Matthew Young joined the SFS viola section in 2012. He was a founding member of the Verklärte Quartet, which won grand prize in the 2003 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He currently performs as a member of Ensemble San Francisco. Winner of a 2007 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Performing Musicians and the Robert Vernon Prize for Viola Performance, he attended the University of Kentucky, Yale School of Music, and Cleveland Institute of Music. 

(November 2019)

Katie Kadarauch joined the San Francisco Symphony in 2007 as Assistant Principal Viola. A native of the Bay Area, she was principal viola of the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra and earned a bachelor’s degree and graduate diploma from the New England Conservatory. She also studied at the Colburn School, during which time she performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and recorded film scores. She plays on a Peter Rombouts viola ca.1720, on loan from the SF Symphony.

Dan Carlson joined the SFS in 2006. He currently serves as Principal Second Violin, occupying the Dinner & Swig Families Chair. He previously served as rotating concertmaster for the New World Symphony and he has made solo appearances with the Phoenix Symphony, Chicago String Ensemble, New World Symphony, and the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra. A graduate of the Juilliard School, he has performed chamber music extensively throughout New York. Mr. Carlson performs and teaches with the San Francisco Academy Orchestra.

Stephen Paulson joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Bassoon in 1977, and stepped into the Associate Principal position at the end of 2023. Also a conductor, he has served as Music Director of Symphony Parnassus since 1998. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied bassoon with K. David Van Hoesen and Mordechai Rechtman, and composition with Samuel Alder. He has served as principal bassoon with the Rochester Philharmonic and co-principal bassoon of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Mr. Paulson has given masterclasses at colleges worldwide, including the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, and the Shanghai Conservatory. He is longtime Professor of Bassoon at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. For more on Stephen Paulson, visit sfsymphony.org/stephenpaulson.

Mark Inouye joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Trumpet in 1999 and holds the William G. Irwin Charity Foundation Chair. He previously held principal trumpet positions with the Houston Symphony and Charleston Symphony and performed with the New York Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic. He has toured the United States with Toccatas and Flourishes, the nationally acclaimed organ and trumpet duo, and was a member of the Empire Brass Quintet.

With the San Francisco Symphony, Mr. Inouye has been a featured soloist in Aaron Copland’s Quiet City, Franz Joseph Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, J.S. Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor with Jean-Yves Thibaudet. In 2015, he was soloist and leader for a summer program of jazz and classical favorites. He has also made solo appearances with the New World Symphony, Houston Symphony, and Tanglewood Wind Ensemble. As a composer, his works Tribute to Beaky, Find the Cheese, and The Bull Behind the Horns–A Jazz Suite, have all been performed on the SF Symphony chamber music series.

Equally at home in classical music and jazz, Mr. Inouye was a founding member of the Juilliard Jazz Sextet at Lincoln Center and a guest performer at the Hollywood Bowl in the Playboy Jazz Festival. He appeared as soloist in Wynton Marsalis’s video Marsalis on Music, on a Disney Channel production featuring The Who at Carnegie Hall, and released his own debut jazz album, The Trumpet & The Bull.

Mr. Inouye graduated from the Juilliard School, where he transferred after two years as a civil engineering major at University of California, Davis

Timothy Higgins joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Trombone, occupying the Robert L. Samter Chair, in 2008. He was previously acting second trombone with the National Symphony. A Houston native, Mr. Higgins graduated from Northwestern University and has performed with the Milwaukee, Virginia, and Chicago symphonies, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Washington National Opera, and the Baltimore Symphony. In 2005, he won the Robert Marsteller Competition and the ITA Trombone Quartet Competition, both part of the International Trombone Association.

Robin Sutherland, occupant of the Jean & Bill Lane Chair, studied with Rosina Lhevinne at the Juilliard School and with Paul Hersh at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. While still an undergraduate there, he was appointed Principal Keyboards of the San Francisco Symphony by Seiji Ozawa. Mr. Sutherland was for thirty seasons co-director of the Telluride Chamber Music Festival in Colorado. A re-mastered, limited edition release of Robin Sutherland’s 1996 recording of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations is available on SFS violinist Sarn Oliver’s SarnWorks label. For more on Robin Sutherland, visit sfsymphony.org/robinsutherland.

(September 2018)

Jonathan Vinocour joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Viola in 2009 and was previously principal viola of the St. Louis Symphony and guest principal of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Chicago Symphony. He has frequently soloed with the SF Symphony and has also played concertos with the St. Louis Symphony, La Jolla Music Society, Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and New World Symphony. With NWS, he is also a frequent coach and was a featured artist at their Viola Visions Festival alongside Tabea Zimmerman, Kim Kashkashian, Roberto Diaz, and Cynthia Phelps.
 
As a chamber musician, Mr. Vinocour is a regular guest of the Seattle Chamber Music Society, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, Marlboro Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Salt Bay Chamberfest, and ChamberFest Cleveland. His chamber music partners have included Yefim Bronfman, Yo-Yo Ma, Augustin Hadelich, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Igor Levit, and James Ehnes, among others. He also performs frequently on the SF Symphony Chamber Music Series and as a recitalist around the country.  
 
Mr. Vinocour graduated from Princeton University with a degree in chemistry and from New England Conservatory, where he studied with Kim Kashkashian. An active and dedicated teacher, he serves on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as the Aspen Music Festival and School. He plays on a 1784 Lorenzo Storioni viola on loan from the SF Symphony.
 
(1/2024)

Amos Yang joined the San Francisco Symphony in 2007 as Assistant Principal Cello and holds the Karel & Lida Urbanek chair. He was previously a member of the Seattle Symphony and a member of the Maia String Quartet. 

Born and raised in San Francisco, he was a member of the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra and San Francisco Boys Choir. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School and now serves on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco Academy Orchestra.

WYATT UNDERHILL joined the San Francisco Symphony as Assistant Concertmaster in 2018. He was previously assistant concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony, substitute concertmaster with the New Haven Symphony, and associate concertmaster of Symphony in C. Founding first violinist of the Blue Hill String Quartet, he was a top prizewinner in the Irving M. Klein International Competition for Strings.

Melissa Kleinbart, occupant of the Katharine Hanrahan Chair, joined the SFS in 1998 after serving as associate concertmaster with the San Francisco Opera orchestra and assistant concertmaster with the Vancouver Symphony. In addition to solo appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, and New York Symphonic Ensemble, Ms. Kleinbart has been a participant at the Marlboro and Tanglewood music festivals and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A graduate of the Juilliard School, she performs and teaches with the San Francisco Academy Orchestra.

(September 2018)