Maestro Ben Simon and Gabriela were connected through SFCO Concertmaster, Robin Sharp. Impressed with Gabriela’s incredible compositions and their common commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Ben created the SFCO’s Composer-in-Residence Program with, Gabriela being named as the very first CIR.

Commissions and world premieres
for the SFCO

2009-10; Haílli Lírico – a concerto for violin and chamber orchestra
(for Robin Sharp and SFCO)

2010-11; Incredible Shrinking Orchestra Project 1.0, under direction of Gabriela
A re-orchestration of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring for 14 Players
Elizabeth Kimble, Noah Luna, Anthony Porter, Jonathan Russell, Winton
Yuichiro White

2011-12; Incredible Shrinking Orchestra Project 2.0, under direction of Gabriela
A re-orchestration of Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet for 14 Players
Mark Ackerly, Red Bennett, David Gottlieb, Noah Luna

2012-13; Isicha and the Pistaqo for narrator and chamber orchestra

Michael Gilbertson

• Michael moved to the Bay Area in 2017 and holds a faculty position at the SF Conservatory of Music

• He has written three works for the SFCO: Graffiti (2018), The Beautiful and the Good (2018) and Jigsaw (2019). He is currently working on Denial, a major work to be premiered by the SFCO, Volti, and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir on our April 2022 MainStage concert set.

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Michael Gilbertson teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He holds degrees from The Juilliard School of Music where he studied composition with Samuel Adler, John Corigliano, Christopher Rouse, and from Yale, where he studied with Aaron Jay Kernis, Martin Bresnick, David Lang, Ezra Laderman, Hannah Lash, and Christopher Theofanidis.

Gilbertson’s works have been programmed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Washington National Opera, Albany Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, Symphony in C, New England Philharmonic, Cheyenne Symphony, Juilliard Orchestra, Yale Philharmonia, Sioux City Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Michigan Philharmonic, Lafayette Symphony, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and professional choirs including Musica Sacra, The Crossing, and The Esoterics.

In March 2016 he was Musical America Magazine’s featured Artist of the Month. Gilbertson’s opera Breaking, a collaboration with playwright Caroline McGraw, was commissioned by the Washington National Opera and premiered at The Kennedy Center in November, 2013. He has twice composed and conducted ballets for the New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute, working with choreographers David Morse and Daniel Baker. His fifth ballet, a collaboration with choreographer Norbert De La Cruz, was premiered by the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet in July, 2013.