Press Room

Jun 21, 2022

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—The San Francisco Symphony announces a change to its orchestra roster. After 33 seasons as contrabassoonist/bassoonist of the San Francisco Symphony, Steven Braunstein will retire at the end of the 2021–22 season. His final Orchestral Series performances will be the June 23–25 program, featuring works by John Adams, Jean Sibelius, and Steven Stucky, led by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and featuring pianist Víkingur Ólafsson as soloist.

Steven Braunstein, a New York City native, studied bassoon with Arthur Weisberg, Bill Douglas, Elias Carmen, and William Polisi, and contrabassoon with Paul Camerata and Burt Bial. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the California Institute of the Arts and his master’s degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He was a member of the Toronto Symphony for ten years and in 1990 joined the San Francisco Symphony as contrabassoonist. In 2002, he gave the world premiere of Michael Tilson Thomas’ Urban Legend with the San Francisco Symphony, a work composed for him. He teaches at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, coaches bassoon students at the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, and has been on the faculty at San Francisco State University and the University of Toronto. Learn more about Steven Braunstein.

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