San Francisco Conservatory of Music
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music opened its new Bowes Center for Performing Arts to students this fall. Located across from Davies Hall, home of the San Francisco Symphony, the 12-story structure includes classrooms, student and public housing, a recording studio, and performance spaces. The 170,000-square-foot Bowes Center, designed by Mark Cavagnero Associates, effectively doubles the school’s space. It is within walking distance of SFCM’s Ann Getty Center, the Conservatory’s home since 2006. The building also includes 27 rent-stabilized apartments, which upgrade and replace units from the site’s previous building for its prior tenants. The three performance spaces are the Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall on the ground floor; the 200-seat Barbro Osher Recital Hall on the eleventh floor, overlooking Civic Center; and the black-box Technology Hall. The building includes offices for faculty, staff of Opus 3 Artists, and broadcasting facilities for KDFC Classical Radio. The building is set to open to the public in February, and the Conservatory says most performances will be free.
