New musicians with the San Francisco Symphony include, from left: Jason Issokson, Yvette Kraft, Jane (Hyeon Jin) Cho, Kingston Ho, Sarah Chong, and Brooks Fisher.
The San Francisco Symphony has announced that six new musicians join the orchestra this season. Associate Concertmaster Jason Issokson will succeed Nadya Tichman, who stepped down as associate concertmaster in 2022 following 31 seasons in the position. Also joining the Orchestra this season are Section First Violin Yvette Kraft; Section Second Violins Jane (Hyeon Jin) Cho and Kingston Ho; Section Cello Sarah Chong, and Second Oboe Brooks Fisher.
Jason Issokson joins the San Francisco Symphony as associate concertmaster. He has served as a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 2019. Concerto highlights include engagements with the Fort Worth Symphony, Aspen Concert Orchestra, Waco Symphony, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, East Texas Symphony Orchestra, Great Falls Symphony, Abilene Philharmonic, and international orchestras. Issokson has performed extensively in string quartets, first as a founding member of the Argus Quartet and subsequently as the second violinist of the Rolston String Quartet. Issokson was awarded the top prize at the International Violin Competition “Andrea Postacchini,” third prize at the International Alberto Curci Violin Competition, and the prize for best performance of a commissioned work at the International Max Rostal Competition. Chamber music honors include first prizes at the M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Competition. He studied with Midori at the Manhattan School of Music and the University of Southern California.
In other musician updates, Principal Trombone Timothy Higgins and Bass Trombone Christopher Bassett will be on leaves of absence during the 2025–26 season. Higgins will undertake two projects with the San Francisco Symphony while on leave: on October 3–5, Gustavo Gimeno and the orchestra give the world premiere of Higgins’s Market Street, 1920s, commissioned by the SF Symphony, and on May 29–30, Higgins joins conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the orchestra for 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.
Last week, current San Francisco Symphony musicians voted to authorize a strike concerning contract negotiations with orchestra management.
