1933-1986 In 1933, the Oakland Symphony Orchestra was formed under the leadership of conductor Orley See, who became its first music director. The orchestra presented four concerts in the lobby of the Oakland YMCA in its first season. See served as music director until his death in 1957.
Piero Bellugi was the orchestra's second music director, from 1957 to 1959. In 1959, Gerhard Samuel became the orchestra's music director. During the 1960s, the home of the orchestra was the Oakland Civic Auditorium (now the Kaiser Convention Center). During Samuel's tenure, the orchestra's season expanded from 8 to 24 concerts, and the orchestra developed a national reputation in the United States for its programming and community work. In 1964, Samuel oversaw the creation of the Oakland Symphony
Youth Orchestra, with 75 student musicians under the leadership of composer
Robert Hughes. The Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra performed in schools and for community organizations, and regularly commissioned and premiered works, financed through volunteer activities. As well, the youth orchestra made five commercial recordings and toured internationally, and won a Silver Medal at the
Herbert von Karajan Festival in Berlin. Samuel also oversaw the establishment of the Oakland Symphony Chorus. In 1966, the
Ford Foundation undertook a national programme of matching grants to selected American cultural institutions for them to establish long-term financial stability through the building of endowment fund. From this programme, the Oakland Symphony was one of sixty-one American orchestras chosen for a matching grant, of $1.35M USD, the largest grant available to orchestras of its size. In 1971,
Harold Farberman became the orchestra's music director. Under Farberman, the annual subscription series expanded from 24 to 33 concerts. The orchestra introduced a 'Pops' Series and concerts for young people, with educational programs in schools. The orchestra also undertook free concerts in public places and campaigns to reach out to diverse ethnic populations. The latter included a 'Minority Orchestral Fellowship Program', to offer young string players from non-white backgrounds opportunities to play one year with a professional orchestra. The programming under Farberman also reduced the number of contemporary works and increased the proportion of standard classical repertoire. After Simmons' death,
Leonard Slatkin became artistic consultant to the orchestra for the 1982-1983 season. The orchestra was in a financially difficult point in its history, as debts were mounting, while attendance figures remained essentially stable. on the contract signed less than eight months earlier. Management and musicians did not reach a compromise. On 21 August 1986, management filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code, On 12 September 1986, musicians’ representatives and the management/board negotiating team held their only meeting to negotiate the issues. The musicians rejected management's position. Representatives of the Oakland Symphony Association board subsequently voted to file for liquidation of the association under Chapter 7 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code. A retrospective analysis by Melanie Beene, Patricia Mitchell, and Fenton Johnson investigated in detail the history of the orchestra that culminated in the 1986 bankruptcy declaration. In 1988, musicians from the past Oakland Symphony and the Oakland Symphony League (Oakland Symphony Guild) jointly formed a new orchestra, the Oakland East Bay Symphony (OEBS). The OEBS appointed
Michael Morgan as its music director, and he took up the post as of the 1990-1991 season.
2015–present In 2015, the OEBS reverted to the orchestra's past name of the Oakland Symphony. During the final two decades of Morgan's tenure, the orchestra had not worked with any guest conductors, with Morgan serving as sole conductor. In 2022,
Kedrick Armstrong first guest-conducted the orchestra. He returned for additional guest conducting appearances in 2023 and 2024. In April 2024, the orchestra announced the appointment of Armstrong as its new music director, with immediate effect. ==Music directors==