Facilities
The Bowes Center | SFCM
The Bowes Center
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
SongFest 2022 will be in residence at The Ute and William K. Bowes, Jr. Center for Performing Arts, located at 200 Van Ness Ave. A “vertical campus” the 170,000 square-foot Bowes Center incorporates student housing, dining, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, performances spaces, faculty and partner offices, and a radio station all under one roof. The building enables students to create, learn, and share music in an integrated, collaborative environment, located within walking distance from SFCM’s main 50 Oak Street location.
Building Features
Live Comfortably
Apartments for over 400 musicians, learn about living on campus. As well as housing for students at the San Francisco Ballet School and short term housing for visiting faculty and guest performers. Residential amenities for students include a student center with social and study spaces, dining from Chef Loretta Keller, known for her work at San Francisco’s Coco500, and acoustically isolated apartments that allow for practicing.
Practice Productively
State-of-the-art music education facilities, including acoustically controlled classrooms and practice rooms, a keyboard lab, recording studio, and the Center for New Media featuring critical listening rooms for Technology and Applied Composition and Roots, Jazz, and American Music students.
Build Community
Additional building highlights include a flexible event space and terrace on the top two floors of the building and offices for faculty, staff of Opus 3 Artists, and broadcasting facilities for KDFC Classical Radio. The Bowes Center was developed with the environment in mind, and anticipates the new building will reduce annual energy costs by 16.9%. Learn more about the Bowes Center green initiatives.
Three Distinct Performance Halls
Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall
The jewel-box Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall on the ground floor has seating for over 100 audience members, featuring sprung floors to meet the needs of dancers and performances that require high elasticity on the stage. Visible to all passers-by through floor to ceiling windows that extend to the second floor with views of Van Ness Avenue and Hayes Street.
Barbro Osher Recital Hall
The 200-seat Barbro Osher Recital Hall on the 11th floor features floor-to-ceiling glass walls offering views overlooking a spectacular vista of City Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, the War Memorial Opera House, and other Civic Center landmarks.
Technology Hall
The black box Technology Hall is a multipurpose performance and workshop space for multimedia projects and productions developed primarily by the Technology and Applied Composition department. The adjacent recording room includes state-of-the-art recording equipment that directly interfaces with all of the Bowes Center’s performance spaces.
For more information
THE BOWES CENTER