Magen Solomon, Artistic Director

SFCA Artistic Director since 1995, Magen Solomon avidly cultivates engagements with living composers to bridge the gulf between audience, composer, and performer. Under her leadership SFCA has established the Composer-in-Residence Program, Composer-Not-in-Residence Program, Composer’s Invitational Program, and the “New Voices” Project Competition to help launch the artistic careers of young composers.

Under her leadership, San Francisco Choral Artists has premiered over 150 choral works, performed for the 2008 and 1998 Western Division conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, and released three CDs, Strings Attached (2011), Music Among Friends (2005), and So Gracious Is the Time (1999).

An innovative teacher and musician, Solomon is active across the US and abroad as clinician, teacher, and guest conductor, and she has collaborated on performances of major choral works with Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Nagano, Nicolas McGegan, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Helmuth Rilling, among others. Solomon is also Artistic Director of the Stockton Chorale and Master Chorale, has taught at the University of Southern California, and has served as Music Director of the Oakland Symphony Chorus, and Interim Artistic Director of the San Francisco Girls Chorus. She is editor of the New Voices In Research column in the ACDA’s Choral Journal, and has published a scholarly edition of 16th century German partsongs.

Audiences, composers, singers, and students are fortunate to enjoy the fruits of her unique programming and her commitment to finding delightful new music.