I am currently in my 42nd year on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Take a look at the place! It has evolved and grown spectacularly.

My winter class at the Fromm Institute is "The Music of France." Check on the Fromm web site for details and class slides.

 

I have taught Music 27 - Introduction to Music since 1991 for the Fall Freshman Program at the University of California, Berkeley.

 

I maintain a personal blog called Free Composition. The blog covers a wide range of topics, even sometimes music, so check it out frequently.

Peripheral Pianism


I may have been raised and trained as a pianist, but my relationship with the instrument has been rocky at best. Only during a very limited period of my life did the piano become really central to my career as a musician, but that unnatural attachment led soon enough to an all-stops meltdown. For the past fifteen years I have had the career I want to have, and not the one people told me I was supposed to have. That career includes the piano only peripherally; I play the occasional recital, and that's about it.

more quotations

About Scott Foglesong

Scott Foglesong is a pianist, musician, teacher, writer, cat-lover, music history devotée, occasional computer geek and sometime programmer. He has been on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1978; nowadays he serves as a department chair in addition to enjoying the honor of educating some of today's most promising young musicians. In 2008 he was named recipient of the Sarlo Family Foundation Award for excellence in teaching. He has taught Music 27 (Introduction to Music) for the Fall Freshman program at UC Berkeley since 1991, is associated with the San Francisco Symphony, both as a Contributing Writer and as an "Inside Music" lecturer for the Symphony's weekly subscription concerts, and is Program Annotator for the California Symphony, after formerly serving in the same capacity for the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, New Hampshire Music Festival, and Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra. Professor Foglesong was formally educated at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the San Francisco Conservatory, but his informal education continues everywhere, without cease.

Here's what's coming up:

January 6 through June

I curated the lobby exhibit at Davies Symphony Hall on Michael Tilson Thomas's 25 years as Music Director. First-Tier Lobby, with a smaller version in the Loge Lobby.

January 23, 24, 25

Pre-concert lecture at the SF Symphony. Widmann Con brio, Sibelius Violin Concerto, and Beethoven Symphony No. 7

May 14, 15, 16

Pre-concert lecture at the SF Symphony. Sibelius Symphony No. 5, Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1

May 22, 23, 24

Pre-concert lecture at the SF Symphony. Ruggles "Angels" and "Sun-Treader", Brahms German Requiem.

Program Notes

Recitals at Davies Symphony Hall:

Murray Perahia
Hélène Grimaud
Yefim Bronfman
Gautier Capuçon and Yuja Wang
Igor Levit

Throughout the Season:

California Symphony
San Luis Obispo Symphony
Left Coast Chamber Players
Cal Performances (March)
Chora Nova (Berkeley)
Caramoor Music Festival (NY)