San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

History

The SFSYO was first organized in 1981 by Edo de Waart, then music director of the San Francisco Symphony, and Jahja Ling, who became the SFSYO's first music director. Pianist and arts patron Agnes Albert (1908–2002) was also instrumental in its founding. The orchestra's inaugural concert came on January 17, 1982 with a performance of works by Brahms, Dvořák and Haydn, conducted by Ling. In 1986, the SFSYO went on the first of their ten European tours to date and won the "Vienna Cup" at the Youth and Music Festival and competition in Vienna. Throughout its history, the SFSYO has performed and recorded in some of the world's principal concert halls including the Royal Concertgebouw, Wiener Musikverein, Berliner Philharmonie, Mariinsky Theatre, Smetana Hall, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

The orchestra celebrated its 25th anniversary in May 2007 with a performance in Davies Symphony Hall of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and soloists from San Francisco Opera. Other notable concerts over the years include their 1996 simultaneous performance of John Cage's Renga and Apartment House 1776 with four surviving members of The Grateful Dead joining the orchestra; their 2005 performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 (conductor Edwin Outwater's farewell concert as the orchestra's 5th Music Director); and their 2008 performance of Dvořák's New World Symphony in memory of the SFSYO's benefactor Agnes Albert.

In September 2009, Donato Cabrera was named the 7th Music Director of the SFSYO and continued the orchestra's concert tradition of combining music by contemporary composers with that of the standard classical repertoire, before stepping down at the end of last year. During his tenure, the orchestra has performed contemporary works by Christopher Rouse (Infernal Machine), John Adams (The Chairman Dances), and Gabriela Lena Frank (Latin American Dances for Orchestra). In 2012, the SFSYO won a 2011-12 ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of American Music on foreign tours. Later that year the orchestra released a recording of their performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 live at the Berliner Philharmonie. In 2015, the SFSYO was awarded the Best Orchestral Performance Award in the Bay Area for the 2014/2015 season by the San Francisco Classical Voice for their performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 5. In addition to its performance at Davies Symphony Hall, the SFSYO also performed Mahler's Symphony No. 5 at the Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine, Berliner Philharmonie, Royal Concertgebouw, and Smetana Hall during their 2014/2015 season.

German conductor Christian Reif joins the San Francisco Symphony as Resident Conductor and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in the 2016-17 season.

Members

The SFSYO consists of approximately 100 musicians under the age of 22 from the San Francisco Bay Area. They are chosen by audition and must be under the age of 20 by the time of their first rehearsal. Over the years, many of the orchestra's 1000 alumni have gone on to careers as professional musicians, including composer and pianist Anthony Cheung, winner of the First Prize at the 6th International Henri Dutilleux Competition and the Charles Ives Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; violinist Juliana Athayde, Concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic; Nicholas Schwartz, Double Bassist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Philip Munds, Principal French Horn of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Matt Muckey, Associate Principal Trumpet of the New York Philharmonic; Nathan Chan, Cellist of the Seattle Symphony; Christina Smith, Principal Flute of the Atlanta Symphony; Noah Bendix-Balgley, First Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic; Teddy Abrams, Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra; and Tim Genis, Principal Timpanist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Activities

In addition to four concerts at Davies Symphony Hall, the 2014-15 season included a Bon Voyage concert in June in advance of the SFSYO’s tenth international tour which took the orchestra to performances in Milan, Udine, Ingolstadt, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Prague. The 2015-2016 SFSYO season featured three concerts in November, March, and May, as well as the annual holiday performances of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.

The SFSYO rehearses in Davies Symphony Hall, the home of the San Francisco Symphony, whose members provide tuition-free instrumental coaching. Although the orchestra has its own music director, guest conductors such as Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Herbert Blomstedt, Kurt Masur, and the SFS's Music Director, Michael Tilson Thomas, also work with the young players on occasion. The orchestra performs an annual concert series in Davies Symphony Hall and each year gives Christmas performances of Peter and the Wolf with guest narrators who have included Linda Ronstadt, Leonard Nimoy, Florence Henderson, Robin Williams, Rita Moreno, Sharon Stone, and Danny Glover.

Commissions and premieres

The orchestra has a tradition of commissioning and premiering new works. Works commissioned by the SFSYO have included:

Other works which have been premiered by the orchestra include:

Music Directors