Yvette Kraft joined the first violin section of the San Francisco Symphony in the 2025–26 season, and holds the Isaac Stern Chair. She was the winner of both the 2024 Aspen Music Festival Violin Concerto Competition and the 2024 DeLay Fellowship Award. Internationally, she placed second at the 2020 Grumiaux International Violin Competition in Brussels, was a semifinalist in the 2019 Louis Spohr International Violin Competition in Weimar, and was a 2023 Frances Walton Competition solo winner. She is an NPR From the Top Fellow and has collaborated with artists such as Augustin Hadelich, Gil Shaham, Arnaud Sussman, Jon Kimura Parker, and Jeremy Denk. Kraft was the concertmaster of the 2024 New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall. She has soloed with numerous orchestras including the Seattle Symphony, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, and Spokane Symphony. After studying with Simon James, she completed her studies as a student of Robert Lipsett at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, winning the 2025 Frances Rosen Prize upon graduation.

Leonid Plashinov-Johnson joined the San Francisco Symphony viola section at the beginning of the 2022-23 season. Previously a member of the St. Louis Symphony, he is a laureate of multiple competitions, most recently the Primrose International Viola Competition, and has participated in the Yellow Barn, Ravinia, and AIMS festivals. Born in Russia, he graduated from New England Conservatory, where he won the concerto competition.

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)

Anne Richardson joined the San Francisco Symphony as Associate Principal Cello at the beginning of the 2024–25 season. She was most recently an academy fellow with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and has performed with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and Pittsburgh Symphony. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Louisville Orchestra, Massapequa Philharmonic, Bryan Symphony Orchestra, and Juilliard Orchestra, and has been featured by Lincoln Center’s Great Performance Circle, Juilliard in Aiken Festival, and Vail International Dance Festival. She has also performed extensively as a chamber musician at the Nymphenburger Sommer in Munich, Tegernsee International Music Festival, Wasserburg Rathauskonzerte Series, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, United Nations Chamber Music Society, and with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Richardson completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Juilliard School as a student of Richard Aaron, and earned a doctor of musical arts at the University of Michigan. She was named the Kentucky Center’s Gheens Artist in Residence in 2019 and was a guest faculty member and artist in residence at the 2018 Tennessee Cello Workshop.

Davis You joined the San Francisco Symphony cello section at the beginning of the 2024–25 season and holds the Lyman & Carol Casey Second Century Chair. He earned his bachelor of music from New England Conservatory, where he studied with Laurence Lesser and Paul Katz, and regularly appeared as principal cello of the NEC Philharmonia. He was a member of Quartet Luminera, which won the silver medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. A Bay Area native, You began his cello studies with Irene Sharp and Jonathan Koh. He has appeared on NPR’s From the Top, San Francisco International Piano Festival, Wellesley Chamber Players Series, Taos Chamber Music Festival, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.

Sébastien Gingras joined the San Francisco Symphony in 2010 and was previously a member of the New World Symphony and the Saint Louis Symphony. Mr. Gingras grew up in Chicoutimi, Québec, where he was educated at the Conservatoire de Musique. After graduating, he moved to Boston to study at New England Conservatory, where he received his master’s degree in 2005. He has participated in the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute and Yellow Barn.

Yubeen Kim joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Flute in January 2024 and holds the Caroline H. Hume Chair. He was previously principal flute of the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra and has frequently played as guest principal flute with the Berlin Philharmonic. He is also a professor of flute at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he is passionate about teaching and mentoring the next generation of musicians. He made his San Francisco Symphony concerto debut in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 last November, and makes his solo debut with the full orchestra on this week’s program.

Kim won first prizes at the ARD International Music Competition and Prague Spring International Music Competition, as well as second prize at the Concours de Genève when no first prize was awarded. As a soloist, he has been invited to perform at numerous concerts and festivals, including the Prague Spring Festival, Nimus Festival, LA Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella New Music Series, Bemus Festival, Festival du Jura, Weiwuying International Music Festival, and Tongyeong International Music Festival. He has appeared as a soloist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, Bochumer Symphony, Turku Philharmonic, and Zagreb Philharmonic. He also performs regularly in Korea with the Seoul Philharmonic, KBS Symphony, Korean Chamber Orchestra, Korean National Symphony, Bucheon Philharmonic, Daejeon Philharmonic, Chungnam Philharmonic, Cheongju Philharmonic, and Ensemble of Tokyo.

Originally from South Korea, Kim started taking piano and violin lessons at age six before switching to the flute at nine years old. He studied at the Lyon Conservatory and Paris Conservatory, and graduated from the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin with a concert exam degree.

Learn more about Yubeen Kim here.

Blair Francis Paponiu joined the San Francisco Symphony as Associate Principal Flute, holding the Catherine & Russell Clark Chair, at the beginning of the 2023–24 season. She previously held the Susan and Tom Brown Chair as assistant principal and second flute with the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, and performed with the New York Philharmonic as acting section flute for two seasons. She has also been a member of the Austin Symphony and has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Oregon Symphony.

The recipient of numerous awards, Mrs. Francis Paponiu won second prize in the 2020 National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition. She has been an instrumental fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, Sarasota Music Festival, and Brevard Music Center.

She received a professional studies certificate in orchestral performance from the Manhattan School of Music, a master of music from the University of Texas at Austin, and a bachelor of music from the University of South Carolina, where she graduated summa cum laude and received the Presser Scholar Award. Her teachers include Robert Langevin, Marianne Gedigian, Jennifer Parker-Harley, and Cynthia Hopkins.

Carey Bell joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Clarinet in 2007 and holds the William R. & Gretchen B. Kimball Chair. This week’s concerts mark his seventh solo appearances with the Symphony, having previously performed Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto with Herbert Blomstedt, Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie and Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs with Michael Tilson Thomas, and Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto on three occasions with Jaap van Zweden, Bernard Labadie, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Cultivating a career in the Bay Area for over two decades, Mr. Bell has performed with numerous local orchestras and chamber ensembles. He is a former member of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and has participated in several other local contemporary music groups. His summer engagements have included the Marlboro Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Oregon Bach Festival, and Telluride Chamber Music Festival. Notable chamber performances include collaboration with violist Scott St. John and pianist Jonathan Biss for San Francisco Performances, and Lukas Foss’s Echoi with Jeremy Denk, Peter Wyrick, and Jack van Geem, as part of the San Francisco Symphony’s 2012 American Mavericks tour, culminating in a performance at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall.

Mr. Bell was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, where he developed his musical skills as a pianist, singer, and composer. After taking up clarinet at age 12, he studied for several years with Cindi Bartels. He received several honors as a young clarinetist, and he wrote a symphonic overture performed by the Oregon Symphony in 1992. For his undergraduate work, he studied with Fred Ormand at the University of Michigan and pursued a composition degree with William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, Michael Daugherty, and Evan Chambers. As a student, he participated in summer fellowships at Tanglewood and Music Academy in Santa Barbara. After graduating he continued his clarinet studies with Larry Combs, then principal clarinet of the Chicago Symphony.

Mr. Bell spent one year as a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago before winning his first audition for principal clarinet of the Syracuse Symphony in 1998. He became principal of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in 2001, and has served as acting principal of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and guest principal of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Bell teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and formerly taught at Stanford University.

Matthew Griffith joined the San Francisco Symphony as Associate Principal and E-flat Clarinet at the beginning of the 2022–23 season. He previously served as acting assistant principal clarinet with the North Carolina Symphony and the Nashville Symphony and was a member of TŌN (The Orchestra Now), a graduate-level training orchestra based at Bard College.

Mr. Griffith has performed as guest soloist with the Boston Pops, Milwaukee Symphony, Ocean City Pops, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, United States Army Field Band, and “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. In 2014 Yale University published The Algorithm of Jazz, a video following his experience performing Artie Shaw’s concerto with the Yale Symphony Orchestra.

After graduating from Yale University with distinction in both majors of music and computer science, Mr. Griffith earned graduate degrees in clarinet performance at the New England Conservatory. He was a Tanglewood Music Center fellow, where he was awarded the Gino B. Cioffi Memorial Prize and returned as a New Fromm Player. His teachers included Michael Wayne, David Shifrin, Todd Levy, and Jill Hanes. He grew up in Sheboygan, WI, and enjoys writing computer code and designing videogames.

Yuhsin Galaxy Su joined the San Francisco Symphony as Second Clarinet at the beginning of the 2024–25 season. Prior to joining the Symphony, she completed a master’s degree at the Colburn School, where she studied with Yehuda Gilad, and before that studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Anthony McGill. She has also performed as a pianist on the SF Symphony’s Chamber Music Series, and makes her solo clarinet debut with the Symphony at this year’s Lunar New Year concert.

During her time at Curtis, Su was selected for the Curtis 20/21 Ensemble and performed Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire in fully choreographed productions at the Kimmel Center, Columbia University, Kennedy Center, and Curtis Field Recital Hall. She has also been a soloist at the Musique et Vin Music Festival and Marlboro Music Festival. She won top prizes in the 2013 and ‘14 HSNU Concerto Competition, third prize and audience prize at the International Morningside Music Bridge in Canada, first prize at the Young Classical Virtuoso of Tomorrow Music Competition, and two Chimei Arts Awards.

Jacob Nissly joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Percussion in 2013. Previously, he was principal percussion of the Cleveland Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony. He also spent two years as a fellow in the New World Symphony.

Nissly is chair of the Percussion Department and professor of percussion at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is also a regular coach at the New World Symphony. He previously taught at the Eastman School of Music and Cleveland Institute of Music. He has served as a percussion coach for the Aspen Music Festival since 2019, National Youth Orchestra-USA, Verbier Festival, and others.

Nissly can be heard on recordings with the San Francisco Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. He also played drum set on the St. Louis Symphony's Grammy award-winning recording of John Adams's City Noir.
In 2019, Nissly premiered Adam Schoenberg’s percussion concerto Losing Earth with the San Francisco Symphony. He has performed the piece with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Omaha Symphony and will perform it with the Nuremberg Symphony in 2026.

Nissly holds a Bachelor of Music and Jazz Studies degree from Northwestern University and Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School. He endorses Vic Firth drumsticks, Zildjian cymbals, Kolberg percussion, and Remo drumheads.

For more on Jacob Nissly, visit sfsymphony.org/jacobnissly.

Stan Muncy joined the San Francisco Symphony percussion section in fall 2024 after serving as a frequent extra musician since 2010. He was previously a member of the Honolulu Symphony and Santa Rosa Symphony. He has also toured with the contemporary music ensemble Eighth Blackbird, participated in the Spoleto Festival and Music Academy of the West, and recorded film and video game scores at Skywalker Sound, Capitol Records, and Warner Brothers Studios.

A native of California, Muncy grew up in the Central Valley and moved to the Bay Area for college, earning a bachelor’s degree from California State University, East Bay, where he studied with Artie Storch, and a master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Jack Van Geem. During that time, he was also a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he received a professional studies certificate from the Colburn School.

Muncy is currently a faculty member at the SFCM Pre-College and previously taught at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and California State University, Stanislaus. He has also coached many youth orchestra percussion sections, including the SFSYO.

John Wilson performs as a pianist with the San Francisco Symphony and San Diego Symphony, and serves as principal keyboard for the Marin Symphony. In 2026–27 he gives the Bay Area premiere of Caroline Shaw’s piano concerto Watermark and appears as soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the San Francisco Philharmonic. He has performed Philip Glass’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Chamber Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto at the Sun Valley Music Festival, and has toured with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Wilson performed on the Grammy-winning San Francisco Symphony recordings of Meditations on Rilke and Adriana Mater. His Avie Records debut featured the world premiere of MTT’s Upon Further Reflection; he also appears on Pentatone’s Grace: The Music of Michael Tilson Thomas. He has premiered works by John Adams, Steve Reich, Timo Andres, and Gabriela Lena Frank. Wilson is a Steinway Artist.