San Francisco Contemporary Music Players


The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players is an ensemble of classically trained instrumentalists that commissions, performs, and records innovative new music, including music that integrates electronic and acoustic sounds. SFCMP was founded to give voice to the burgeoning genre of contemporary chamber music in the Bay Area. They are solely devoted to contemporary repertoire, particularly the work of living composers. The current Artistic Director is Eric Dudley.
A ten-time winner of the national ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players has performed more than 1,100 contemporary works, including many U.S. and world premieres, and has commissioned new pieces from such composers as John Adams, John Cage, Fred Frith, Liza Lim, James Newton, and Julia Wolfe.

Artistic collaborations

In 1983, Frank Zappa led the ensemble in performing music by Edgard Varèse. The concert, which was emceed by Jefferson Airplane vocalist Grace Slick and held in the San Francisco Opera House, attracted an audience of more than 2,000 people. In 1997, electric guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Joey Baron appeared as soloists with the ensemble, performing Steven Mackey’s concerto, Deal. Later the same year, vocalist Dawn Upshaw appeared with the ensemble in a performance of George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children.

Principal conductors/music directors