As a new California resident and student at the San
Francisco Conservatory of Music, Tomoko enjoyed attending San Francisco
Symphony concerts. Not only did the symphony play in acoustic halls but they
also held summer outdoor concerts in San Francisco’s Stern Grove.
In 1965 Tomoko made a more direct connection with the San
Francisco Symphony when she auditioned for the symphony’s foundation. She was
chosen as a winner by Maestro Josef Krips. That April she performed with two
other winners, both violinist, at the San Francisco Symphony Association
Foundation Members’ Concert at the Masonic Auditorium.
Here is some background on these famous names and places.
The San Francisco
Symphony is world renowned for its music performance. Its 1911 beginnings rose from the ashes of the
1906 San Francisco earthquake. The city leaders wanted a symphony to rekindle the
areas cultural life. The symphony also provides the most extensive educational
program of any orchestra in the U.S.: giving concerts to children since 1919, providing tickets and
supplies to schools, offering online music education resources, teaching grade
schoolers music, coaching teen and adult musicians, and giving young musicians
pre-professional training in their Youth Orchestra.
Austrian Josef Krips
was popular in Europe and the U.S. because of his stellar performing and
recording career. He was a conductor for several orchestras and opera companies,
first in Europe; he escaped the Nazis but returned to perform after World War
II. He led the Vienna Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the
Metropolitan Opera, as well as the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
Stern Grove,
situated in the Sunset district of San Francisco, is a 33-acre recreational
site. The park, which was donated to the city in 1931, was named after
philanthropist Sigmund Stern, who was a nephew of Levi Strauss (of blue jeans fame).
The Grove is now most known for its 80-year old music festival. In the summer,
musicians perform weekly in the open amphitheater to crowds of up to twenty
thousand.
San Franciso’s Masonic
Auditorium’s predecessor dates back to 1861. That first Masonic building was destroyed in
the San Francisco 1906 earthquake, and another building was completed in
1931.The current auditorium opened in 1958 as a meeting venue for Masons, and holds
concerts the rest of the year.
These notables all reflect triumph through culture, sometimes overcoming great odds, a motif
dear to Tomoko’s heart.
