24 Notable alumni of San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Updated: June 15, 2026 EliteDegrees
San Francisco Conservatory of Music is ranked #5,577 in the world and #1,461 in United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 24 notable alumni from San Francisco Conservatory of Music sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with San Francisco Conservatory of Music won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Jean-Paul Penin
1949-. (aged 77)
conductor
Jean-Paul Penin is a French composer and conductor.
2. Natasha Wilson
opera singer
Natasha Te Rupe Wilson is a New Zealand soprano opera singer of Māori and Pākehā heritage.
3. Sahba Aminikia
1981-. (aged 45)
composer
musician
Sahba Aminikia is an Iranian-born American contemporary music composer, artistic director, performer, educator and a TED Fellow. Aminikia is the founder and the artistic director of Flying Carpet Festival, the first performing arts festival for children living in war zones.
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4. Branden James
1978-. (aged 48)
singer
Branden James Smith, known as Branden James, is an American tenor who has performed as a soloist with American symphony orchestras. James came to prominence as a contestant on America's Got Talent during the show's eighth season.
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5. Lise Lindstrom
opera singer
Lise Lindstrom is an American operatic soprano. She is best known for the title role of Puccini's Turandot and also highly recognized in the dramatic repertory of Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner.
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6. Sidney Robertson Cowell
1903-1995 (aged 92)
folk song collector
ethnomusicologist
folklorist
anthropologist
musicologist
Sidney Robertson Cowell was an American ethnomusicologist, collector of folk songs, and the wife of the composer Henry Cowell.
7. Léopold Simoneau
1916-2006 (aged 90)
opera singer
music educator
Léopold Simoneau, CC CQ was a French-Canadian lyric tenor, one of the outstanding Mozarteans of his time. In 1959 he became the first recipient of the Calixa-Lavallée Award.
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8. Alice Reinheart
1910-1993 (aged 83)
stage actor
film actor
Alice Reinheart was an American actress, best known for her work in old-time radio. She also appeared on television. An article in the September 1940 issue of Radio and Television Mirror magazine described her as "pert, vivacious, beautiful and talented in writing and music as well as acting."
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9. Sérgio Assad
1952-. (aged 74)
composer
classical guitarist
guitarist
musician
Sérgio Assad is a Brazilian guitarist, composer, and arranger who often performs with his brother, Odair, in the guitar duo Sérgio and Odair Assad, commonly referred to as the Assad Brothers or Duo Assad. Their younger sister Badi is also a guitarist. Assad is the father of composer/singer/pianist Clarice Assad. He is married to Angela Olinto.
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10. Indre Viskontas
music educator
neuroscientist
opera singer
Indre Viskontas is a Lithuanian-Canadian neuroscientist and operatic soprano. She holds a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles. While at UCLA she was a member of the Bjork Learning and Forgetting Lab and Cogfog. and a M.M. in opera. She is a Professor of Psychology at the University of San Francisco and serves on the...
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11. Gyan Riley
1977-. (aged 49)
guitarist
composer
jazz guitarist
Gyan Riley is an American guitarist and composer. He is a son of minimalist composer Terry Riley. They frequently toured together as a duo between 2016 and 2020. Gyan Riley studied at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has released two solo albums and several collaborative recordings on John Zorn's Tzadik Records. He has also performed with Bill Frisell, Julian...
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12. That 1 Guy
composer
musical instrument maker
Mike Silverman, better known as That 1 Guy, is an American musician based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He frequently performs and records as a one-man band, singing and using a variety of homemade musical instruments.
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13. Eddie Henderson
1940-. (aged 86)
jazz musician
trumpeter
Eddie Henderson is an American jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of pianist Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band, going on to lead his own electric/fusion groups through the decade. Henderson earned his medical degree and worked a parallel career as a psychiatrist and musician, turning back to acoustic jazz by the...
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14. Gwendoline Yeo
1977-. (aged 49)
voice actor
television actor
film actor
musician
Gwendoline See-Hian Yeo is an actress based in the United States. Born in Singapore, she moved to California in 1988 and began acting in sitcoms such as Grounded for Life and The Random Years. Yeo is known for her roles as Dr. Kelly Lee on General Hospital, Xiao-Mei on Desperate Housewives, and Sun Fu in Broken Trail. She is also...
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15. Rob Wasserman
1952-2016 (aged 64)
musician
Rob Wasserman was an American composer and bass player. A Grammy Award and NEA grant winner, he played and recorded with a wide variety of musicians including Bob Weir, Bruce Cockburn, Elvis Costello, Ani di Franco, Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Stéphane Grappelli, Rickie Lee Jones, Van Morrison, Steve Morse, Aaron Neville, Lou Reed, Pete Seeger, Jules Shear, Brian Wilson, Chris...
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16. Carla Kihlstedt
1971-. (aged 55)
composer
university teacher
violinist
jazz musician
songwriter
Carla Kihlstedt is an American composer, violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and currently working from a home studio on Cape Cod.
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17. Isaac Stern
1920-2001 (aged 81)
violinist
conductor
writer
Isaac Stern was an American violinist.
18. Barbara Eden
1931-. (aged 95)
stage actor
television actor
voice actor
actor
film actor
Barbara Eden is an American actress and singer, who starred as the title character in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie (1965–1970). Her other roles included Roslyn Pierce opposite Elvis Presley in Flaming Star (1960), Lieutenant (JG) Cathy Connors in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), and a single widowed mother, Stella Johnson, in the film comedy Harper...
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19. Yehudi Menuhin
1916-1999 (aged 83)
autobiographer
conductor
jazz musician
philatelist
politician
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century.
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20. George Duke
1946-2013 (aged 67)
singer
film score composer
composer
jazz musician
pianist
George Martin Duke was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a professor of music. He first made a name for himself with the album The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio. He is known for his 32 solo albums, as...
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21. Gordon Getty
1933-. (aged 93)
librettist
financier
classical composer
composer
businessperson
Gordon Peter Getty is an American businessman and classical music composer, the fourth child of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. His mother, Ann Rork, was his father's fourth wife. When his father died in 1976, Gordon assumed control of Getty's US$ 2 billion trust. His net worth was $2.1 billion in September 2020, making him number 391 on the Forbes...
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22. John Adams
1947-. (aged 79)
composer
autobiographer
conductor
librettist
John Adams was a Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain. During the latter part of the Revolutionary War and in the early years of the new nation, he served the Continental Congress of the United...
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23. Mark Griffin
1954-2018 (aged 64)
teacher
sculptor
Mark Griffin is a Scottish Labour politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Central Scotland region since 2011. He is married to Stephanie and has three children.
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24. Marko Topchii
1991-. (aged 35)
guitarist
classical guitarist
Marko Topchii is a classical guitarist from Ukraine. Topchii has won more than 100 awards worldwide in the international classical guitar competitions in the professional category. Among them, 57 first places in the competitions in the United States, Mexico, Australia, Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary, Serbia,...
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