The 2011-2012 concert season is nearly upon us. I'll be writing program notes and giving pre-concert lectures for a variety of institutions, including the San Francisco Symphony and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Program Notes and Lectures

My spring term class at the Fromm Institute is "The Symphony Beyond the Austro-German Tradition" starting Tuesday, April 10 at 10:00 AM. I am posting class materials here.

Fromm Institute

I have taught Music 27 - Introduction to Music for 21 years now for the Fall Freshman Program at the University of California, Berkeley. Again this fall I'm shepherding a group of undergraduates through the glories of the Western musical tradition.

Music 27 (UCB)

Although I no longer write for the San Francisco Examiner, I still maintain a personal blog on LiveJournal, called Free Composition. The blog covers a wide range of topics, even sometimes music, so check it out frequently.

Free Composition

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 Orchestra, both as a Contributing Writer and as an "Inside Music" lecturer for the Symphony's weekly subscription concerts, and is Program Annotator and Scholar in Residence for the Philharmonia Baroque 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.

April 10

First day of class at the Fromm Institute; 10:00 AM class "The Symphony Beyond the Austro-German Tradition." Weekly to May 29.

April 11

Pre-concert lecture for the SF Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall. Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4, Vivaldi "Winter" from The Four Seasons. 7:00 PM.

April 12

Lecture on the history of the SF Symphony in recordings, at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center. 1:00 PM.

April 19–22

Program notes for the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, on Handel's Alexander's Feast.

April 27–28

Pre-concert lectures for the SF Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall. Sibelius Symphony No. 1 and Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3. 7:00 PM.

May 7

Last day of classes, SFCM.

May 24-27

Pre-concert lectures for the SF Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall, on Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Aho. 1:00 PM on May 24 and 27; 7:00 on the 25th and 26th.