Magen Solomon, Artistic Director and Conductor

Magen Solomon joined the choral conducting faculty of the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music in 2004 and is in her fifteenth season as Artistic Director of the San Francisco Choral Artists.   From 1992 to 2004 she was Music Director of the Oakland Symphony Chorus, and she served as Interim Artistic Director of the San Francisco Girls Chorus for the 2000-01 season.

Dr. 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 Dohnanyi, and Michael Morgan, among others.  Under her leadership, the San Francisco Choral Artists (a chamber choir specializing in 20th/21st century music) has premiered over 120 choral compositions, performed for the 1998 and 2008 American Choral Directors Association conventions, and released two CD's So Gracious Is the Time (1999) and Music Among Friends (2005).

Ms. Solomon has taught and conducted at Smith and Mount Holyoke colleges, and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Santa Clara University.  She is editor of the Research Column of the Choral Journal,  served on the Advisory Board of the Grove Dictionary of American Music, and her edition of Johannes Eccard's "Newe deutzsche Lieder" (1578) is published by A-R Editions (Madison, Wisconsin) in their Recent Researches in Music of the Renaissance series.

An Inteview with Magen

In June 2010, Magen sat down with the Chorale's Dave Sonner for an in-depth interview. The discussion ranged freely from topics related to her musical background and artistic philosophy to her vision for the Stockton Chorale. You're free to download and use these recordings under the terms of the Creative Commons license.

Past Conductors of the Stockton Chorale