San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

Over the past 39 years, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) has earned a reputation as one of the finest youth ensembles in the world. Founded in 1981 to provide pre-professional training to the Bay Area’s most gifted young musicians at no cost, the orchestra has toured Europe and Asia to rave reviews, winning the prestigious City of Vienna Prize at the International Youth and Music Festival in 1986 and performing to packed houses in the great halls of Europe, from Berlin’s Philharmonie to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw to the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. It has played for Queen Elizabeth II of England and been featured on BBC radio. The orchestra’s acclaimed recordings include Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall in 1994, a live recording of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 made at Prague’s Dvořák Hall in 1998, and most recently a live recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 at the Berlin Philharmonie.