San Francisco Conservatory of Music

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music educates exceptionally talented musicians from around the world to become artists of the highest caliber. 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 jazz. 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.

At the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, we give students the framework and foundation to succeed throughout their studies and careers, creating a path of lifelong learning. More than any other world-class conservatory, we focus on educating the whole person, with an interconnected curriculum that breaks down barriers between the intellectual, artist, professional, and individual. Our faculty, facilities, and position at the heart of the San Francisco music scene have helped SFCM seize a leading role in preparing—and defining—the 21st-century musician.