Browse Exhibits (5 total)

Adrian Michaelis

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Adrian Michaelis served as the Program Director for The Standard Hour, a radio broadcast program that originated from a collaboration of the Standard Oil Company and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The program premiered in 1926, launched two complementary programs (the Standard School Broadcast in 1935 and The Standard Television Broadcast in 1952) and garnered national attention and accolades, including a Peabody award in 1952. This exhibit includes images of performers who participated in the various programs.

Conrad Susa

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Conrad Susa is among of one of the most important American composers of the late twentieth century. Susa wrote more than 200 theater scores and 5 operas. His works have been performed in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Broadway, among others. He has received numerous awards and accolades for his work as Music Director for companies such as the San Diego National Shakespeare Festival/Old Globe Theatre. This exhibit includes images of Susa at work, conducting or composing, correspondence with colleagues, program excerpts, and two samples of his compositions.

Fantasy Records

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San Francisco Bay Area-based Fantasy Records' Publicity Files is a fount of valuable information for the evolution of jazz and rock music in the Bay Area. With homegrown artists such as Dave Brubeck and the Creedance Clearwater Revival as well as the catalog of artists acquired through various label acquisitions, such as Prestige, Milestone, Pablo, and Stax, which brought artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, and Sonny Rollins to acclaim, Fantasy Records was one of the country's most influential jazz labels. This exhibit includes a sampling of images and related press documentation of these and other Fantasy Records' affiliated artists.

Phil Elwood

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Between his dual roles as radio broadcaster for KPFA Radio, Berkeley and journalist for The San Francisco Examiner and then the San Francisco Chronicle, Phil Elwood provided a unique insight into all aspects of the San Francisco Bay Area nightlife, including concerts, musicals, comedy revues, and cabaret shows, to name a few. Elwood also had a lifelong love of jazz music, the main topic of his KPFA radio program, aptly titled Jazz Archives. He also wrote extensively on the subject as part of his journalism work for The Examiner and Chronicle, covering local and national jazz festivals and concerts. Elwood was also active in the jazz community, serving on several advisory boards and writing liner notes for albums. This exhibit includes a small sampling of his working documents.

Robert Commanday

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Robert Commanday was a prominent music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle for nearly thirty years and the founder of the San Francisco Classical Voice web site. His papers provide significant documentation about classical music, ballet, and opera in the San Francisco Bay Area, but most especially for the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, and the Opera and Ballet's orchestras. Also included is information regarding local and visiting groups that performed in the San Francisco Bay Area. Commanday also shared an intimate connection to the Museum as a past member of its Board of Trustees.