Radu Paponiu joined the San Francisco Symphony as Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) in the 2024-25 season. Radu recently finished a five-year tenure as Associate Conductor of the Naples Philharmonic, and seven-year tenure as Music Director of the Naples Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. Additionally, for the past two seasons, he served as Music Director of the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra. As a guest conductor, Radu has appeared with Romanian National Radio Symphony, Teatro Comunale di Bologna Orchestra, Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra, Banatul Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, California Young Artists Symphony, and National Repertory Orchestra. Radu has collaborated with notable soloists such as Evgeny Kissin, Yefim Bronfman, Midori, Vladimir Feltsman, Robert Levin, Charles Yang, Nancy Zhou, Stella Chen, and the Ébène Quartet. Radu has served as cover conductor with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and he has assisted conductors including Andrey Boreyko, Iván Fischer, Fabio Luisi, Stéphane Denève, Hans Graf, Donald Runnicles, Cristian Măcelaru, Bernard Labadie and Ludovic Morlot. Radu has served on the conducting faculty of the Juilliard Pre-College, as well as conductor for the Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard in Shanghai, China, and the Southeast Asia Music Festival in Hanoi, Vietnam.