Designer’s rendering of a recital hall in the San Francisco Conservatory’s new Bowes Center. Image: SF Conservatory of Music
“On the drafting board for years, delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but prevailing over all challenges, San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s $200 million Ute and William K. Bowes, Jr. Center for Performing Arts will fully open on Nov. 11 with a gala invitational event,” writes Janos Gereben in Monday’s (11/1) San Francisco Classical Voice. “Bowes is across the street from Davies Symphony Hall, flanked by the War Memorial Opera House and City Hall, a block away from the SF Ballet Building in one direction, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and the Asian Art Museum in the other…. On Nov. 11, private performances [will feature] Yo-Yo Ma and SFCM faculty and students … in the glass-encased, street-level Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall; recording studio demonstrations, and more…. SFCM Vice President Beth Giudicessi says, ‘We … expect the first public events and performances to commence on Feb. 12.’ … The 12-story project includes two concert halls, classrooms, rehearsal spaces, a recording studio, observation deck and garden, conference center, and housing for 420 Conservatory and SF Ballet School students, as well as apartments to accommodate 36 local residents affected by the construction in rent-controlled households.”
