Not long ago, symphony orchestras in Europe and the U.S. consisted of “mature” white men, and there are still living memories of the first woman or the first Black musician joining a major orchestra.
Those days are mercifully gone, but when an 18-year-old receives a contract with the San Francisco Symphony, that’s still... interesting.
The orchestra’s newest and youngest member is cellist Starla Breshears. Her contract is set to begin next season. She is a 2025 graduate of the SF Conservatory of Music’s Pre-College Program, and is set to graduate from high school this year.
“I’m seeing this as my education,” Breshears told SF Classical Voice. “There are so many different ways to learn about the world as a musician. I’m just super excited.
“I love San Francisco, this is my home. I have such a great support system with everybody at the Conservatory. My teachers, my friends, and my family [are] close by. And I have so many favorite memories at Davies Hall watching the Symphony and playing in the SFS Youth Orchestra.”
Breshears served as principal cello in the SFS Youth Orchestra during the 2024-2025 season and as assistant principal cello in the San Francisco Choral Society.
SFS Principal Cello Rainer Eudeikis welcomed Breshears to the section by saying, “Starla’s exceptional musicianship and facility set her apart, both during her blind audition and throughout her trial with the orchestra. She has demonstrated great assurance and professionalism, and we look forward to her joining the section.”
Breshears is a Kohl Scholar currently studying at the Colburn Music Academy with Clive Greensmith. She was formerly a Joseph Chan Scholarship recipient at the SF Conservatory of Music Pre-College Academy, where she studied from 2015 to 2025 with Richard Aaron and Jean-Michel Fonteneau.
She began studying cello at age three with Yoshie Muratani and has received additional coaching from Christine Walevska and Sergei Riabtchenko.
A prize winner of both the Stulberg International String Competition and Johansen International Competition, Breshears has soloed with 18 orchestras since the age of six.
One of her former ensembles, the Breshears String Quartet, has been featured twice on the Violin Channel and on NPR’s From the Top. The quartet won first prize in the 2023 Piero Farulli International Competition, which led to a tour in Italy, and received the silver medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2024.
She has also participated in leading summer programs, including the Yellow Barn Young Artists program, the Greenwood Music Camp, and Accademia Musicale Chigiana. Having been chosen as a YoungArts Winner with Distinction, she participated in National YoungArts Week in Florida in January.
She recently won the Shkolnikova Academy concerto competition, and will perform a concerto with the Shkolnikova Academy String Orchestra at the Château de La Flocellière in France this August.
Last September, Lisa Hirsch reported on personnel changes in the SF Symphony and SF Opera orchestras during the current season.
