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Starla Breshears at SFCM in 2021.

San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) Pre-College alumna, cellist Starla Breshears, has been appointed to the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) at just 18 years old, making her the youngest musician in the ensemble when she begins in the 2026-2027 season.

Breshears enrolled in the Pre-College in 2015, graduated in 2025, and finishes high school this year. "I'm seeing this as my education," she says. "There's so many different ways to learn about the world as a musician. I'm just super-excited: I love San Francisco. This is like my home; I have such a great support system with everybody at the Conservatory: my teachers, my friends, and my family close by. And I have so many favorite memories at Davies Hall watching the Symphony or playing in the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra."

"Starla is an exemplary musician with an extraordinary work ethic," SFCM President David Stull says. "SFCM is honored to have provided a path for her musical journey over this last decade. Her preternatural poise and acumen has allowed her to rise to the top, and this extraordinary opportunity is well-deserved. We are all deeply proud of her and will continue to support her through this transition into the professional world."

"My wife Julie and I chose the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College program because of its outstanding faculty and supportive community it provides for young musicians," Starla's father Dustin says. "From the beginning, we felt it was the perfect place for Starla to grow artistically while being challenged and inspired by both her teachers and her peers. Seeing her reach this milestone is a reflection of the mentorship and encouragement she has received at SFCM."

Starla Breshears in 2026.

"I loved the SFCM Pre-College," Breshears says. "Everything about it. I loved my chamber music, I loved my lessons, I loved just being with my friends, I loved the string orchestra there, I loved musicianship, I had a conducting class! It was all really enjoyable and it was definitely my favorite part of the week every single week."

Keelin Davis, SFCM's Associate Dean & Executive Director of Pre-College and Continuing Education, says, "We are immensely proud of Starla and her significant achievement in joining the SFS. As a former Pre-College student, Starla's artistry and dedication was evident from her early start at the Conservatory. We look forward to celebrating Starla's continued success and to welcoming her back to the Bay Area for this new and exciting chapter!"

"I began teaching Starla when she was six years old, and even then she showed extraordinary natural instincts for the cello and for musical performance," Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Stella's private teacher for most of her time at SFCM, says. "She absorbed musical ideas with remarkable ease, retaining and integrating guidance almost immediately, and she always possessed the rare ability to communicate naturally with an audience. Over the years I taught her, until May of 2024, she remained one of the most gifted young cellists I have encountered in my five decades of teaching." (Breshears studied with Richard Aaron for her final year at SFCM.)

Breshears was a Joseph Chan Full-Scholarship recipient at SFCM. She has been coached by Christine Walevska and Sergei Riabtchenko and has performed for masterclasses with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Alisa Weilerstein and Amit Peled. She soloed with 18 different orchestras since the age of 6 including the California Youth Symphony, Kalamazoo Junior Symphony, Palo Alto Philharmonic, Symphony Parnassus, and the Nova Vista Symphony. Breshears was the 2023 Stulberg International String Competition Bronze Medalist and has also won 1st prize in over a dozen solo competitions, including ASTA State Solo Competition, Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Competition, and Grand Prize in the Diablo Valley College / Holy Names University Young Artist Competition. 

Dustin, Valery, and Starla Breshears perform at SFCM in 2017.

SFCM's Pre-College is an immersive set of programs that instill the value of music in youth 18 and under that integrate private lessons with musicianship courses, small and large ensemble experiences, masterclasses, jury assessments, and performance opportunities. The Pre-College's audition-only Academy program has earned a national reputation for providing superior training to young musicians. Breshears and her siblings Dustin, Valery, Colin distinguished themselves as a family quartet while at SFCM, winning—among many others—1st prize in the 2023 Piero Farulli International Competition for Young String Quartets and the Silver Medal in the junior strings division at the prestigious Fischoff Competition in 2024.

Learn more about studying at SFCM at the Pre-College or collegiate level.