Youth Orchestra
Youth Orchestra History
The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) is recognized internationally as one of the finest youth orchestras in the world. In 1994, former San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan officially proclaimed the ensemble a “City Treasure.” Founded in 1981, the SFSYO’s musicians are chosen from more than 300 applicants in annual auditions. The SFSYO’s purpose is to provide an orchestral experience of pre-professional caliber, tuition-free, to talented young musicians from the greater Bay Area. The more than 100 diverse musicians, ranging in age from 12 to 21, represent communities from throughout the Bay Area. The SFSYO rehearses and performs in Davies Symphony Hall under the direction of Music Director Donato Cabrera, who begins his leadership of the ensemble in the 2009-10 season. Jahja Ling served as the SFSYO’s first Music Director, followed by David Milnes, Leif Bjaland, Alasdair Neale, Edwin Outwater, and Benjamin Shwartz. The SFSYO embarked on its eighth international tour in June 2008 with concerts throughout Germany and the Czech Republic. The tour included the SFSYO’s debuts at Berlin’s Berliner Philharmonie, Munich’s Philharmonie im Gasteig and Prague’s Smetana Hall, as well as three acclaimed music festivals throughout Germany with concerts in Rostock, Passau, and Ingolstadt.
As part of the SFSYO’s innovative training program, members of the SFS coach the young players each Saturday afternoon in sectional rehearsals, followed by full orchestra rehearsals with Maestro Cabrera. SFSYO members also have the opportunity to work with many of the world-renowned artists who perform with the SFS each week. SFS Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, SFS Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt, Kurt Masur, Valery Gergiev, Leonard Slatkin, Yo-Yo Ma, Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Midori, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Sarah Chang, and many others have worked with the SFSYO. Of equal importance, the students are able to talk with these prominent musicians, asking questions about their lives, their professional and personal experiences, and about music.
The SFSYO presents a series of subscription concerts each season in Davies Symphony Hall, as well as seasonal and other special concerts and appearances. The subscription programs are filled with the great masterworks of the orchestral repertoire, works brought to life by the SFSYO’s acclaimed virtuosity and unique sense of discovery. The ensemble is also noted for its commissioning program, and performances of modern and contemporary works each season by composers such as John Adams, Richard Danielpour, David Carlson, Christopher Rouse, Charles Wuorinen, Deborah Fischer Teason, and Tobias Picker. In May 2005, the Youth Orchestra performed the Bay Area premiere of SFSYO alumnus Nathaniel Stookey’s Out of the Everywhere. As part of its annual holiday Peter and the Wolf concerts, the SFSYO collaborates with a wide range of artists and local celebrities – past narrators have included author Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), actors Sharon Stone and Robin Williams, Sid Caesar, and Danny Glover; singers Rita Moreno, Linda Ronstadt and Bobby McFerrin; San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen; and Michael Tilson Thomas.
The SFSYO embarked on its first European Tour in 1986, where it was awarded the world’s highest honor for a young musician’s orchestral ensemble, the City of Vienna Prize, at the 15th International Youth and Music Festival. In the summer of 1989, the SFSYO made its first tour of Asia with performances in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. During the summer of 1992 the ensemble performed in Italy, Spain, and France, including a performance at one of the world’s most prestigious festivals, Aix-en-Provence. In 1995, a three-week tour included concerts at Leipzig’s Gewandhaus (in a concert broadcast live on German radio) and Amsterdam’s renowned Concertgebouw. The SFSYO returned once again to Europe during the summer of 1998, with debuts at the Cité de la Musique in Paris and the Dvořák Hall in Prague in addition to a return engagement at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In celebration of its 20th Anniversary Season, the SFSYO embarked on its sixth International Tour in June 2001, with concerts in Russia, Lithuania, and Ireland. The Youth Orchestra made its debut at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, performing Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. Upon invitation by Valery Gergiev, the SFSYO performed at the prestigious “Stars of the White Nights” Festival in St. Petersburg in the famed Mariinsky Theater. The tour’s closing concert in Dublin was broadcast live across the nation on Lyric FM, Ireland’s national classical radio station. In July 2004, the SFSYO embarked on its seventh international tour, performing in many of Europe’s most venerable concert halls such as Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and Paris’ Théâtre des Champs Élysées. The Orchestra made its debut in Berlin, appeared in Germany’s prestigious Rheingau festival, and performed in two acclaimed French summer music festivals in Lyon and St. Riquier.
The orchestra's most recent European Tour, in the Summer of 2008, included debuts at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Munich Philharmonie, and Prague's opulent Smetana Hall.
The SFSYO was accorded a prestigious honor in the summer of 1995 when it was selected by the BBC in London to kick-off the season broadcast of its “Youth Orchestras of the World” radio series. Audiences throughout Europe were treated to Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 (recorded live in Davies Symphony Hall in May 1994), and the SFSYO’s March 1995 performance of Bartók’s Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin. Other SFSYO recordings include a special two-disc commemorative set released in the 1991-92 season celebrating its 10th anniversary and featuring live concert recordings from 1982-1991. A third recording, from the SFSYO’s celebrated performance at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw during the 1995 European Tour, was released in the spring of 1997 to rave reviews. In May 1999 the SFSYO released its fourth disc, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, recorded live in Prague’s Dvořák Hall during the SFSYO’s 1998 European tour. A fifth 20th Anniversary CD was released in 2001.
The SFSYO performed at the official inauguration ceremony for Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., in January 1996; the Public Dedication Ceremony for San Francisco’s New Main Library in April 1996; and the special San Francisco salute to Queen Elizabeth II in 1983; they have served three times as the orchestra for a series of conducting workshops sponsored by the American Symphony Orchestra League; they have performed special “New and Unusual Music” concerts; and they have opened the city’s Stern Grove Festival in 1992, 1989, and 1986. The SFSYO also performs many community and other free concerts each season; these have included concerts for patients at Laguna Honda Hospital, a benefit concert for Stanford’s Children’s Hospital, and an Earthquake Relief Concert for the Hollister School for the Arts. As part of the SFS’s June 1996 celebration of American music, An American Festival, the SFSYO joined Maestro Tilson Thomas, members of the Grateful Dead, and vocal soloists in an unprecedented collaboration to perform John Cage’s Renga with Apartment House 1776; members of the SFSYO percussion section were also featured in a festival performance of Henry Cowell’s Ostinato pianissimo. In celebration of its 20th anniversary season, a May 2001 concert featured a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, with the Grammy Award winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus and soloists Nicolle Foland and Florence Quivar. In May 2007, the SFSYO celebrated its 25th anniversary season with a special performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. The performance featured the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and four San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows as soloists.
The 2009-10 SFSYO season, under the direction of newly appointed Music Director Donato Cabrera, features three subscription concerts, on November 15, March 21 and May 16. Additional concerts include the annual holiday performances of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf on December 12 at the Flint Center in Cupertino and on December 13 at Davies Symphony Hall.