Our History
History of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony
Now the largest privately funded free admission symphony in America, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony celebrates its 24th 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 current location on the Sun Valley Esplanade in its 9th season, and 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 13th 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 Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 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.