San Francisco history

1909) were the real force behind the San Francisco Ballet Company.

San Francisco Ballet started in 1933 and has remained a major ballet company until this day.

As vaudeville faded from American popular culture, Harold and Lew joined George Balanchine's new company, American Ballet, in 1935.

He became the company's ballet master and choreographer in 1938.

In 1940, it staged Swan Lake, the first time that the ballet was produced in its entirety by an American company.

In 1942, the company became a totally separate entity from the opera and was renamed San Francisco Ballet.

On Christmas Eve 1944, the company staged Nutcracker—the first complete production of Tchaikovsky's most popular piece ever danced in the United States.

In 1951, he joined his brother Willam as co-director of San Francisco Ballet.

Then in 1952, Lew Christensen took over as sole director.

Until 1956, San Francisco Ballet had remained on the West Coast, but Christensen took the company to the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts.

In 1957, it was the first American ballet company to tour the Far East, performing in 11 Asian nations.

On New Year's Day 1965, ABC-TV televised a one-hour abridgement of the Lew Christensen-choreographed production of Nutcracker featuring San Francisco Ballet.

In 1972, San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House was named the official residence of San Francisco Ballet.

In 1974, the San Francisco Ballet faced bankruptcy, but the company and the community responded with an extraordinary grass-roots effort called “Save Our Ballet,” which successfully brought the company back from the brink.

The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra—permanently organized in 1975—celebrates its 40th anniversary.

When Willam moved to Salt Lake City later that year, Lew took over as full director of SF Ballet; he held the position until 1976, when Michael Smuin joined him as co-director.

1978 – The SF Ballet tours to New York, where critic Byron Belt hails the orchestra as “one of the best in the business.”

The first such concert was a 1979 program highlighting works by Haydn, Ives, and Vivaldi at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre with Jean-Louis LeRoux conducting.

Since its first recording in 1981 of Paul Chihara’s The Tempest, over the years, the orchestra has established an extensive, critically acclaimed discography.

Later, in 1983, the name was officially changed to the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra.

Lew Christensen remained SF Ballet co-director until 1984, the year of his death.

Helgi Tomasson’s arrival in July of 1985 marked the beginning of a new era for San Francisco Ballet.

(First published May 1989)

After the Company’s New Year’s Eve performance of Nutcracker in 1995, the War Memorial Opera House closed for 18 months of seismic and comprehensive renovations.

In 2002, San Francisco Ballet began the first of a two-phase process to update and improve their building so it could better accommodate the needs of the growing organization.

San Francisco Ballet receives its first Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance, for its 2004 fall season at Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

Subsequent concerts have included a performance at the SF War Memorial Opera House on April 24, 2005 to celebrate the orchestra’s 30th anniversary.

In 2010, the Ballet's opening-night gala, Silver Celebration, honored Tomasson's 25 years as artistic director.

Of the more recent recordings, the score for choreographer Yuri Possokhov’s ballet RAkU (premiered in 2011) is credited to the renowned composer within the orchestra’s very own ranks, double bassist Shinji Eshima.

2012 – Members of the orchestra accompany the SF Ballet on its first tour to Sun Valley, Idaho for the Sun Valley Summer of the Arts Festival in July 2012.

2014 – Roy Malan retires after serving 40 years as concertmaster with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra.

The 2015 season included Serenade, RAkU, Lambarena, Giselle, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Variations for Two Couples, Manifesto, The Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadère, Act II, Dances at a Gathering, Hummingbird, Don Quixote, Shostakovich Trilogy, Caprice, Swimmer, and Romeo & Juliet.

2016 – Special 40th anniversary concert is held at Herbst Theatre, under the direction of Music Director and Principal Conductor, Martin West. (March 25, 2016)

2017 – GRAMMY Nominee for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, Winger: Conversations With Nijinsky — C. F. Kip Winger, composer (Martin West & San Francisco Ballet Orchestra)