SFS New Principal Horn

Diego Incertis Sánchez

Spanish horn player Diego Incertis Sánchez has been appointed principal horn of the San Francisco Symphony. He'll join the orchestra in January, two years after Robert Ward retired following 43 years with the orchestra, 16 of them as principal horn.

Incertis Sánchez, 27, is currently the principal horn of the London Symphony Orchestra and previously held the same position with the Philharmonia Orchestra. (I can't tell if he held that position when a certain Esa-Pekka Salonen was chief conductor of the Philharmonia.) This is Salonen's last hire from his all-too-brief tenure as music director of SFS, where he hired many new musicians, including the new principal and associate principal flutes, principal cello, associate and assistant principal clarinets, associate principal concertmaster, and more.

Joshua Kosman's article on the appointment discusses the reasons Incertis Sánchez is relocating. I would like to add that while London and San Francisco are both very expensive cities, orchestral musicians in London are paid much less than their peers in the major U.S. orchestras.

This appointment leaves three openings in the horn section: associate principal (formerly held by Mark Almond, now the principal horn of the CSO), assistant principal (formerly held by Bruce Roberts, who retired), and utility horn (formerly held by Daniel Hawkins, now the principal horn of the Dallas Symphony). 

Tom Jacobs has also written about this appointment.