It will be a homecoming of sorts when cellist Hai-Ye Ni returns to San Francisco for the S.F. Conservatory of Music’s Alumni Recital Series on March 28. “I’m very excited, but also a little bit nervous,” the ’92 alumna admits about returning to play at a place where she first began studying when she moved to the U.S. in 1985. “I haven’t played there for a long time, and my teachers are still there.”
She probably needn’t worry. Ni first made a name for herself as the youngest winner of the Naumberg International Cello Competition in 1991. Her career has only gone forward since then, with an Avery Fischer Career Grant, numerous other competition awards, many recitals, and collaborations.
Although Ni is currently the principal cellist for the Philadelphia Orchestra, her ties to the Bay Area are strong. In addition to studying at the Conservatory of Music, she has also studied with Faith France at the San Domenico School . So while her time here will include the performance, as well as teaching a class at the Conservatory, which she’s looking forward to (especially seeing the new building, even though it’s not as convenient as the old 19th Avenue location was to her parents’ home), she does hope to spend some time here relaxing with family and friends. “I plan to go to Golden Gate Park and drive around the Marina. It will be relaxing to be on vacation.”
Ni’s appearance as the final performer in the first full season of the Alumni Recital Series is also appropriate in many ways. The series opened last April with a recital by series founder Weigang Li, like Ni a Shanghai native. It also coincides with the just-ended second annual San Francisco–Shanghai International Chamber Music Festival, which highlighted the strong ties between the Conservatory and its sister school in Shanghai, where both Ni and Li studied.
The program Ni has planned contains something for everyone.
The program Ni has planned contains something for everyone. It includes Gunther Schuller’s Fantasy for Solo Cello, which Ni describes as a piece in a single movement, about 10 minutes long, that she’s always wanted to play. “And the second half,” she adds, “has some lovely Spanish pieces [Suite Populaire Espagnole by De Falla] that are transcriptions of songs.”
If you don’t know about the Alumni Recital Series, it’s worth checking out, even if you can’t make this performance. It’s designed to showcase the sheer number of performances that the S.F. Conservatory sponsors each year (almost 500) — and the immense talent to be found at the school. The returning alumni donate their services, and the audience gets a chance to hear some of the best graduates of the program for a (for these days) nominal ticket price.