San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) is recognizedinternationally as one of the finest youth orchestras in the world. In 1994,former San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan officially proclaimed the ensemblea “City Treasure.” Founded in 1981, the SFSYO’s musicians are chosenfrom more than 300 applicants in annual auditions. The SFSYO’s purpose isto provide an orchestral experience of pre-professional caliber, tuition-free, totalented young musicians from the greater Bay Area. The more than 100diverse musicians, ranging in age from 12 to 21, represent communities fromthroughout the Bay Area. The SFSYO rehearses and performs in DaviesSymphony Hall under the direction of Music Director Benjamin Shwartz, whobegan his leadership of the ensemble in the 2005-06 season. Jahja Lingserved as the SFSYO’s first Music Director, followed by David Milnes, LeifBjaland, Alasdair Neale, and Edwin Outwater. The SFSYO celebrated its 25thanniversary last season with a special performance of Beethoven's Symphony # 9 in May 2007. This season the Youth Orchestra travels on its eighth European tour ascultural ambassadors of the Bay Area, performing at festivals and concert halls throughout Europe in thesummer of 2008.

As part of the SFSYO’s innovative training program, members of the SFS coach the young players eachSaturday afternoon in sectional rehearsals, followed by full orchestra rehearsals with Maestro Shwartz.SFSYO members also have the opportunity to work with many of the world-renowned artists who performwith the SFS each week. SFS Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, SFS Conductor Laureate HerbertBlomstedt, Kurt Masur, Valery Gergiev, Leonard Slatkin, Yo-Yo Ma, Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, VladimirAshkenazy, 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 abouttheir 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 asseasonal and other special concerts and appearances. The subscription programs are filled with the greatmasterworks of the orchestral repertoire, works brought to life by the SFSYO’s acclaimed virtuosity andunique sense of discovery. The ensemble is also noted for its commissioning program, and performances ofmodern 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 May2005, the Youth Orchestra performed the Bay Area premiere of SFSYO alumnus Nathaniel Stookey’s Out ofthe Everywhere. As part of its annual holiday Peter and the Wolf concerts, the SFSYO collaborates with awide range of artists and local celebrities — past narrators have included author Daniel Handler (aka LemonySnicket), 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 TilsonThomas.

The SFSYO embarked on its first European Tour in 1986, where it was awarded the world’s highest honorfor a young musician’s orchestral ensemble, the City of Vienna Prize, at the 15th International Youth andMusic Festival. In the summer of 1989, the SFSYO made its first tour of Asia with performances in HongKong, Singapore, and Malaysia. During the summer of 1992 the ensemble performed in Italy, Spain, andFrance, 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 thesummer of 1998, with debuts at the Cité de la Musique in Paris and the Dvořák Hall in Prague in addition toa 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, andIreland. The Youth Orchestra made its debut at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, performingProkofiev’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 closingconcert 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 mostvenerable concert halls such as Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and Paris’ Théâtredes Champs Élysées. The Orchestra made its debut in Berlin, appeared in Germany’s prestigious Rheingaufestival, and performed in two acclaimed French summer music festivals in Lyon and St. Riquier.The SFSYO was accorded a prestigious honor in the summer of 1995 when it was selected by the BBC inLondon to kick-off the season broadcast of its “Youth Orchestras of the World” radio series. Audiencesthroughout Europe were treated to Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 (recorded live in Davies Symphony Hall in May1994), and the SFSYO’s March 1995 performance of Bartók’s Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin. OtherSFSYO recordings include a special two-disc commemorative set released in the 1991-92 seasoncelebrating 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 EuropeanTour, 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 Europeantour. 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 SanFrancisco salute to Queen Elizabeth II in 1983; they have served three times as the orchestra for a series ofconducting workshops sponsored by the American Symphony Orchestra League; they have performedspecial “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; thesehave included concerts for patients at Laguna Honda Hospital, a benefit concert for Stanford’s Children’sHospital, and an Earthquake Relief Concert for the Hollister School for the Arts. As part of the SFS’s June1996 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’sRenga with Apartment House 1776; members of the SFSYO percussion section were also featured in afestival performance of Henry Cowell’s Ostinato pianissimo. In celebration of its 20th anniversary season, aMay 2001 concert featured a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, with the Grammy Award winningSan Francisco Symphony Chorus and soloists Nicolle Foland and Florence Quivar.

The 2007-08 SFSYO season, under the direction of Music Director Benjamin Shwartz, features threesubscription concerts, on November 11, March 16 and May 18. Additional concerts include the annualholiday performances of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with a special guest narrator on December 15 at theCalifornia Theatre in San Jose and on December 16 at Davies Symphony Hall, and a European Tour BonVoyage concert on June 22.(September 2007)