SFCM’s Faculty Artist Series is presented as an annual concert series featuring SFCM faculty in performance. This series showcases our world-class faculty to our community and audience members in personally curated repertoire.

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David Garner, composition

San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Nicole Paiement and the New Music Ensemble present a program celebrating the career of Elinor Armer, celebrating her over 50 years as a member of SFCM's Composition Department. A noted Bay Area composer, Armer's music spans a variety of ensembles settings and genres; the Conservatory is proud to honor her legacy.

New Music Ensemble

All performances will take place Grace Presbyterian Church.

Sierra Chamber Society 37th Season Program V

Grace Presbyterian Church

Please note: San Francisco will be hosting the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this week. Street and highway closures will cause delays in transit into and out of the SFCM area. Please plan accordingly in attending our concerts this week, as we do hope to see you in the audience! For those of you who cannot make it to the concerts, SFCM will be livestreaming most concerts for the week.

Kristin Pankonin American Art Song Award Showcase

Bowes Center

Drawing from classical, neoclassical, jazz, rock, blues and non-Western traditions, the music of David Garner (b. 1954) reflects a unique blend of musical genres. An alumnus and full professor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Garner has taught composition, chamber music, music literature and music theory there since 1979. In 2007 he co-founded the award-winning Ensemble for These Times, which continues to gain recognition for innovative and original programming and recording. Trained as a pianist and cellist, he has performed on both the solo classical concert stage and in various jazz-rock and blues bands. A composition autodidact, Garner won the 2015 American Prize in Composition/Chamber Music. His works have won several Global Music Awards. Garner’s works are recorded on Pentatone and Centaur Records and are featured online at 3232 Music. Numerous live performances of his works are available on YouTube

David Garner, composition featuring the Hoefer Prize Winning Composition

Director Nicole Paiement and the New Music Ensemble celebrate the works of composers at SFCM, while honoring two groundbreaking composers we lost in the last year. Luckadoo (‘23) wanted to perform a new clarinet concerto and decided to take matters into his own hands when he wrote Phenomenologies. Jay Cruz (‘23) represents composers from SFCM’s Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program. SFCM composition faculty David Garner’s Cello Capriccio incorporates his compositional system of “Tonal Serialism.” Kaija Saariaho and Jocelyn Morlock were both deeply influential artists and NME’s performance of their works are in their honor.

SFCM New Music Ensemble with Nicole Paiement

Chamber V

Piedmont Center for the Arts

For an evening of clarinet virtuosity, LCCE brings together three amazing clarinetists: Left Coast’s Jerome Simas and guests Jeff Anderle, a founding member of the ensembles Sqwonk and Splinter Reeds, and Carey Bell, principal clarinetist of the San Francisco Symphony. The trio will perform Mozart’s Divertimento for 3 Basset Horns and an arrangement by Anderle of the song Zoetrope.  David Garner’s new clarinet work receives its world premiere and music of Olly Wilson, Jesse Montgomery and Sebastián Tozzola is also featured.

Clarinet Party

Hillside Club

SF CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

Experience each turn of phrase—every sigh, every look, every joy—within the intimate realm of chamber music. It’s personal—music curated and performed by small ensembles of San Francisco Symphony musicians

Chamber Music at Davies Symphony Hall

Davies Symphony Hall

Drawing from classical, neoclassical, jazz, rock, blues, and non-Western traditions, the music of David Garner reflects a unique blend that exists beyond genre. This performance features the world premiere of Trio for Five Instruments, No. 2, as well as Cinco Poemas de Jaime Manrique. Garner has taught composition, chamber music, music literature, and music theory at SFCM since 1979.

David Garner, Composition

Harpist Jennifer Ellis is a dynamic contemporary performer who thoroughly enjoys defying traditional expectations of harp playing. It is in that spirit that she became the first harpist ever named a One Beat fellow–a cultural diplomacy program of the U.S. State Department in conjunction with Found Sound Nation.

David Garner

Events

Upcoming events

Mar 23, 2026

David Garner, Composition · San Francisco Conservatory of Music

May 3, 2026

Jennifer Ellis, harp · San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Past events

Apr 14, 2025

David Garner, composition · San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Nov 9, 2024

New Music Ensemble · San Francisco Conservatory of Music

About

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