San Francisco Symphony

Floyd joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1969, at the time the youngest tuba player in any major orchestra in the United States. 

Brass section of the San Francisco Symphony

Low Brass section of the San Francisco Symphony (1981)

Low Brass section of the San Francisco Symphony (1984)

Budlo?? Bydlo?? – Herb Caen – San Francisco Chronicle, February 10, 1988

Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition – Bydlo – San Francisco Symphony, Eugene Ormandy conducting

San Francisco Symphony Low Brass Section with M. Dee Stewart.

Mark Lawrence, Joe Alessi, John Engelkes and Floyd after a SFS performance

Floyd soloed with the San Francisco Symphony twice. The first was a performance of 1978 under the baton of Seiji Ozawa, and the second was 1982 under the baton of Jahja Ling.
Soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Seiji Ozawa conducting (1978)

“One suspects that Cooley and Ozawa made more of the Vaughan Williams than is really on the page. Clutching his instrument like an abstract brass jewel, Cooley stood to the conductor’s left. The sheer beauty of tone and technical accuracy – intonation, trills, filligree whilrligigs and all that – were amazing.” –  Heuwell Tercuit – San Francisco Chronicle

Prelude: Allegro moderato

Romanza: Andante sostenuto

Finale – Rondo alla tedesca: Allegro

For my performance of the Vaughn Williams Concerto in 1982, I performed a different cadenza for the first movement somewhat revised by the San Francisco composer Sasha Matson.

Congratulated by former President Bill Clinton after a solo performance

Floyd can be heard on the following recordings with the San Francisco Symphony:

John Adams – Chairman Dances  Edo DeWart  – 1982

Bruckner – Symphony No 6         Herbert Blomstedt

Hindemith – Mathis de Mahler – Herbert Blomstedt

Hindemith Nolissima Visione – Herbert Blomstedt

Hindemith – Symphonic Metamorphosis – Herbert Blomstedt

Nielsen – Symphony No 1 – Herbert Blomstedt

Nielsen – Symphony No 2 – Herbert Blomstedt

Nielsen – Symphony No 3 – Herbert Blomstedt

Nielsen – Symphony No 4 – Herbert Blomstedt

Nielsen – Symphony No 5 – Herbert Blomstedt

Nielsen – Symphony No 6 – Herbert Blomstedt

Strauss – Also Sprach Zarathustra – – Herbert Blomstedt

Strauss – Alpine Symphony – Herbert Blomstedt

Strauss – Death and Transfiguration – Herbert Blomstedt

Strauss – Don Juan – Herbert Blomstedt

Strauss – Ein Heldenleben – Herbert Blomstedt

Strauss – Till – Herbert Blomstedt 

Sibelius – Symphony No 2 – Herbert Blomstedt

San Diego Symphony

Gliere – Symphony No. 3 / Il’ya Muromets Yoav Talmi 1993