SFCM Highlights: December, 2025

Apparently, I have not written about performances at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) since the opening of the concert season this past September. However, the month of December tends to offer several recitals to take stock of progress in the different departments. Since the first two of those events will take place at the same time this evening, I need to account for them sooner rather than later. Seats may be reserved through the hyperlinks for each of the events. Specifics are as follows:

Friday, December 12, 7:30 p.m., Barbro Osher Recital Hall: Seven students from the Composition Department will contribute to the end-of-term recital. They are as follows:

1. “Prelude to a Glyde Thru Hybernation,” a solo piano composition by AC Chen to be performed by the composer
2. “Firebird Capriccio,” a solo violin composition by Alex Malinas performed by Brayden Meng
3. The Cathedral Windows for Solo Trombone, a seven-movement suite by Mukil Narayanan performed by Mikael Malmgren
4. “Breaths,” a solo piano composition performed by the composer
5. A violin sonata by Joaquin Castillo performed by violinist Anishka Vogl, accompanied at the piano by Hanmo Jiang
6. “Midnight Rhapsody” by Isaiah Diaz, composed for violin (Meng), clarinet (Zoe King), and piano (George Miller)
7. “Scenes from Summer” a trio by Julian Ossa, who will perform the piano part joined by Meng and clarinetist Nick Alvarez

The venue is located on the eleventh (top) floor of the Bowes Center at 200 Van Ness Avenue.

Friday, December 12, 7:30 p.m., Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall: This will be the end-of-term recital for students in the String and Piano Chamber Music Department. Violist Mateo Calderon will be joined by Noor Salameh on cello to begin the program with the duet composed by Paul Hindemith. This will be followed by the early piano trio by Claude Debussy, composed in the key of G major and not discovered until 1982. Pianist Kingsley So will perform with Yan Li on violin and cellist Elias Shapero. The first half of the program will conclude with the more familiar “Ghost” piano trio by Ludwig van Beethoven, the first of the two Opus 70 trios composed in the key of D major, performed by violinist Bri Aye, Nathaniel White on cello, and pianist Nathaniel Zhang. The intermission  will followed by one major work, Johannes Brahms’ first piano trio, his Opus 8 in B major. Bonhwi Kim will be the pianist, performing with Jaimie Yoon on violin and cellist Calvin Kung. The Recital Hall is on the first floor of the Bowes Center at 200 Van Ness Avenue.

Flutist Yubeen Kim (photograph by Shin Joong Kim, from the Web page for his coming recital)

Monday, December 15, 7:30 p.m., Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall: This will be a Faculty Artist Series recital by Yubeen Kim, who is also Principal Flute of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. For most of the program, he will be accompanied at the piano by Yu-Hsin Galaxy Su. He will begin with two short compositions by Philippe Gaubert: “Berceuse” and “Sicilienne.” They will then be joined by a second flutist, Julin Cheung, in performances of the Wq 145 trio sonata in D minor by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Franz Doppler’s Opus 25, a coupling of Andante and Rondo movements. Following the intermission, Cheung will return to perform Wilhelm Friedemann Bach’s F. 57 duet for flutes in F major. Su will then join Kim for his instrumental version of the aria sung by Lensky in the first act of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin. They will then conclude the recital with Sergei Prokofiev’s Opus 94 sonata for flute and piano in D major. The Concert Hall is on the first floor of the 50 Oak Street building.