May Treat Morrison Chamber Music Center {College of Arts and Humanities}

Image: Photos of SF State students

Instruction Program

The Morrison Chamber Music Center Instruction Program promotes and nurtures the skills of students at all levels for whom chamber music is an important part of life, both as an art and as an experience in interpersonal relationships.

Fellowship Ensemble program

Pre-professional ensembles accepted into the Fellowship Ensemble program are supported for a two-year residency, during which they are mentored by the Alexander String Quartet, and in turn provide mentoring for SF State music students. These exceptionally talented, experienced and motivated students are given training in an extended range of skills that prepare them for careers in music. Ensembles that have held the fellowship ensemble residency include the Del Sol, Chamberlain, Arlekin, Sausalito, Volta, Nocturne, Afiara and Hausmann quartets.

Chamber Music Studies program

On the SF State campus each semester, 30 to 50 instrumentalists and vocalists audition for a place in chamber music classes that are part of the School of Music and Dance performance curriculum. As many as possible of these qualified musicians are placed in ensembles which meet regularly throughout the semester to rehearse, receive coaching and perform in weekly forums. Repertoire includes works from the extensive chamber music repertory as well as new compositions by student composers who are assigned to write for their colleagues.

Outreach programs

In addition to its work with undergraduate and graduate students at SF State as directors of the University’s Chamber Music Studies program, the Alexander String Quartet also works with participants in the University’s College of Extended Learning, as well as with music programs in several Bay Area high schools to develop students’ performance skills and their understanding of the place of classical music in the history of modern civilization.

The Alexander String Quartet maintains close ties with the Capp Street Community Music Center, San Francisco Youth Symphony Orchestra, California Youth Symphony Orchestra, the SF Conservatory Preparatory Division, the Crowden School in Bekeley and the San Domenico School in Marin County.

The Alexander String Quartet appears at least once a year on the Morrison Artists Series and once a year presents a Morrison Artists Series outreach concert off-campus.

Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar

The Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar brings together ensembles of all ages, from middle schoolers to emerging professional ensembles, for a three-day intensive session with a faculty of international artists of the highest caliber. Each year some 15 ensembles receive coaching and perform in master classes and concerts.

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