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 end of 1975 with "Nutcracker" and has met with both audience and critical acclaim ever since, becoming known by the 1990s as one of the world's finest ballet orchestras. SFBO toured with the SF Ballet's touring company from 1978 until 1984. It has accompanied many prestigious international ballet companies that have toured to the San Francisco Bay Area, including The Royal Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Hamburg Ballet,the Bolshoi Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, American Ballet Theatre, and the Paris Opéra Ballet. In 1995, the orchestra took on the remarkable task of accompanying 13 international dance companies over