. Apparently everyone in the family played. That scene describes how we felt about our experience at the conservatory. Maybe one day it will my kids performing here.

I am SO glad that we hired Music to Go! for our wedding. I studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in high school, so I knew that I wanted SFCM students to play at my wedding. We hired two quartets, one classical quartet for the ceremony, and a jazz quartet for the cocktail hour. We got so many compliments on the music, and a few people even emailed us asking for Music to Go’s contact information. Elisabeth Lowry, the Director of Community Engagement, was very easy to work with and always promptly responded to my emails. The music groups are very reasonably priced and they were so professional. The classical quartet even learned a special (non-​classical) song for our recessional, and it was so beautifully performed it brought tears to my eyes. We hardly needed to give any instruction to either group, and the music skills were top notch. I will definitely be hiring Music to Go for future events.

Great place to watch concerts and solo recitals. The professors know what they are doing here.

Free concerts! Beautiful hall.
We’ve been attending many of their recitals and concerts, most of which are free. Guitar, cello, brass, piano, voice. If you love music, take a look at the event calendar.
Did I Mention: free concerts?

My SCHOOL!!! I have a lot of feelings for SFCM. Not so many people know about it since it is in west coast and comparatively smaller institution. It has great faculty such as violinist Wei He and Ian Swensen. I have studied with them both. The school had a strong chamber music program with starring faculty. It also has a big guitar and opera department. The atmosphere is quite lovely. It is right in the art center of the city, where you can go to enjoy SF symphony, ballet and opera. Jazz center is a block away. The public library main branch is within 5 minute walk. And there is farmer’s market around there every Wednesday and Sunday. And San Francisco has countless great restaurants. Definitely go visit!

Nice folks! Love the Alec Baldwin type who sits up in the fancy balcony and looks down upon the children.

Little known fact — you can hire the talented student musicians from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for your favorite events. To save a little money, my husband and I hired a guitarist from the Conservatory and he was wonderful. It was so easy to hire him and he was on time and so easy to work with, plus he knew Bossa Nova (my husband is Brazilian) and learned a song for our wedding. He brought his own speaker (a little extra cost) and only needed an umbrella and chair. And he slipped out without us even noticing.
We hired the guitarist for just the ceremony and reception, but I wished we had hired a few jazz musicians for the reception. We ended up doing our own audio — which as many have said, that was a mistake — but hiring a few more lively musicians would have saved us so much time and energy in figuring out the audio and been reasonably priced.
Thank you, SF Conservatory.

We hired a string trio from Music To Go for our June wedding and they were great! Erin K. was our group leader and she was very helpful — I wasn’t able to meet with her or the other trio members in person because I was living out of town, but we planned all the ceremony music over phone/​email and she was always extremely responsive. Just a week before the wedding, my husband had a special request for the song he wanted himself & the groomsmen to walk in to, and the trio happily accommodated it.
The day of the wedding, the trio played for 30 min before the ceremony while guests were arriving, played walk-​in music during the ceremony, and then played both classical and cocktail music during the cocktail hour. The ceremony music was beautiful — and most importantly for me, the tempo of the song I walked in to was perfect. I didn’t get to hear the cocktail hour music, but I’ve heard rave reviews from friends who said it made for a great ambiance. I highly recommend Music To Go!

We won tickets to this place through a fundraiser (silent auction bid winner). My bf and I finally had a chance to go and loved it! The teaching facility is top-​notch and the talent is amazing.
We saw Brahm’s PIano Conerto No. 1 conducted by Alasdair Neale. The performance was stellar. I was especially drawn to and engaged by the passion, emotion, seemingly organized chaos and overall performance exuded by the lead pianist.
There is a small coffee, tea and pastry area for intermissions.
The seating is auditorium style and kind of tight, but overall a great place to listen and support the arts. I’ll be back for more musical beauty and inspiration.

As a classical music fan, I have rediscovered this as a great place to catch a free performance. I used to attend often when they were located 19^th Ave and Ortega in the Sunset because it’s closer to where I live. Street parking at night is now also a bit more challenging, probably because of the new jazz center and some newly-​built residential buidings nearby which increased competition for these spots.
Here at the conservatory, it’s especially great that many of these are of the chamber music series where you can hear various trios, quartets, or quintets from different composers. It may not be exactly the same as attending a performance of the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Hall, but it’s free and we’re hearing students who may one day in the future be performing with an orchestra like that.
Even for performances that are not free (such as a full-​orchestra performance), ticket prices are just $ 20 which is quite reasonable.

I just saw Mack McCray! Possibly the department chair for Nakagoshi and Zimmermann? I can see a resemblance in their performances!
Mack McCray was a guest performer at SFSU’s Morrison Artists Series last month. He stole the show :)
I think the old man sounded like a bubbly pot of hot chocolate :) Another artist to keep track of, yay!

Listening to a very beautiful vocal recital by a host of talented opera singers

I had hired a string quartet via SFCM’s
.Go for my wedding ceremony and cocktail hour, and was REALLY IMPRESSED by the talent of the musicians (all students of SFCM)! They are young, yet accomplished, musicians who are passionate about their music and gave such an elegant performance, which only made my wedding that much more perfect.
My compliments to Ivo the ensemble leader, who is professional and polite. In preparation of the wedding, we had spoken several times to discuss which songs I wanted/​did not want to be played as well as the exact timing when each song should be played. I was really particular about everything, and he was so patient and complied with all my requirements. On top of that, I had made several requests — one is a chord from a Beethoven song, and the second more obscure song called Un Banc Un Arbre Une Rue — they learned to play both so beautifully. Note: songs requests that are not on the main list will incur an extra charge.
As for their professionalism, the musicians i.) showed up on time, ii.) were dressed impeccably for the occasion, iii.) worked seamlessly together and were familiar with the order and timing for each of the songs, and iv.) due to their thorough preparation, knew exactly where to set up for the ceremony and cocktail hour without instruction/​guidance.
Bravo!

This is a review for the Music to Go program where you can hire conservatory students to play at an event/​function and not the Conservatory.
I was extremely disappointed with the professionalism of the student assigned to me as well as the snotty coordinator.
I’m sure it all depends on who you get, but my experience was pretty poor all the way around. I was paired with Ivo and we were supposed to set up a time to meet so that we could go over music, logistics, and hear them play before we hired them. He was supposed to call me to set up a meeting, and every time it was me doing the calling. Since we were still waiting on him to get a group together a week went by before I again had to call him. No updates from him at this point. He then informs me that he is going away at the end of the week. I have to ask him how we should meet since he doesn’t know when he will be back, but most likely just before our wedding g. There was zero sense of urgency on his part, if playing weddings is beneath you than don’t sign up for it. There was no way I would trust him to organize a group for our wedding without at least hearing the group play.
On top of this I also had the pleasure of dealing with a snotty coordinator. Would never consider using these guys. My advice is to go with a professional group.

Do I really have to comment such perfection?
Among the hustling of Civic Center is this auditorium that just leaks beauty and splendor. As you enter you are impressed with the modern design of the building and the simplicity of it. I was immediately attract to staircase. Luckily this place is smartly designed where there isn’t too much traffic because you can people watch from every angle.
Now, the actual auditorium! We were at the Conservatory watching BARS (Bay Area Rainbow Symphony) and man oh man how exquisite the sound was! My friend, who knew a lot about the architecture of the building, showed me how they when they made the additional space, they kept the original pillar structure and just modernized the new part. It looks great!
The acoustics were awesome here and I can’t wait to visit again!

Fantastic, clean, modern and well designed theater. I was lucky enough to receive free tickets to watch an opera. The stage is designed more for music than singing and acting but it still worked out great. The theater is pretty big and the seats are comfortable.
There is a café on the bottom floor and plenty of tables to sit. O yeah! There is also free wifi! I thought that was great since it allowed me to check in on Unilocal with my itouch.
Overall, a very nice theater very close to muni and bart.

Had the privilege of seeing Midsummer Mozart at San Francisco Conservatory of Music & what an awesome venue!
Sound setup mimics that of the Symphony Hall (but on a miniature scale) so you know it’s good. Seats are extremely comfy & perfectly placed so that no views are obstructed.
Super-​small venue that allows for a most intimate evening — we were completely impressed w/​the venue & the Mozart!
14 yr old virtuoso Audrey Vardanega wowed us with Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major
Then violinist Robin Hansen brought the house down with Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major
Thanks Maestro Cleve for a wonderful evening!