The 2012-2013 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

"Choral Masterworks" is my new course at the Fromm Institute, for Spring Session 2013. Here's your source for slides, outlines, and various other documents.


Choral Masterworks

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 maintain a personal blog 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 14

Program Notes on the Bach French Suites, for Andràs Schiff's recital at Davies Symphony Hall. 7:00 PM.

April 17 - 20

San Francisco Symphony Pre-Concert Lecture: Nielsen Symphony No. 5, Beethoven Violin Concerto (Davies Symphony Hall except for April 18 at Mondavi Center, UC Davis). Wednesday April 17: Open Rehearsal, 9:00 AM in addition to evening concert.

April 21

Program Notes on the Bach English Suites, for Andràs Schiff's recital at Davies Symphony Hall. 2:00 PM.

April 24

Robin Sutherland Alumnus Concert, SFCM's Hume Concert Hall, 8:00 PM. I play the first movement of the Rachmaninoff C Minor Suite for 2 Pianos with robin.

May 29 - June 1

San Francisco Symphony Pre-Concert Lecture: Dvorak Cello Concerto; works by Kodaly and Bartok. May 29 Open Rehearsal 9:00 AM in addition to evening concert. Thursday May 30 is a matinee.

June 13 - 15

Program Notes for Ivan Fedele's Scena at the San Francisco Symphony.

June 13 - 15

San Francisco Symphony Pre-Concert Lecture: Fedele Scena, Schumann Piano Concerto, Schubert Symphony No. 3

June 21 - 22

Program Notes on Russian folk songs, at the San Francisco Symphony.