Michael Conley | sfacademyorchestra

Michael Conley has worked professionally as a musician for over three decades, earning a notable reputation for his multifaceted career as conductor, composer, pianist, organist, and singer. The New York Times has said of his work, “first-rate conducting,” and of his compositions, “tuneful,” “handsome,” “ambitious,” “piquant,” and “surprising,” and of his choirs “proficient” and “well-blended.”

Mr. Conley has been the Director of Music Ministries at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood since 2015, where he oversees a diverse and highly regarded program of music. Prior to his coming to Calvary, Mr. Conley worked for two decades as a freelance musician in New York City, including fifteen years as the Artistic Director of the West Village Chorale, eight years as the Artistic Director of the Hudson Chorale in Westchester, and five years as the Assistant Conductor of the Collegiate Chorale, founded by Robert Shaw. For almost a decade he was the Music Director at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, and for four years was the Assistant Director of Music at Saint Ignatius Loyola Church on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. From 2004-2013 he directed the High School Choir at the prestigious Dalton School.

As a chorus master he has prepared choirs for over fifteen Carnegie Hall appearances along with numerous performances at prestigious venues including Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Smetana Hall in Prague, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Caramoor Festival, the Verbier Festival, and for several off and off-off Broadway productions. He was the Chorus Master for the Connecticut Grand Opera for two seasons. He has led choirs and orchestras on numerous international tours, including performances in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and The Netherlands.

As a singer, Mr. Conley has been a soloist with The Gregg Smith Singers, The Dessoff Choirs, Woodstock Fringe Festival, Manhattan Voices, the Collegiate Chorale (now Master Voices), and was a singer/conductor/composer member of the award-winning contemporary music ensemble C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective. He holds an undergraduate degree in Composition from James Madison University in Virginia and completed his graduate studies in choral conducting at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, where he was a student of renowned conductor Joseph Flummerfelt. Mr. Conley is a published composer and has written numerous works in a range of mediums from chorus, orchestra, and chamber ensemble to hymns, cabaret songs, and musicals. He shares his home with husband Tony Bravo who is a popular columnist for the SF Chronicle, and their beloved Shih-Tzu Oscar.