Two Long-time San Francisco Symphony Musicians to Retire

Second violinist Chunming Mo and Second Oboe Pamela Smith will depart the orchestra this year

The San Francisco Symphony (SFS) and Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen will bid farewell to two musicians retiring in 2024. 

Second Violin Chunming Mo first joined SFS in 1991 and will celebrate 34 years with the orchestra. She will retire next month following the orchestra’s October 18–20 program led by Salonen. 

Hailing from Shanghai, China, Mo started playing the violin at the age of 11, and went on to earn her bachelor’s degree from the Shanghai Conservatory. She later graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory with a master’s degree.

Prior to joining SFS, Mo was a member of the Shanghai Symphony and the Sacramento Symphony. 

Another retiring musician is SFS’s Second Oboe Pamela Smith, who first played with SFS in 1980 and joined the Orchestra as a permanent member in 1988. She recently retired at the end of the 2023/24 concert season after 39 years of service.   

Smith studied at Belgium’s Royal Conservatory of Music and at the San Francisco Conservatory with the former SFS Principal Oboe Marc Lifschey. Upon her graduation, she joined the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and later served as assistant principal oboe in the Atlanta Symphony and principal oboe in the Honolulu Symphony.  

In the meantime, the SFS recently welcomed seven new members to its ranks, including the string players Bowen Ha, Jeein Kim, Orion Miller, Anne Richardson, Yuhsin Galaxy Su, and Davis You.