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Teaching Music Since 1975
The Villa Sinfonia Foundation had its beginnings in 1975 when Lynn and Roy Oakley started the Oakley Violin Studio in San Francisco. Over the years, the private studio expanded to include other violin, viola, and cello studios, creating the Villa Sinfonia Foundation as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Today, Villa Sinfonia’s unique model of enabling musicians of all ages to perform high quality chamber orchestra music with professional musicians has made it an acclaimed Bay Area institution with multiple generations of successful alumni.
Artistic Staff
With diverse backgrounds and experiences, our educators bring a wealth of knowledge and creativity to Villa Sinfonia.
Associated Teachers
Our History
The Villa Sinfonia Foundation had its beginnings in 1975 when Lynn and Roy Oakley started the Oakley Violin Studio after obtaining their graduate degrees in music education and performance from San Francisco State University. Over the years, the private studio expanded to include other violin, viola, and cello studios, and the Villa Sinfonia Foundation was founded as a non-profit organization in 1994.
Students in the Villa Sinfonia Foundation have performed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area including at many civic ceremonies and community institutions, and worldwide tours have enabled musicians to perform at historic concert venues in many countries.
Roy and Lynn Oakley received a Certificate of Honor from the Board of Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco, honoring their outstanding service to the community, and they were presented with the Governors Award at the San Francisco Chapter of the Recording Academy’s Grammy Awards.
As Roy prepared to retire, he trained his former student and fellow teacher David Ryther to assume the conducting role. David graduated with highest honors in music from UC Santa Cruz and has a doctorate in contemporary violin performance from UC San Diego. David Ryther has been Villa Sinfonia’s conductor and music director since 2020. He is also a composer and member of the Circadian String Quartet.
Villa Sinfonia Foundation has a Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Musicians Union Local No. 6, American Federation of Musicians, and is a member of ASCAP and BMI, and as such, ASCAP and BMI licenses cover all Villa Sinfonia Foundation sponsored performances.
Alumni
Villa Sinfonia alumni have achieved remarkable success across diverse fields including music performance, music education, music criticism, photography, entertainment, journalism, business, and medicine. Some alumni have gone on to pursue music professionally, attending and teaching at prestigious conservatories including Juilliard, Bard, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Berklee College of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Alumni have earned awards such as the Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe, as well as a Fulbright Fellowship, the William Littler Prize for Music Criticism, and have won the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists. Alumni have established themselves as composers, writers for publications like The New Yorker and Rolling Stone, and innovative music educators. Villa alumni are regularly admitted to top academic programs and have excelled in their professional careers. Villa Sinfonia takes great pride in its ability to nurture versatile artists and professionals who excel across multiple disciplines.
Tours
Villa Sinfonia has embarked on domestic and international tours every few years, most recently to Montréal and Québec City. On domestic tours, Villa Sinfonia has presented concerts at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. Other international tours have included performances at historic concert halls and churches in Salzburg, Munich, Heidelberg, Prague, Rome, Scotland, England, France, Vienna, and Budapest.
Villa tours have achieved notable recognition including winning the Gold Medal at the Pacific Basin Music Festival in Hawaii, and serving as orchestra in residence at the Shrewsbury International Music Festival in England. Tours have been an essential component of the Villa Sinfonia experience, building community and forging cross-cultural connections through music.
Board of Trustees
