Made up of a wide-ranging piano department and harpsichord, organ, and collaborative piano programs, our keyboard department transforms students into accomplished performers.
With less than 50 students, the SFCM Piano Department prides itself on individualized attention for each student-pianist and extraordinary instruments including New York and Hamburg Steinway Ds in every concert hall.
Our period instrument collection includes six harpsichords including instruments built by Bay Area master builders John Phillips and Kevin Fryer, a Walter copy fortepiano, a large clavichord, and practice pedal organ.
Undergraduate and graduate piano programs include a weekly departmental performance class, an annual concerto competition and orchestra performance, department recitals, classes on historical performance practices, chamber music, and professional development.
Guest-pianist residencies and masterclasses at SFCM have included luminaries like Yuja Wang, Leon Fleisher, Sergei Babayan, Stephen Hough, Richard Goode, Menahem Pressler, Emanuel Ax, Jean-YvesThibaudet, and Daniil Trifonov.