San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra
Youth Orchestra
Interior of Davies Symphony Hall, home to the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra
Short name	SFSYO
Founded	1981; 43 years ago (1981)
Location	San Francisco, United States
Concert hall	Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall at San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center
Music director	Radu Paponiu[1]
Website	sfsymphony.org/EducationCommunity/SFS-Youth-Orchestra

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) is a youth orchestra organized by the San Francisco Symphony. The SFSYO performs an annual concert series and has made several recordings. The orchestra rehearses in Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall and has been directed by Radu Paponiu since the 2024-2025 season. ^[1]

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 eleven international tours to date and won the "Vienna Cup" at the Youth and Music Festival and competition in Vienna.^[2] Throughout its history, the SFSYO has performed and recorded in some of the world's principal concert halls including the Elbphilharmonie, Royal Concertgebouw, Wiener Musikverein, Berliner Philharmonie, Mariinsky Theatre, Smetana Hall, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

Under German-born conductor Christian Reif, the SFSYO returned from their 11th international tour. The 17-day European summer tour consisted of six venues in Denmark, Germany, Austria, and Hungary, beginning with the Odense Konzerthaus, Tivolis Koncertsal, Elbphilharmonie, Berliner Philharmonie, Musikverein, and ending with the Budapest Summer Festival. Tour repertoire consisted of Symphony 1 in D Major: 'Titan' by Gustav Mahler, The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto - with soloists Nicola Benedetti and Karen Gomyo, American Prelude No. 1 by Detlev Glanert. Encores included Slavonic Dance n° 2 in E minor, Op. 72 by Antonín Dvořák, Furioso Polka and Éljen a Magyar! by Johann Strauss II, as well as ending with singing the choral arrangement of Ubi caritas by Maurice Duruflé. Christian Reif joined the San Francisco Symphony as Resident Conductor and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the SFSYO in the 2016-17 season. Reif lead the orchestra in its 35th Anniversary Concert and Celebration on May 13, 2018, which included Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps, Fauré's Pelléas et Mélisande, and Ligeti's Concert Românesc.

Notable performances throughout the SFSYO's history include its 25th anniversary concert in May 2007 with a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and soloists from San Francisco Opera;^[3] the 1996 performance of John Cage's Renga and Apartment House 1776 with four surviving members of The Grateful Dead joining the orchestra; the 2005 performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 (conductor Edwin Outwater's farewell concert as the orchestra's 5th Music Director); and the 2008 performance of Dvořák's New World Symphony in memory of the SFSYO's benefactor Agnes Albert.^[4][5][6] In 2009, the orchestra also hosted and participated in the region's first Bay Area Youth Orchestra Festival at Davies Symphony Hall, which was again hosted at the hall in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020.

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. During his tenure, the orchestra performed contemporary works by Christopher Rouse (Infernal Machine), John Adams (The Chairman Dances), and Gabriela Lena Frank (Latin American Dances for Orchestra).^[7] In 2012, the SFSYO won a 2011-12 ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of American Music on foreign tours.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.