The San Francisco Symphony is a major orchestra based in San Francisco, California. It gave its first performance in December 1911. The orchestra plays in Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, built in 1980. The current music director is Michael Tilson Thomas, who has held the position since September 1995.

The San Francisco Symphony makes regular tours of the United States, Europe and Asia, and their concerts are broadcast weekly by numerous radio stations. The orchestra has a long history of recordings, most notably those made with Pierre Monteux for RCA, Herbert Blomstedt for Decca, and Michael Tilson Thomas for BMG and the orchestra's own SFS Media label.

Past music directors include Henry Hadley (1911-1915), Alfred Hertz (1915-1930), Basil Cameron and Issay Dobrowen (1930-1934), Pierre Monteux (1935-1954), Enrique Jordá (1954-1963), Josef Krips (1963-1970), Seiji Ozawa (1970-1977), Edo de Waart (1977-1985) and Herbert Blomstedt (1985-1995), who is now Conductor Laureate.

The associated San Francisco Symphony Chorus was founded in 1973, and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra was founded in 1981.

References

Schneider, David (1983). The San Francisco Symphony: Music, Maestros, and Musicians, Presidio Press.

External link

• San Francisco Symphony website (http://www.sfsymphony.org/)