This article: Monteux first conducted the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (SFSO) in 1931, and in 1935 at the age of 60 he was offered the chief conductorship. He was doubtful about accepting, both on personal and on professional grounds. He did not want to leave the OSP, his wife did not want to live on the west coast of America, and the orchestra was so low in funds that it had been forced to cancel an entire season in 1934. Like most orchestras the SFSO had been badly hit financially by the depression, and it suffered the further difficulty that many of its former players had left for better-paid jobs in Hollywood studios. That problem was exacerbated by the insistence of the Musicians' Union that only local players could be recruited. Monteux nevertheless accepted the appointment. The SFSO concert season was never longer than five months a year, which enabled him to continue working with the OSP, and allowed him to conduct the inaugural concert of the NBC Symphony Orchestra on 13 November 1937. In The New York Times Olin Downes wrote that the new orchestra was "of very high rank" and that the broadcast concert had displayed Monteux "at the height of his powers."The Times said of Monteux's time in San Francisco that it had "incalculable effect on American musical culture", and gave him "the opportunity to expand his already substantial repertory, and by gradual, natural processes to deepen his understanding of his art." Monteux consistently programmed new or recent music. He generally avoided, as he did throughout his career, atonal or serial works, but his choice of modern works nevertheless drew occasional complaints from conservative-minded members of the San Francisco audience. Among guest conductors with the SFSO during Monteux's years were John Barbirolli, Beecham, Otto Klemperer, Stokowski and Stravinsky. Soloists included the pianists George Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, Arthur Rubinstein and Schnabel, the violinists Jascha Heifetz, Yehudi Menuhin and the young Isaac Stern, and singers such as Kirsten Flagstad and... contains an answer for the question: What is the full name of the organization that suffered the further difficulty that many of its former players had left for better-paid jobs in Hollywood studios?, what is it ?


San Francisco Symphony Orchestra