San Francisco Conservatory of Music

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, founded in 1917, is a music school, with an enrollment of about 350 students. It was launched by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodgehead in the remodeled home of Lillian's parents on Sacramento Street. It was called the Ada Clement Piano School. It was within a few years, additional classes were offered for instruments, voice, composition and theory. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the school was under the direction of Swiss-born composer Ernest Bloch and two violinists, Isaac Stern (age 5) and Yehudi Menuhin (age 12) were welcomed into the school. Both Stern and Menuhin continued their relationship with the school throughout their lives.

Currently the school offers undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees as well as offering adult education and pre-college education. The only school of its kind on the west coast, it offers degrees in orchestral instruments, chamber music, composition, and conducting. Faculty include members of the San Francisco Symphony and Opera orchestras, as well as many internationally recognized soloists, chamber musicians, and composers.

Location and Facility

School Started on Sacramento St. in 1917.

Moved to 1201 Ortega Street in 1956.

Moved to 50 Oak Street as of August 14, 2006.

San Francisco Conservatory of Music offers music education in addition to community enrichment programs and world-class performances. This expansion of the school will dramatically increase its instructional and performance opportunities as well as its contribution to the cultural life of the Bay Area. The Oak Street facility almost doubles the square footage of the Conservatory's old site at Ortega Street in the largely residential Sunset District and positions the 84-year-old college of music in the arts nexus of San Francisco, amid Davies Symphony Hall, the War Memorial Opera House, new Asian Art Museum and other prominent arts-related venues and institutions.

Acquired around March, 2000, the Conservatory's Civic Center location includes two existing buildings, 50 and 70 Oak Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin. With its historically significant facades and relatively sound structure, 50 Oak Street has been restored and reconfigured, while adjoining 70 Oak has been rebuilt in a complementary and contemporary design. Together almost 73,000 net square feet of space are available to accommodate the Conservatory's needs for acoustically correct studios, practice rooms and performance spaces as well as classrooms, offices and an expanded library.

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, founded in 1917, is a music school, with an enrollment of about 350 students. It was launched by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodgehead in the remodeled home of Lillian's parents on Sacramento Street. It was called the Ada Clement Piano School. It was within a few years, additional classes were offered for instruments, voice, composition and theory. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the school was under the direction of Swiss-born composer Ernest Bloch and two violinists, Isaac Stern (age 5) and Yehudi Menuhin (age 12) were welcomed into the school. Both Stern and Menuhin continued their relationship with the school throughout their lives.