San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) is the youth orchestra of the San Francisco Symphony and a key element of the symphony's community outreach and education programs. First organized in 1981, the SFSYO has built a reputation as one of the finest youth orchestras in the world. The SFSYO performs an annual concert series, tours internationally, and has made several recordings. The orchestra is based in Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall.

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

The orchestra celebrated its 25th anniversary in May 2007 with a performance in Davies Symphony Hall of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and soloists from San Francisco Opera. Other notable concerts over the years include their 1996 simultaneous performance of John Cage's Renga and Apartment House 1776 with four surviving members of The Grateful Dead joining the orchestra; their 2005 performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 (conductor Edwin Outwater's farewell concert as the orchestra's 5th Music Director); and their 2008 performance of Dvořák's New World Symphony in memory of the SFSYO's benefactor Agnes Albert.

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