8th Annual Hot Air Music Festival Takes Off This Weekend

The 8th annual Hot Air Music Festival takes place Sunday, March 5 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) in a day-long marathon consisting of four sessions. Featuring performances in all three of SFCM's performance halls, the festival will present contemporary works performed and composed by SFCM students, alumni, and faculty members.

"We're coming off such a high from our inaugural preview concert earlier in February," says BrYan Lin '17, director of the Hot Air Music Festival. "This student-run festival has grown to incredible proportions in our eighth year, and while we continue to push the original mission of providing an exciting new music environment for composers and performers at SFCM, we're especially proud to be continuously featuring musicians from outside the Bay Area community. This year's lineup has musicians traveling from places like Texas, New York, LA, and Kansas City. As an extension of the Conservatory's reach, we've pushed a 'mixed-media' theme, encouraging submissions that take advantage of multimedia and electronics, largely as a nod to SFCM's new Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program. We're featuring a wide array of music that will surely have something for everyone."

Highlights of this year's festival include alumni ensembles such as the Ignition Duo, Friction Quartet, Amaranth Quartet, One Great City, and The Living Earth Show, among others. Faculty members Ryan Brown and MaryClare Brzytwa will each see performances of their works at the festival. Current and former SFCM students Nick Benavides '14, Matt Boehler '17, Colin Martin '18, Yumeng Zhang '16, and BrYan Lin will also see the performance of several new art songs for soprano and cello they have each composed as members of the Guerrilla Composers Guild.

The festival's four sessions run from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM (Sol Joseph Recital Hall), 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM (Osher Salon), 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM (Sol Joseph Recital Hall), and 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall). Admission is free and open to the public.

Program

SESSION 1 (11:00 AM - 1:00 PM) Sol Joseph Recital Hall

Daniel De Togni: In the Morning
Steve Tjoa, violin; Craig Perry, electric guitar

JacobTV: GRAB IT!
Nathaniel Martinez, guitar

Eric Tran: Icarus
Bethanne Walker, flute; Margaret Halbig, piano

Philip Glass: Piece in the Shape of a Square
Siroko Duo

GUERRILLA COMPOSERS GUILD: Art songs for soprano and cello
Winnie Nieh, soprano; Matt Schwede, cello

Missy Mazzoli: Tooth and Nail
Anna Heflin, viola

SESSION 2 (1:30 PM - 5:00 PM) Osher Salon

PatRick Castillo: like the tide
Ryan Brown: Get Go
Areon Flutes

John Luther Adams: Three High Places
Luke Fatora, violin

Lou Harrison: Cinna
Taylor Chan, tack piano

Bryndan Moondy: Cascade
Meerenai Shim, flute; Brandon Morris, violin; Christina Simpson, viola; Chiayu Chang, piano

Nick Norton: Monet in Greyscale
Marc Mellits: Selections from Tapas
John Halle: Spheres
Friction Quartet

Hunter Long: Vulpine Series No. 7-9
Hunter Long, paetzold contrabass recorder

Christopher Whitley: heavy sleepers
Christopher Whitley, violin and electronics

Adam Shield: The Uncertainty Principle
Kaija Saariaho: NoaNoa
Bihe Wen: Dye
Jessie Nucho, flute and electronics

Sahba Aminikia: The Wind Will Blow Us Away
Haley Shaw: Visceral Studies
Amaranth Quartet

Jude Traxler: from poison
Anne Rainwater, piano

SESSION 3 (3:30 PM - 6:00 PM) Sol Joseph Recital Hall

Kevin Puts: And Legions Will Rise
Katrina Shore, marimba; Luke Fatora, violin; AnDrew Friedman, clarinet

Sato Matsui: Dance of the Marionettes
Lazuli Quartet; Victoria Hauk, flute; Nayantara Jain, piano

Akira Nishimura: from Samudra Manthan
Pablo Ortiz: paisaje
Cécile Marti: Wendung
Kenji Oh: Sacred Chichibu Peaks at Spring Dawn
ZOFO

Hamza el Din: Escalay
Lazuli Quartet

Taylor Joshua Rankin: In the Autumn Foliage
Clara Fuhrman and Emily Nardo, violin; Fiona Hinkulow, viola; Federico Ramirez, cello

Sérgio Assad: Variations on a Lullaby
Chick Corea: Children's Songs (selections)
Sérgio Assad: Tres Cenas Brasileras
One Great City Duo

MaryClare Brzytwa: For Pauline
MaryClare Brzytwa, flute and electronics

SESSION 4 (7:00 PM - 9:00 PM) Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall

Aaron Gervais: Halo Ballet
Xin Zhao, piano; Chelsea Wong, keyboard; Carlos Rivera, electric guitar; Taylor Joshua Rankin, drums; Michael Kropf, BrYan Lin, Kevin Becker, Colin Grant, Halo dancers

Nick Norton: In Ecclesia
Kyle Randall: Winter Landscapes
Ignition Duo

William Gardiner: Hebbian Theory
Alex Temple: Willingly
Philip Glass: Music in Similar Motion
Wild Rumpus

Jason Thorpe Buchanan: Second Study for Alto Saxophone, Video, and Electronics: pulp
Casey Grev, alto saxophone

The Living Earth Show

Visit hotairmusicfestival.com for more information.

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