SFCM Salutes Extraordinary Women At Centennial Gala

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) will celebrate Conservatory community members Ute Bowes, Carol Casey, Ann Getty, Barbro Osher, Caroline H. Hume (in memoriam), and their families at its Centennial Gala on Monday, March 19, 2018. In honor of SFCM's pioneering founders, Ada Clement and Lillian Hodghead-and its 100th birthday-the Conservatory pays homage to the women who have shaped the institution and who have been so vital to its success.

"We are delighted to celebrate our centenary by honoring the long history of extraordinary women who have transformed the Conservatory through their work, their imagination, and their investment in our school," says SFCM President David H. Stull. "When Ada Clement and Lillian Hodghead set forth to establish a program of peerless excellence, they inspired a culture that attracted students and faculty dedicated to advancing art at the highest level. On March 19, we will honor a few of the many women, and countless individuals, who have made possible a century of achievement for our great school. We look forward with enthusiasm and pride as we embark on a path devoted to advancing music and education across the globe."

SFCM Trustees Deepa Pakianathan and Diane Zack will serve as Gala Chairwomen for this year's gala. Jan Buckley serves as Centennial Chair throughout the Conservatory's centennial year.

Special gala performers will include singer-songwriter Aoife O'Donovan, pianist Garrick Ohlsson, Punch Brothers, the Telegraph Quartet (the Conservatory's quartet-in-residence), and SFCM students and faculty.

Gala proceeds will support scholarships, as well as community engagement programs that annually provide music education and enrichment to thousands of young people and underserved individuals. Individual gala tickets range from $1,500 to $10,000.

Founded in 1917, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music is the oldest stand-alone 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 and classical guitar. 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 excellence 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. For more information, visit sfcm.edu.

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