SAN FRANCISCO - March 2026
- Barrett
- Mar 17
- 3 min read
THE CONSERVATORY
I came to San Francisco mainly to visit the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Jake Heggie (composer of Dead Man Walking and Moby-Dick, whom I had met with previously in New York) was kind enough to connect me with many members of the voice and composition departments, both faculty and students. Experiencing both departments was essential, as both are huge parts of who I am. Ideally where I go in the future, for grad school or for anything else, will be beneficial in both areas of my music-making life.
I took the campus tour, met and had a lesson with Matt Worth (Voice Faculty), had a wonderful talk with Richard Cox (Chair of the Voice Department), attended the Composition Seminar feat. David Conte (Chair of Composition), and saw the opening performance of their spring opera, Massenet's Cendrillon. The opera was well produced and well executed by the principals, chorus, and orchestra. I was especially impressed with how the staging and design fit such a large opera comfortably into a recital hall, allowing the students to perform this masterpiece right in the school's main building. A lot of that was due to their newfound projection capabilities, which made the small set incredibly versatile. At the opera I was able to meet up with Jake Heggie once again, discussing the school and my overall trip to SF.
THE CITY
When I was not at the conservatory, I explored multiple parts of the great city of San Francisco. On my first night there, Helen and I walked to the Japantown mall, where we visited Kinokuniya Bookstore and enjoyed some ramen from Marafuku Ramen-- they had great gyoza too!
We also visited Pier 39 together, and although we were mostly there to see the famous Sea Lions, we did get sucked in to some of the shops around the pier area. Also, I tried In-and-Out for the first time!
At Jake's suggestion, we had dinner at the Beach Chalet, a restaurant that was right next to Ocean Beach. Our table was next to a huge window where you could watch the sunset over the ocean. Since I had never been to the Pacific up until this point, I had never experienced that either! Helen was brave enough to step into the chilly surf, but I wasn't really feeling it.
I went to the Bridge twice, once by myself and once with Helen, both times enjoying a cup of coffee at the Round House Cafe. Their iced mocha is delicious!
THE NATURAL WORLD
In the morning of my final full day in San Francisco, I decided to journey across the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Marin Headlands, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. After being dropped off, I walked all the way up to the peak of Hawk Hill, which overlooks the entire city and bay, as well as some hills to the north. This area is apparently pretty popular due to its view of the Bridge and surrounding Bay, but that was honestly not the main reason I wanted to go. That would be the ravens! Hawk Hill is home to a few of them, and in the right conditions you can get truly awesome pictures of these magnificent birds. I've made a habit of observing ravens since I started going to Pilot Mountain State Park in North Carolina, but I had never seen them so close for so long in the wild! There was what I assumed to be a mated pair, as well as one other raven that kind of fluttered around. While they seemed pretty wary of people, they allowed me to get quite close, and most of the time I was there, I was sitting just a couple of feet away from them. They seemed to have an appreciation of the view itself as they looked out together towards the city. I really hope I have the chance to come explore more of California's amazing natural wonders in the future!
Comments