Biography

Adam Smyla, who joined the San Francisco Symphony in 2000, won the National Viola Competition in his native Poland at age seventeen. Shortly thereafter he became the youngest member of the Polish National Radio and Television Orchestra and was invited to join the Penderecki String Quartet, with which he toured internationally for nearly a decade. From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Smyla was assistant principal viola with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and principal viola of the Sun Valley Symphony. He is a viola coach for the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and active in chamber music performing frequently with his wife, pianist Edna Koren.