The SFCO’s established programs include four distinct concert series serving the Bay Area’s Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco counties. Mainstage concerts is an admission-free four-concert series featuring an 18-member string section and 13 brass, percussion and wind musicians and a repertoire of classical masterpieces, unknown gems, commissions/world premieres and other contemporary works. The admission-free Family Concerts and Very First Concerts series provide a scaffold of fun, entertaining, interactive learning experiences for beginning listeners. Themed Family Concerts programs for 5- to 12-year-olds feature multi-disciplinary collaborations, while Very First Concerts programs introduce babies, toddlers and very young children to basic concepts. The monthly Classical at the Freight series features new and classical chamber music in the informal setting of the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, introducing the SFCO to younger generations and providing opportunities for collaborations with a diverse range of Bay Area musicians.

In addition to its longtime New Works program, the SFCO partners with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Emerging Black Composers Program to commission new work and premiere it on the Mainstage concerts series. The orchestra’s Diversity Fellowship Initiative offers advancement opportunities to early career musicians.

The SFCO also runs a free, two-week intensive Summer Chamber Music Camp. A collaboration with Enriching Lives Through Music, the camp serves predominantly Latinx youth and teens from immigrant families in San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood.