The orchestra has long been an integral part of city life and culture in San Francisco. Its first concerts were led by conductor composer
Henry Hadley, who founded the
Seattle Symphony Orchestra two years earlier. There were only sixty musicians in the orchestra at the beginning of that first season. The first concert included music by
Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, and
Liszt. There were thirteen concerts in the 1911-1912 season, five of which were pops concerts.
Hadley was followed in 1915 by
Alfred Hertz, who had conducted for many years at the
Metropolitan Opera and had even appeared with the company during their historic performances in San Francisco in April 1906, just prior to the earthquake and fire. Hertz helped to refine the orchestra and convinced the
Victor Talking Machine Company to record it in Oakland in early 1925. Hertz also led the orchestra on a number of radio broadcasts.
After Hertz's official retirement in 1930, the orchestra was led by two conductors,
Basil Cameron and
Issay Dobrowen. During the
Great Depression, when the Symphony's existence was threatened by bankruptcy and the 1934-35 season was cancelled, the people of San Francisco passed a bond measure to provide public financing and ensure the organization's continued existence. The famous French maestro
Pierre Monteux (1875-1964), who had conducted the world premiere of
Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, was hired to restore the orchestra. Monteux was so successful in improving the orchestra that NBC began broadcasting some of its concerts and RCA Victor offered the orchestra a new recording contract in 1941. In 1949, Monteux invited
Arthur Fiedler to lead summer "pops" concerts in the Civic Auditorium. Fiedler also conducted the orchestra at free concerts in
Sigmund Stern Grove and the
Frost Amphitheater at
Stanford University. Fiedler's relationship with the orchestra continued until the mid 1970's.
When Monteux left the orchestra in 1952, various conductors led the orchestra, including
Leopold Stokowski, Georg Solti, Erich Leinsdorf, Karl Munchinger, George Szell, Bruno Walter, Ferenc Fricsay, and
William Steinberg. Stokowski even made a series of
RCA Victor recordings with the orchestra.
It was two years before the board decided to hire the young Spanish maestro
Enrique Jordá to be the next music director. From surviving eyewitness and newspaper accounts, Jordá began his association with great promise. He had youthful enthusiasm, energy, and charm. Nevertheless, Jorda sometimes conducted so vigorously that his baton flew from his hand. As the years passed, Jordá reportedly failed to maintain discipline or provide real leadership and the orchestra faltered.
George Szell (1897-1970), the longtime music director of the
Cleveland Orchestra, guest conducted the orchestra in 1962 and was so dismayed by the lack of discipline that he publicly condemned Jordá and even chastised
San Francisco Chronicle music critic
Alfred Frankenstein for commending Jorda and the orchestra. Szell's comments, along with growing dissatisfaction among musicians and the public, led the symphony board to make a change.
In the fall of 1963, the Austrian conductor
Josef Krips (1902-1974) became music director. He quickly became known as a benevolent autocrat who would not tolerate sloppy playing. He worked to inspire the musicians, too, and soon began to refine their performances, particularly of the standard German-Austrian repertoire. One of his innovations was to begin an annual tradition on New Year's Eve, "A Night in Old Vienna." which was devoted to music of
Johann Strauss and other Viennese masters of the nineteenth century. Similar concerts have continued to this day, though the format has changed somewhat in recent years. Krips would not make recordings with the orchestra, insisting they weren't ready. He did agree to allow
KKHI to broadcast some of the Friday evening concerts. He also paved the way for his successor when he invited the young Japanese conductor
Seiji Ozawa (b. 1935) to guest conduct the orchestra; Ozawa quickly impressed critics and audiences with his fiery Bernstein-like conducting, particularly in the performances of the
Mussorgsky-Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition, the
Tchaikovsky fourth symphony, and
Symphonie Fantastique by
Hector Berlioz. Krips retired at the end of the 1969-70 season and only returned once, to guest conduct the orchestra in Stern Grove, before his death in 1974.
The Ozawa era began in late 1970 with great excitement. His guest appearances had already generated enthusiasm. Now it suddenly became difficult to find seats at his concerts. He greatly improved the quality of the orchestra's performances and was able to convince
Deutsche Grammophon (DG) to record the orchestra in 1972. A special concert series devoted to
Romeo and Juliet, as interpreted by
Hector Berlioz, Peter Tchaikovsky, and
Sergei Prokofiev with the
Leonard Bernstein symphonic dances from
West Side Story, inspired DG to record the same music with Ozawa. He was known for considerable innovations, such as presenting partially-staged versions of
La vida breve by
Manuel de Falla and
Beatrice and Benedict by
Berlioz. He even had dancers on the stage for some modern ballets performed by the orchestra. For a few seasons Ozawa continued the practice of using university choruses whenever needed; then he decided to form a San Francisco Symphony Chorus so that he could be ensured of consistent singing. Ozawa talked of staying in San Francisco for many years, especially after he bought a house in the city. Then he agreed to also become music director of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra. He conducted both in Boston and San Francisco, then decided to give up San Francisco, possibly because of a disagreement with the players committee over granting tenure to two young musicians he admired. After leaving San Francisco, Ozawa has returned only twice as guest conductor.
Ozawa was followed by
Edo de Waart, the young Dutch conductor, who brought an entirely new face to the orchestra. He was not as flamboyant as Ozawa and some audiences missed the showmanship. However, de Waart maintained the orchestra's high standards, leading to additional recordings, including its very first digital sessions. He conducted the orchestra's very first performances in Davies Symphony Hall in September 1980, including the nationally-televised gala. At this point the regular season was greatly extended, beginning in September and lasting until May, while musicians had to decide whether to play in the Symphony, or the Opera and Ballet. A mammoth
Fratelli Ruffatti concert organ featuring five manuals, 147 registers and 9235 pipes, was soon added to the new hall. This organ was used in the orchestra's performance of the spectacular recording of Saint Saens' third symphony with
Michael Murray as soloist. Philips also taped
Joseph Jongen's Symphonie Concertante and
César Franck's Fantaisie in A. A highlight of de Waart's final season, 1984-85, was four outstanding, sold-out performances of Mahler's mammoth eighth symphony, utilizing the Symphony Chorus, the
Masterworks Chorale, the
San Francisco Boys Chorus, and the
San Francisco Girls Chorus.
Herbert Blomstedt, the Swedish-American conductor, arrived in the fall of 1985. He had been offered the position immediately after guest conducting for two weeks in 1984, while he was music director of
Staatskapelle Dresden. He further refined the orchestra, bringing greater precision and confidence, as well as more sensitivity, warmth and feeling, to the orchestra's performances. The orchestra also began its annual tours of Europe and Asia under Blosmtedt, and resumed syndicated weekly radio broadcasts. He also recognized the continuing shortcomings of
Davies Symphony Hall's acoustics, helping push for a major renovation, completed in 1992, even contributing a substantial amount of money to the cause himself. He has remained Conductor Laureate of the orchestra, conducting several weeks of concerts each year.
Michael Tilson Thomas became music director in 1995, coming from the
London Symphony Orchestra. Thomas had guest conducted the orchestra as far back as 1974, and already had a good relationship with the musicians. Like Ozawa, Thomas ensured that the orchestra played more American music and this has been carried through to its recordings, for RCA/BMG and its own label. He has also focused on Russian music, particularly Stravinsky, as well as a prominent Mahler symphony cycle. A master communicator, Thomas excels at reaching out to audiences to enhance their experience of music through education. He has extended the orchestra's reputation as one of the world's best, further refining its balance and poise. His main personnel change was to lure
LSO leader
Alexander Barantschik to become SFS
concertmaster. Thomas' great charisma has enabled the orchestra to be marketed as never before, with giant "MTT:SFS" posters displayed around San Francisco; his image has helped make the orchestra's Mahler recordings best-sellers among classical CDs. In an era of financial instability for many American orchestras, the San Francisco Symphony has thrived under Michael Tilson Thomas both financially and artistically. After more than a decade with the SFS, only Pierre Monteux's 17 years as music director is longer.
In 1999, the symphony hit a new commercial high with the album
S&M with
metal group
Metallica. The album reached number two on the
The Billboard 200 selling 2.5 million units and earning
platinum status five times over. The track "
No Leaf Clover" was number one on the Mainstream Rock Charts, 18 on Modern Rock Charts and 74 on the
Billboard Hot 100. The version of "
The Call of Ktulu" featured on the album won the
Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
The San Francisco Symphony was the first to feature symphonic radio broadcasts in 1926, and in 2003 the Symphony was heard in syndicated radio broadcasts on over 300 radio stations. There were regular live, stereo broadcasts for many years on
KKHI in San Francisco featuring music directors
Josef Krips and
Seiji Ozawa, including the first live transatlantic stereo satellite broadcast in 1973, originating in Paris.
The orchestra makes regular tours of the United States, Europe and Asia. Its first tour was from March 16 to May 10, 1947, when Pierre Monteux conducted the musicians in fifty-seven concerts in fifty-three American cities. Josef Krips led them on a Japanese tour in 1968, in which they gave twelve concerts in seven cities. The May 15 to June 17, 1973, tour, saw Seiji Ozawa and Niklaus Wyss conduct the orchestra in 30 concerts in nineteen cities in Europe and the Soviet Union. They returned to Japan from June 4 to 19, 1975, with Ozawa and Wyss and played twelve concerts in eleven cities. Edo de Waart and David Ramadanoff led an American tour from October 20 to November 2, 1980, giving ten concerts in seven cities. There was another American tour from October 27 to November 12, 1983, again led by Edo de Waart, with thirteen concerts in eleven cities.
In 2004, the San Francisco Symphony launched
Keeping Score – MTT On Music, a series of projects comprising audio-visual performances for DVD and broadcast on
PBS's Great Performances, multimedia websites, and educational programs for schools.
The associated
San Francisco Symphony Chorus was founded in 1973, and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra was founded in 1981.
