By Mark Taylor

It’s not every day an entire concert is made up of world premieres. Yet that is exactly what is happening on January 30th with the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall, and one of those songs was written by SFCM graduate Matt Boehler.

The song, “Risk Not One” was written by Boehler and poet Todd Boss. It will share the stage with 16 other composers, all of which were commissioned by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke to write works in response to the pandemic. “She gave us all the freedom to compose a short song that embraced where we all were at that moment, whatever that meant to us,” Boehler continued, “He (Boss) had a poem that he was working on at the time, and he fashioned it into a punchy and propulsive lyric which was a lot of fun to set to music.” 

The music of the evening will also be included in a new album how do I find you recorded by Cooke and her pianist Kirill Kuzmin. “It's thrilling to have the song featured alongside the songs of other folks whose work is so well known in the classical and opera worlds,” Boehler added. The concert promises to shine a light on the hopes, fears, and observations of living through difficult times, featuring the brightest compositional talents in music today. 

The performance will be an exciting first for Boehler, who is from Minneapolis, but now lives in San Francisco and graduated from SFCM in 2017, “It's a great honor to be a part of their season, and to get to hear Sasha and Kirill perform my work here in my home city. I'm thrilled!” Boehler said.

Boehler credits SFCM for helping the singer and composer get to where he is today, “The composition department has a real focus on writing for the voice, a natural fit for me as a singer who's interested in writing vocal music.” 

While at SFCM, he was a recipient of the ISOM Annual Scholarship Fund as he studied with composer and instructor David Conte, “Sondheim was right, teaching is a holy profession, and David Conte is one of the most important mentors I've ever had,” Boehler said.

It has been a busy January for Boehler, the month marked the premiere of his first full length opera, “Fat Pig” in Charlottesville, Virginia. The opera is based on the play by Neil LaBute. In addition tenor David Portillo and pianist Craig Terry premiered another song by Boehler called, “Fruit of the Flower” with Vocal Arts DC at the Kennedy Center. 

Learn more about studying composition at SFCM.