Personnel changes at major orchestras happen slowly, because it’s common for players to remain in their positions for decades, but they are consistent. It’s common for players to remain in their positions for decades, so attracting the best new players is a priority at the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the equivalent of hiring stars for a big budget movie. Here are the changes these groups have announced as of the beginning of the fall season.
San Francisco Symphony
Jason Issokson is the new associate concertmaster, a position that has been vacant since Nadya Tichman stepped down at the end of the 2021–2022 season. Issokson was previously with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
Also joining the strings are section first violin Yvette Kraft, section second violins Jane (Hyeon Jin) Cho and Kingston Ho, and section cello Sarah Chong.
Jessie Fellows, last season’s acting associate principal second violin, returns to her seat as assistant principal second violin, and Olivia Chen, previously acting assistant principal second violin, returns to her seat as a section second violin.
Bassist Chris Gilbert retired after 47 years with the orchestra. He was a substitute musician with the San Francisco Symphony in the 1978–1979 season before joining the orchestra as a permanent member in December 1979 under then-Music Director Edo de Waart.
Brooks Fisher has been appointed second oboe after serving as acting second oboe during the 2024–2025 season, succeeding Pamela Smith, who retired at the end of the 2023–2024 season.
The French horn section still has four vacancies, though two positions will be filled by season substitutes. Michael Stevens, former principal horn of the Rochester Philharmonic, will be acting principal horn and Jack Bryant will be acting utility horn this season. Jesse Clevenger and Chris Cooper, who were previously acting members of the horn section, are no longer with the orchestra. No principal horn appointment has been announced following a second round of auditions.
In the trombone section, principal Timothy Higgins is on leave. Higgins’s Market Street, 1920s, will receive its world premiere in October, when Gustavo Gimeno leads the orchestra. Higgins returns later in the season to play the United States premiere of Jimmy López’s Shift, a concerto for trombone and orchestra, co-commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and San Diego Symphony.
Associate trombone Nick Platoff has resigned after being appointed principal trombone of the Houston Symphony Orchestra; Platoff was on leave during the 2024-2025 season. Bass trombone Christopher Bassett has been appointed principal of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, where he was previously acting principal bass trombone. Bassett is on leave from SF Symphony. Only Paul Welcomer remains in the section for the coming season.
The orchestra has announced auditions for associate principal second violin and assistant principal timpani/section percussionist, which will be held this fall.
Esa-Pekka Salonen participated in the audition and appointment process for the new musicians during his last season as music director of the orchestra. While the Symphony is searching for its next music director, auditions will continue and musicians on the audition committees will make the hiring decisions.
San Francisco Opera Orchestra
Across the street at the War Memorial Opera House, there have been some changes in the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.
Cellist Sunny Yang is the new principal cello. She was the cellist of the Kronos Quartet from 2013–2022. Ellie Kirk was appointed principal harp. In the horn section, Logan Bryck joins the orchestra as utility horn and Phillip Palmore is the new fourth horn.
Violist Patricia Heller and second horn Keith Green have retired from the orchestra. Evan Kahn, who served as principal cello from 2023–2025, did not receive tenure.
San Francisco Ballet Orchestra
Also at the War Memorial Opera House, Ben Wulfman joins the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra in December as their new fourth horn.
