San Francisco Ballet School Mateo, and Oakland. After Bolm left in 1937, new Opera ballet mistress Mildred Hirch added a fencing master during her year-long direction; Willam Christensen, previously director of the Oakland Branch School, became SF Opera ballet master and full school director in 1938. As San Francisco Opera Ballet expanded its touring schedule, it became increasingly difficult for Christensen to serve in both of his professional capacities. In 1940, his brother Harold Christensen took over the position of school director. In 1942, the two Christensen brothers purchased both the ballet company and the school from the Opera Association, renaming the company San
San Francisco Ballet the space of a single week in the UNited We Dance Festival. The 49-member orchestra accompanies SF Ballet throughout its winter and spring repertory seasons. It also performs apart from the Company; it debuted solely as an orchestra in 1979 at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco's War Memorial Veterans Building, playing a program that included works by Haydn, Ives, and Vivaldi. The SFBO is composed of 49 members and headed by Martin West, music director and conductor. As of October 2013, the musicians and staff included: The orchestra was led by Denis de Coteau from 1975 until 1998, when