The Sun Valley Summer Symphony
The Sun Valley Summer Symphony celebrates the majesty of its Alpine setting with the beauty of outstanding free classical music performances, and enriches our lives through its artistic, educational and cultural programming, made possible through the philanthropic generosity of its community.
Our History
Now the largest privately funded free admission symphony in America, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony celebrates its 25th season in the glorious Idaho mountains. Founded in 1985 as the Elkhorn Music Festival by Dr. Carl Eberl, professor emeritus at the College of the City University of New York, and his wife Julianne, the orchestra grew from 22 musicians to 55 at the time of his retirement. Under the leadership of Maestro Alasdair Neale, the orchestra has grown to more than 100 players.
The festival moved to its location on the Sun Valley Esplanade in the 9th season, and then to the Sun Valley Pavilion on August 3, 2008. The Sun Valley Summer Symphony presents free concerts to over 20,000 people annually. In 1995, Alasdair Neale, then Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and now Music Director of the Marin Symphony and the Principal Guest Conductor of the New World Symphony, was selected to succeed Dr. Eberl. Maestro Neale, in his fifteenth SVSS season, now conducts a full symphony orchestra that includes distinguished musicians from major orchestras throughout North America, including the San Francisco Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, and the Saint Louis Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra.
Throughout the years, the SVSS has attracted nationally acclaimed guest artists including Gil Shaham, Christopher Parkening, Joshua Bell, Frederica von Stade, Jon Kimura Parker, Midori, Leila Josefowicz, Christine Brewer, Lynn Harrell, Jean Yves-Thibaudet, Jon Nakamatsu and Erich Kunzel, Denyce Graves, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
