San Francisco in the 1970s a disaster area. In the same year, with bankruptcy imminent for the San Francisco Ballet, a grassroots effort brought national attention to the association. Prior to the discovery of the first AIDS case in 1981, Dr. Selma Dritz, the city's medical epidemiologist, became alarmed at the increase in sexually transmitted diseases among the city's gay men, opining that epidemics had been triggered after 1974 by "political and social changes in the city". "The Grateful Dead Movie" was filmed in 1974 in San Francisco during the Grateful Dead's October 1974 five performances at the Winterland Ballroom. After the 1974 kidnapping of
San Francisco Ballet de Coteau's battle with terminal cancer forced him to step down from the position. Emil de Cou, who had been serving as conductor since 1995, then assumed the role of music director, leading the Orchestra until 2001, when he left to join Washington D.C.'s National Symphony Orchestra. He was replaced by first associate conductor Jean-Louis LeRoux, who then left the interim position in 2003 and was succeeded by Andrew Mogrelia. In 2005, Mogrelia left in order to focus on his duties as music director at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. That same year, Martin West, frequent guest conductor for the