18-year-old cellist Starla Breshears has been appointed to the cello section of the San Francisco Symphony, and will step into the role at the opening of the 2026/27 season.
Breshears is presently a Kohl Scholar at the Colburn Music Academy, where she studies with Clive Greensmith. Previously, she studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College Academy, where she received the Joseph Chan Scholarship and studied with Richard Aaron and Jean-Michel Fonteneau.
She is a prizewinner of the Stulberg International String Competition and Johansen International Competition. Breshears made her solo debut with orchestra when she was six years old and since then, has appeared with 18 different orchestras.
The principal cellist of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in the 2024/25 season, she has also been assistant principal cello in the San Francisco Choral Society. Breshears has participated in leading summer programs, including the Yellow Barn Young Artists program, the Greenwood Music Camp, and Accademia Musicale Chigiana.
Breshears recently won the Shkolnikova Academy concerto competition, and she will make a concerto appearance with the Shkolnikova Academy String Orchestra at the Château de La Flocellière in France
“I’m so excited to be joining the San Francisco Symphony,” Breshears said. “The concerts here have long inspired me, and Davies Symphony Hall is a place where I’ve made many memories through my time in the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Choral Society. I’m thrilled to now return each week as part of the Orchestra.”