Press Releases for San Francisco Symphony

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / February 12, 2013

JANELLE MONÁE HEADLINES SPECIAL CONCERT with SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY TO BENEFIT SFS MUSIC AND EDUCATION PROGRAMS THURSDAY, MAY 16 AT 8 PM AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL

(Images of Janelle Monáe are available for download from the SF Symphony Press Photo Library)

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 12, 2013) – Grammy-nominated artist and style icon Janelle Monáe headlines a special concert Thursday, May 16 at 8 pm with the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) followed by an after-party at City Hall, benefitting the Grammy-winning Orchestra’s music and education programs. The Orchestra won its fifteenth Grammy on Sunday, for its recent live recording of John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Harmonielehre (Best Orchestral Performance).

A groundbreaking, genre-blurring singer, songwriter, producer, and performer, Janelle Monáe’s inventive style melds a refined pop sensibility with an extraordinary postmodern mash-up of soul, funk, and rock ‘n’ roll. Monáe will perform new arrangements of her critically acclaimed music, created especially for this benefit performance, with the San Francisco Symphony.

In the last two years, Monáe’s career has blossomed following the release of her Grammy-nominated, first full-length LP, The ArchAndroid. Her collaboration with Fun. produced the 2012 Grammy-winning Song of the Year and one of the biggest hits of 2012, “We are Young,” and also garnered her nominations for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Record of the Year. Monáe has toured the world and been invited to perform at numerous festivals, including the Made in America Festival in Philadelphia, the Afro-Punk Festival in Brooklyn, and the NorthSea and Montreux Jazz Festivals. Her set was a highlight of the SF Symphony’s 2012 Black & White Ball.

In the last year, Janelle Monáe has been featured on the pages of Vogue and Vanity Fair, cementing her status as a fashion icon. She recently joined the elite class of CoverGirl spokeswomen and was the recipient of the Young, Gifted, and Black Award at Black Girls Rock! Her signature black-tie wardrobe and striking hairstyle, known as a "Monáe," is a reflection of her mission to encourage women to use all their artistic powers to play, change, and transform. In that spirit, her music incorporates a rich array of influences, from the complex orchestral arrangements of Quincy Jones and Stevie Wonder, to 1970s glam and progressive rock, to the multi-faceted beats of a generation of hip-hop and electronica artists and producers.

“I believe it’s time that women truly owned their superpowers and used their beauty and strength to change the world around them,” said Monáe. “One of my core values is to help redefine what it means to be a strong and beautiful woman in the music and fashion worlds and to empower the wonderful things that make us unique.”

The evening begins with a sparkling wine reception in the lobbies of Davies Symphony Hall, followed by Janelle Monáe’s concert. Afterwards, guests are invited to the after-party at City Hall, with live music, DJ, cocktails, and savory treats. Dinner packages include pre-concert cocktails, a multi-faceted dining experience before the show in City Hall, premier seating at the Janelle Monáe concert, and the after-party. Proceeds benefit the San Francisco Symphony’s music and education programs, providing music education to more than 75,000 Bay Area children each year.

Tickets are on sale now for Janelle Monáe through www.sfsymphony.org/janellemonae, SFS Patron Services at (415) 864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall box office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. Concert tickets (including preconcert sparkling wine reception in Davies Symphony Hall, and after-party in City Hall): $90-$275. Dinner packages including pre-concert cocktail and multi-faceted dining experience in City Hall, premier Janelle Monáe and San Francisco Symphony concert seating, and after-party are $400 and $1,000. For dinner packages, call the SF Symphony Volunteer Council at 415-503-5500.

ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY’S EDUCATION PROGRAMS

The San Francisco Symphony provides the most extensive education programs offered by any American orchestra today. In 1988, the Symphony established Adventures in Music (AIM), a free, comprehensive music education program that reaches every first- through fifth-grade child in the San Francisco Unified School District and this year marks its 25^th anniversary. The SFS Instrument Training and Support program reaches students in all San Francisco public middle and high schools with instrumental music programs, providing coaching by professional musicians. For adults, the Symphony offers Community of Music Makers, a program that supports amateur choral singers and instrumental musicians with professional coaching, rehearsals, and other learning opportunities. Launching in 2013 is a revitalized children’s music education website, www.sfskids.org, developed in conjunction with the UC Irvine Center for Computer Games and Virtual Worlds. The SFS also offers opportunities to hear and learn about great music through its programs Concerts for Kids, Music for Families, the internationally-acclaimed SFS Youth Orchestra, and annual free and community concerts.

CALENDAR EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

JANELLE MONÁE WITH THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, May 16 at 8 pm

Davies Symphony Hall

201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco

Janelle Monáe

San Francisco Symphony

DINNER PACKAGE:

5:30pm Pre-concert Cocktail and Dining Experience, San Francisco City Hall

8:00pm Janelle Monáe Concert, Davies Symphony Hall

10:00pm After-Party, San Francisco City Hall

Tickets: $400 and $1,000. For dinner packages, call the SF Symphony Volunteer Council at 415-503-5500 or purchase online at sfsymphony.org/JanelleMonae.

CONCERT AND PARTY PACKAGE:

7:00pm Pre-concert Sparkling Wine Reception, Davies Symphony Hall

8:00pm Janelle Monáe Concert, Davies Symphony Hall

10:00pm After-Party, San Francisco City Hall

Tickets: $90-$275.

Tickets are on sale now for Janelle Monáe through www.sfsymphony.org/JanelleMonae, SFS Patron Services at (415) 864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall box office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. Concert tickets (including preconcert sparkling wine reception in Davies Symphony Hall, and after-party in City Hall): $90-$275. Dinner packages including pre-concert cocktail and multi-faceted dining experience in City Hall, premier Janelle Monáe concert seating, and after-party: $400 and $1,000. For dinner packages, call the SF Symphony Volunteer Council at 415-503-5500 or purchase online at sfsymphony.org/JanelleMonae.

Macy’s is the Preferred Retailer for this event.

Emirates is the Official Airline of the San Francisco Symphony.

William Hill^® Estate Winery is the Official Wine of the San Francisco Symphony.

San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com is the Official Media Partner of the San Francisco Symphony.

Tin Hat, Meklit & Quinn, and Squid Inc. headline the SF Symphony's post-concert Davies After Hours on Fridays March 8, May 10 and June 28, 2013

San Francisco Symphony — 3/7/2013 12:31:41 PM

Contact:
Public Relations
San Francisco Symphony
(415) 503-5474
publicrelations@sfsymphony.org
www.sfsymphony.org/press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / March 7, 2013

TIN HAT, MEKLIT & QUINN AND SQUID INC.

HEADLINE THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY'S POST-CONCERT

DAVIES AFTER HOURS ON FRIDAYS MARCH 8, MAY 10 AND JUNE 28, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (March 7, 2013) – Tin Hat, Meklit & Quinn and Squid Inc. will headline the San Francisco Symphony’s popular live-performance/post-concert party Davies After Hours held in the Second Tier Lobby of Davies Symphony Hall following the Symphony’s concerts on Friday nights March 8, May 10 and June 28, 2013. Part performance, part reception, Davies After Hours offers concertgoers the opportunity to enjoy music groups of other genres reflecting on that night’s program, in the nightclub-like atmosphere of a transformed top floor of Davies Symphony Hall. With its open air balconies, stunning views overlooking City Hall and drinks served at a cash-only bar, Davies After Hours is a unique after-party designed to draw parallels between classical music and the many other popular styles that thrive in the Bay Area. This season, visual artwork on display during Davies After Hours will be provided by Vessel Gallery in Oakland. Davies After Hours is free for all SF Symphony concert ticketholders on March 8, May 10 and June 28.

Following the sold-out San Francisco Symphony performance of music by Brahms, Beethoven and Samuel Carl Adams on Friday, March 8 Tin Hat will bring their freewheeling chamber music for the 21st century to Davies After Hours. The members of Tin Hat, Carla Kihlstedt (violin and vocals), Mark Orton (guitar), Ben Goldberg (clarinet), and Rob Reich (accordion and piano) together “interweave Old World Europe with post-modern America, south-of-the-border sensuality with concert-hall propriety, and odd-metered syncopation with deeply soulful grooves” according to The New York Press. The New York Times notes the group as, “solid, appealing and fresh.” Tin Hat has released six recordings since their founding in 1997. Their most recent, the rain is a handsome animal, released by New Amsterdam Records in 2012, is a seventeen movement song-cycle using as lyrics the poetry of E E Cummings.

For Davies After Hours on Friday, May 10 the San Francisco Symphony has invited Meklit & Quinn to perform their musical response to that evenings performance by MTT, the Orchestra, Chorus and soloists of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Senior TED Fellow Meklit Hadero is a singer and songwriter known for her soulful performing style, and for combining jazz, folk, and East African influences in her music. Equally at home across genres, Quinn DeVeaux is a commanding frontman, singer and guitarist who turns out original music filled with joy, grit and irresistible beats. A catchy crossroads of Chicago blues and New Orleans soul and gospel, his band Blue Beat Revue packs Bay Area dance floors and beyond. Together these two artists’ chemistry and piquant blend of influences shine in their original music and covers of their favorite pop songs by Arcade Fire, MGMT, Lou Reed and Stevie Wonder.

On Friday, June 28 at Davies After Hours Squid Inc. perform their signature blend of pop originals and covers and classical music in response to MTT and the Orchestra’s orchestral performance of West Side Story. The musicians of Squid Inc. are Hrabba Atladottir and Jory Fankuchen on violin; Darcy Rindt, viola and Elizabeth Vandervennet, cello. Members of the group have played and recorded with Death Cab for Cutie, Bjork, Peter Gabriel, Rosin Coven, Jazz Mafia, Third Eye Blind, Amy X. Neuberg, Nice Guy Trio as well as performing with the San Francisco Symphony, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New World Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Ballet, New Century Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, SF Contemporary Players, and Classical Revolution.

Vessel Gallery located in the heart of Art Murmur on 25^th Street in Oakland’s Uptown district shows fine art and jewelry by emerging and established Bay Area and international artists. In 2011 San Francisco Magazine named Vessel Gallery "Best of the Bay Area" and in 2012 the East Bay Express designated it "Best Gallery of the East Bay." Curated by Lonnie Lee, Vessel Gallery will provide artwork for all three Davies Afters Hours events this season. The show on Friday, March 8 will feature bronze sculptures by Nancy Genn, Maru Hoeber, Luke Heimbigner, and Wayne Shaffer. Information about individual artists and future shows will be posted to the San Francisco Symphony’s Davies After Hours event detail page at sfsymphony.org/daviesafterhours.

For further press information about Davies After Hours, please contact Louisa Spier at (415) 503-5406 or lspier@sfsymphony.org. For information about Vessel Gallery contact info@vessel-gallery.com

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: MTT & Yuja Wang

Davies Symphony Hall

201 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA

Friday, March 8 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Yuja Wang piano

Samuel Carl Adams electronica

San Francisco Symphony

Samuel Carl Adams Drift and Providence

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Opus 58
Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Opus 68

Tin Hat perform at Davies After Hours, a post-concert music event, beginning immediately following the March 8 concert in the Second Tier lobby-turned-lounge. Bronze sculptures on display by Nancy Genn, Maru Hoeber, Luke Heimbigner, and Wayne Shaffer is provided by Vessel Gallery, Oakland. Attendance is free to all March 8 ticketholders.

Please note: This concert is SOLD-OUT. Single tickets $56-$156 may be available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: Beethoven

Davies Symphony Hall

Friday, May 10 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Laura Claycomb soprano

Sasha Cooke mezzo-soprano

Michael Fabiano tenor

Shenyang bass-baritone

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

San Francisco Symphony

Beethoven Missa solemnis in D major, Opus 123 (with video)

Meklit and Quinn perform at Davies After Hours, a post-concert music event, beginning immediately following the May 10 concert in the Second Tier lobby-turned-lounge. Artwork on display is provided by Vessel Gallery, Oakland. Attendance is free to all May 10 ticketholders.

Tickets: $42-$151. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: West Side Story

Davies Symphony Hall

Friday, June 28 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

TBD vocalists

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

San Francisco Symphony

Bernstein (lyrics by Sondheim) West Side Story

Squid Inc. perform at Davies After Hours, a post-concert music event, beginning immediately following the June 28 concert in the Second Tier lobby-turned-lounge. Artwork on display is provided by Vessel Gallery, Oakland. Attendance is free to all June 28 ticketholders.

Tickets: $37-$146. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

Connect with the San Francisco Symphony through social media:

Art on display at Davies After Hours provided by Vessel Gallery, Oakland

Davies After Hours is supported by media partner East Bay Express

Emirates is the Official Airline of the San Francisco Symphony.

William Hill^® Estate Winery is the Official Wine of the San Francisco Symphony.

San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com is the Official Media Partner of the San Francisco Symphony.

-SFS-

San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas announce 2013-14 concert programs, events and recordings

San Francisco Symphony — 3/4/2013 10:00:00 AM

Contact:

Public Relations

San Francisco Symphony

(415) 503-5474

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / March 4, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY AND MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS ANNOUNCE 2013-14 SEASON CONCERT PROGRAMS, EVENTS, AND RECORDINGS

· Season highlights include a four-week celebration of the Benjamin Britten centenary, including MTT leading semi-staged performances of complete Peter Grimes and Four Sea Interludes with original co-commissioned video, and anniversary performances of War Requiem

· Tilson Thomas conducts three weeks of programs pairing the music of Beethoven with Project San Francisco composer Mason Bates, to be recorded for SFS Media

· Pianist Yuja Wang and composer Mason Bates are Project San Francisco artists

· Pablo Heras-Casado leads two-week festival pairing music by Thomas Adès and Mendelssohn

· SFS launches series of new music experiences with SFS musicians, composers, and artists in small, newly-created alternative space in Davies Symphony Hall

· West Coast premiere of Zosha Di Castri’s new work Lineage to be performed as part of inaugural New Voices composer initiative

· Season-long focus on J.S. Bach includes performances with pianist András Schiff, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, conductor Ton Koopman, and organist Martin Haselböck

· SFS musicians Alexander Barantschik, Carey Bell, Mark Inouye, Robert Ward, and Peter Wyrick are featured as soloists; SFS Chorus 40^th anniversary highlights major works from Bach to Britten

· New season-long film series includes Halloween week of Hitchcock films with the world premiere presentation of Vertigo with live orchestral accompaniment, Disney’s Fantasia in Concert, Chaplin’s City Lights, and A Night at the Oscars

· Distinguished guest conductors include Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Marek Janowski, Edwin Outwater, and Osmo Vänskä

· Returning guest soloists include Emanuel Ax, Christine Brewer, Yefim Bronfman, Jeremy Denk, James Ehnes, Julia Fischer, Kirill Gerstein, Hélène Grimaud, Janine Jansen, Leila Josefowicz, Yo-Yo Ma, Audra McDonald, Garrick Ohlsson, Gil Shaham, Stuart Skelton, Toby Spence, Christian Tetzlaff, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Simon Trpčeski, Elza van den Heever, Yuja Wang, and Alisa Weilerstein

· Debut performances with the Orchestra by Lionel Bringuier, Jaap van Zweden, Bogna Bartosz, Till Fellner, Rodney Gilfrey, Martin Helmchen, Claudia Huckle, Simone Lamsma, Tilman Lichdi, Audrey Elizabeth Luna, Klaus Mertens, Ann Murray, Sean Panikkar, Daniil Trifonov, Teresa Wakim, and Roderick Williams

· Great Performers Series includes concerts by Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Yuja Wang, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov, Kremerata Baltica with Gidon Kremer, baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and pianists Murray Perahia, Yuja Wang, Evgeny Kissin, and Katia and Marielle Labèque

· MTT and Orchestra to record Mason Bates’ The B-Sides, an SFS commission, plus Alternative Energy and Liquid Interface; Grammy award-winning SFS Media label to release Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in April 2013 and record John Adams’ Absolute Jest, an SFS commission

· MTT leads Orchestra on tours of US and Europe, including concerts at Carnegie Hall and in London, Paris, Vienna, Prague, Geneva, Luxembourg, Dortmund, and Birmingham; soloists include Sasha Cooke, Jeremy Denk, Susan Graham, and St. Lawrence String Quartet

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – March 4, 2013 – The San Francisco Symphony (SFS) and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) announced their 2013-14 season today, a slate of concerts, programs, and events that reflects their commitment to performing and recording core classical repertoire and new music by contemporary and emerging composers, presenting them side by side in in-depth explorations and creative settings. MTT continues his multi-year focus on performing and recording Beethoven, with three weeks of concerts pairing some of Beethoven’s infrequently performed works alongside three recent compositions by Bay Area composer and electronica artist Mason Bates. In celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten, MTT leads three weeks of concerts, including a new semi-staged production of Peter Grimes, and Four Sea Interludes with original co-commissioned video. MTT also conducts the Orchestra in major works by Antheil, Bartók, Berlioz, Brahms, Debussy, Ives, Steven Mackey, Mahler, Mozart, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, and Schumann. Other high points of the season include Pablo Heras-Casado leading a two-week festival pairing the music of Felix Mendelssohn and Thomas Adès, with common literary and musical inspirations as a theme, and a season-long focus on J.S. Bach with some of today’s foremost musical proponents of his music: Ton Koopman, András Schiff, and Christian Tetzlaff. The Orchestra makes its first performances of works by Thomas Adès, Mason Bates, J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Dvořák, Ligeti, Lully, Mendelssohn, and Schulhoff; debuts a new season-long film series including the first live performances of the complete score of Hitchcock’s Vertigo, accompanying the film; and launches a series of immersive and informal musical events featuring SFS musicians, Bay Area-based and visiting composers, and visual artists. Other highlights of the SF Symphony’s eleven-month season are the West Coast premiere of Zosha Di Castri’s New Voices project commission and composer Mason Bates and pianist Yuja Wang returning as Project San Francisco artists. The Orchestra returns to Europe for a three-week tour in March 2014, and tours the U.S. in November 2013. On its SFS Media label, the Orchestra releases recordings of music by Beethoven, and will record performances of music by Bates and Beethoven for future release.

Subscription ticket packages start at $186 (a six-concert package in the 2nd Tier) for the San Francisco Symphony’s 2013-14 season and are on sale now to renewing subscribers and the general public. Ticket information is available through the San Francisco Symphony Web site at www.sfsymphony.org /subscribe, through the SFS Patron Services Office at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall box office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco. Tickets for individual 2013-14 San Francisco Symphony concerts will go on sale on July 22.

MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS’ 2013-14 HIGHLIGHTS

Michael Tilson Thomas marks his 19^th season as Music Director with the SFS in 2013-14, and is currently the longest-tenured music director of any major American orchestra. In 18 concert weeks this season, in Davies Symphony Hall and on tour in Europe and the U.S., MTT leads the Orchestra in a wide variety of programs and events that highlight his commitment to new and rarely performed music as well as providing audiences new context to core classical repertoire.

“One of the great rewards of a long partnership between a conductor and an orchestra is the opportunity to explore works old and new, by many composers,” said Michael Tilson Thomas. “Just as we continue to examine the music of Beethoven and find new pathways into hearing his work, it is important to develop and support composers writing today, and treat new music in the way we treat music of the past—to revisit it over the years. This is part of developing creative partnerships with composers over the course of their careers, such as our continued explorations of the music of Bay Area composers John Adams and Mason Bates. Ongoing relationships with composers, present as well as past, are inseparable from our work together as musicians and open new dimensions in our music-making.”

SEASON OPENING GALA – ALL-AMERICAN PROGRAM WITH AUDRA McDONALD

The San Francisco Symphony’s 102^nd season opens Tuesday, September 3, 2013, with Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas leading the Orchestra in its annual Opening Gala concert and celebration at Davies Symphony Hall. Soprano Audra McDonald and the Orchestra offer a program of works by American composers including Gershwin’s An American in Paris and Antheil’s Jazz Symphony. The gala concert will be broadcast live on Classical KDFC 90.3/89.9/104.9 FM and kdfc.com. The Orchestra’s All-San Francisco concert for San Franciscans served by local community groups takes place September 5, with Gershwin’s An American in Paris, and violinist James Ehnes joining MTT and the Orchestra in Barber’s Violin Concerto. MTT also conducts as James Ehnes and the Orchestra perform Barber’s Violin Concerto September 6, alongside Gershwin’s An American in Paris and Antheil’s Jazz Symphony.

BENJAMIN BRITTEN CENTENARY

The first SF Symphony performances of Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes (1945) are the culminating events in a four-week celebration of the English composer’s work and music, marking the centenary of his 1913 birth. The celebration encompasses Britten’s works for opera, vocal music, a ballet score, and orchestral writing, and spans the prolific career of a composer, conductor and pianist who died in 1976 at the age of 63. For the centenary, MTT will create a new semi-staged production of the complete Peter Grimes in June 2014, with tenor Stuart Skelton (Peter Grimes) and soprano Elza van den Heever (Ellen Orford) heading a cast of singers including baritone Alan Opie (Captain Balstrode), mezzo-sopranos Ann Murray (Auntie) and Nancy Maultsby (Mrs. Sedley), baritone Eugene Brancoveanu (Ned Keene), bass John Relyea (Mr. Swallow), and the SFS Chorus. Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes will be presented with original co-commissioned video by visual artist Tal Rosner (“Polaris”). In other programs, Britten’s works are paired with those of his colleague and close friend, Dmitri Shostakovich. The Orchestra is joined by a gamelan ensemble in excerpts of music from Britten’s 1945 ballet The Prince of the Pagodas alongside Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto with Janine Jansen. SFS Principal Horn Robert Ward is featured in Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943), with tenor Toby Spence in a program that includes Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15. During the composer’s 100^th birthday week in November 2013, Semyon Bychkov leads soprano Christine Brewer, tenor James Gilchrist, baritone Roderick Williams, the SFS Chorus, the Pacific Boychoir, and the Orchestra in Britten’s War Requiem (1962). Concertmaster Alexander Barantshik leads the Orchestra in Britten’s Simple Symphony for string orchestra during a week of January concerts.

BEETHOVEN AND BATES FESTIVAL

MTT and the Orchestra continue their multi-season exploration of Beethoven with three concert weeks that pair some of his early and lesser-heard works alongside recent music by Bay Area composer and electronica artist Mason Bates, a frequent SFS collaborator and this season’s Project San Francisco composer. Bates’ music will be recorded live during these concerts for later release on SFS Media. Since Bates attended the first American Mavericks Festival in 2000, he and MTT have worked together in multiple settings, including with the SFS at Davies Symphony Hall (the SFS commissioned Mass Transmission in 2011 for its centennial season, part of the American Mavericks Festival,) on the American Mavericks Festival tour, and in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra project. In the Beethoven and Bates Festival’s first week, in January, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 is paired on a program with his Romances Nos. 1 and 2. Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik is featured as soloist in these infrequently performed works, and he performs Romance No. 1 for the first time with the Orchestra. Mason Bates performs on electronica with the Orchestra in his Alternative Energy, performed in San Francisco by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during the SFS centennial season. In the second week, for the first time since 1998, the Orchestra and the SFS Chorus perform Beethoven’s complete Mass in C. Excerpts from Beethoven’s rarely performed music for King Stephen, including the Overture and selected choral movements, open the concerts, and Bates joins the Orchestra on electronica for performances of his Liquid Interface.

“I can always count on a trip to the SFS to shake up my musical reality. Whether it’s new music, old music, or some provocative combination of the two, I always leave with retuned hearing. Few institutions this large behave so adventurously. It's been wonderful to create several new works for MTT and the musicians, and I am deeply honored that several pieces dear to me will be performed and recorded next season,” Bates said.

In the festival’s third week, in February, The B-Sides by Mason Bates opens the evening, again with Bates on electronica performing with the Orchestra. The SFS commissioned and premiered Bates’ The B-Sides in 2009. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, which the Orchestra recorded with MTT in 2010, also will be performed as part of the Beethoven and Bates Festival’s final week, and Gil Shaham is soloist in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2.

In addition to the Beethoven and Bates Festival weeks, in September, Emanuel Ax returns to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with MTT and the Orchestra; a recording of his live performances of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Orchestra was released on SFS Media in 2011. The Orchestra also performs Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3, which it also recently recorded and issued on SFS Media, at Davies Symphony Hall and on tour in Carnegie Hall and in Champaign-Urbana, IL.

NEW VOICES COMPOSER – ZOSHA DI CASTRI

Canadian composer Zosha Di Castri was chosen last year as the first composer to have her work fostered, promoted and performed as part of New Voices, a new collaborative composer development initiative with the San Francisco Symphony, New World Symphony, and publisher Boosey & Hawkes. The SFS presents and performs Di Castri’s new orchestral work Lineage in its West Coast premiere in September, following its world premiere in Miami in April 2013. Her work will be performed by the Orchestra in Davies Symphony Hall and also at the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University. The New Voices project supports composers in developing their work in chamber and orchestral settings, preparing them for public performances, and promoting their music, with performances in Miami and San Francisco. Di Castri’s chamber music piece will be performed by SFS musicians in 2014.

TOURS

MTT leads the Orchestra on tours of Europe and the U.S. during the 2013-14 season, performing the music of contemporary and maverick American composers including John Adams, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, and Steven Mackey alongside core classical repertoire by Mahler, Beethoven, Berlioz, Prokofiev, and Mozart. In March 2014, MTT and the Orchestra perform two weeks of concerts in the musical capitals of Europe, visiting London, Paris, and Vienna for two concerts each, as well as Prague, Geneva, Luxembourg, Dortmund, and Birmingham. Tour repertoire reflects the diverse array of works from its Grammy award-winning SFS Media catalogue, including Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7; Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique; The Alcotts from Ives’ A Concord Symphony, orchestrated by Henry Brant; and the St. Lawrence String Quartet in John Adams’ Absolute Jest, a San Francisco Symphony co-commission. Julia Fischer will join the Orchestra as soloist in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1. For Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 tour performances, the Orchestra is joined by local choruses including St. Paul’s Boys Choir and Women of the London Symphony Orchestra Chorus (London), Maîtresse de Radio France and Choeur des femmes de l’Orchestre de Paris (Paris and Geneva), Choeur symphonique de la Grande Région and Pueri cantores of the Luxembourg Conservatoire (Luxembourg), and Vienna Boys Choir and Women of the Wienersingakademie (Vienna).

In November 2013, the Orchestra performs four concerts on a U.S. tour to New York’s Carnegie Hall, Ann Arbor, MI, and Champaign-Urbana, IL. Repertoire includes Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with soprano Susan Graham (at Carnegie) and soprano Sasha Cooke (at Ann Arbor) and, at Carnegie and Champaign-Urbana, Steven Mackey’s Eating Greens, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 with Jeremy Denk, Copland’s Symphonic Ode, and Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3, recently released on SFS Media.

RECORDINGS

The Orchestra’s recordings on its own Grammy award-winning SFS Media label continue to reflect the artistic identity of its programming, a commitment to the work of contemporary American composers alongside that of the core classical masterworks. In the 2013-14 season, MTT and the Orchestra record performances of the Beethoven and Bates Festival, including three works by Bay Area composer Mason Bates: Liquid Interface, Alternative Energy and the SFS-commissioned The B-Sides. On April 9, 2013 SFS Media will release a recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, captured live in the concluding concerts of the 2011-12 centennial season with MTT, the Orchestra, the Chorus, and soloists Erin Wall, Kendall Gladen, William Burden, and Nathan Berg. During MTT and the Orchestra’s May 2013 Beethoven Festival, SFS Media will record John Adams’ Absolute Jest with the St. Lawrence String Quartet for future release. Absolute Jest was inspired by and based on fragments of Beethoven’s scherzos for string quartets and was co-commissioned by the SFS and premiered as part of its American Mavericks Festival last season. Release dates for all future recordings will be announced at a later date.

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS WITH MTT

Among other highlights of MTT’s season are programs featuring visits by some of the most acclaimed and beloved soloists, returning to perform with the Orchestra:

· Pianist Yefim Bronfman performs Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with MTT and the Orchestra, along with Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 3, in programs beginning Sept. 11.

· The week of September 18, MTT leads the Orchestra and soprano Sasha Cooke with the women of the SF Symphony Chorus and SF Girls Chorus in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3.

· Pianist Emanuel Ax joins MTT and the Orchestra the week of September 26 for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, in a program that includes Mahler’s Blumine and a selection of short pieces by Copland, Debussy, Delius, Grieg, and Rachmaninoff.

· Cellist Yo-Yo Ma joins the Orchestra and MTT for one concert in February, performing Schumann’s Cello Concerto. MTT also leads Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and The Alcotts, from Ives’s A Concord Symphony, orchestrated by Henry Brant.

· Christian Tetzlaff performs Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with MTT and the Orchestra the week of May 14. The program also includes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, and opens with Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen’s Return.

· Pianist Yuja Wang joins the Orchestra the week of May 22 to perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with MTT. The Orchestra also performs Debussy’s Images and Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest, Opus 18.

THOMAS ADÈS AND MENDELSSOHN FESTIVAL WITH PABLO HERAS-CASADO

Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado leads a two-week festival in October pairing the music of English composer Thomas Adès with that of Felix Mendelssohn, performing music spanning four centuries. In a program inspired by William Shakespeare and Goethe, Heras-Casado conducts a cast of soloists including soprano Audrey Elizabeth Luna (Ariel), mezzo-soprano Charlotte Hellekant, and baritone Rodney Gilfrey in the Orchestra’s first performances of excerpts from Adès’ The Tempest. Luna sang the role at the Metropolitan Opera in 2012 under Adès’ direction. The program includes Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the first SFS performances of Die erste Walpurgisnacht. The festival’s second program illuminates Mendelssohn and Adès’ mutual fascination with the Baroque, featuring the Orchestra’s first performances of Adès’ Three Studies from Couperin and Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Overture and Passacaille from Armide (1686). Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3, Scottish, and Stravinsky’s neoclassical Violin Concerto, with soloist Leila Josefowicz, round out the program. Thomas Adès will participate in the festival. Heras-Casado will showcase the composers’ chamber works in a concert featuring SFS musicians and will also conduct the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra in rehearsal. Further details about the festival concerts and related activities will be announced at a later date.

SFS PREMIERES AND FIRST PERFORMANCES

MTT leads the Orchestra in a variety of commissions, premieres and first performances, including the first SFS performances of Mason Bates’ Liquid Interface and Alternative Energy; its first performances of Britten’s complete Peter Grimes, in a semi-staged presentation; and the West Coast premiere of New Voices composer Zosha Di Castri’s new work for orchestra, Lineage, an SFS co-commission. Under Pablo Heras-Casado, the Orchestra makes its first performances of excerpts from Thomas Adès’ The Tempest and Three Studies from Couperin, as well as Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht and Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Overture and Passacaille from Armide. Ton Koopman leads the SFS in two first performances: C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto No. 3 and J.S. Bach’s Cantata No. 207a, Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten. With Charles Dutoit on the podium, the Orchestra and SFS Chorus debut Poulenc’s Litanies à la vierge noire (Litanies of the Black Virgin), in a program that features the Chorus on all three works. Former SFS Resident Conductor Edwin Outwater, now music director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, leads the Orchestra in the SFS premieres of Ligeti’s Concert Românesc and three of Dvořák’s Legends for Orchestra, Nos. 2, 6 and 10. James Conlon, music director of Los Angeles Opera, joins the Orchestra for debut SFS performances of Schulhoff’s Scherzo from his Symphony No. 5. The Orchestra performs the world premiere of Bernard Herrmann’s full score for Hitchcock’s film Vertigo with a screening of the film, and the first SFS performances of Herrmann’s scores for Hitchcock!, an evening of excerpts from the master’s films. Sarah Hicks leads the Orchestra in a performance of the complete score of Fantasia with the Disney movie on the big screen.

NEW SERIES OF INFORMAL, EXPERIMENTAL MUSICAL EVENINGS HIGHLIGHT SFS MUSICIANS, BAY AREA ARTISTS AND COMPOSERS

MTT and the SFS are launching a new series of intimate and experimental musical evenings in a newly-created alternative space at Davies Symphony Hall. The events will be curated by innovative and forward-thinking composers, artists and musicians and will highlight members of the SFS. As a platform for musical ideas and passions of the participating artists, the series of ten events will offer explorations in program, format, technology, audience interaction, and curatorial elements. All events will feature SFS musicians in live performance with such composers as electronica artist and DJ Mason Bates (DJ Masonic), performing in and curating his Mercury Soul club event. Other performers and composers participating include Samuel Carl Adams, a Brooklyn composer and Bay Area native whose music combines elements of jazz, electronica, and classical influences; Nathaniel Stookey, the San Francisco-based composer and SFSYO alumnus who wrote the modern kids’ guide to the orchestra, The Composer is Dead, and Mahlerwerk; and New Voices composer Zosha Di Castri, who is writing a work for percussion as part of the project. Programming is currently under development and full details will be announced this summer.

PROJECT SAN FRANCISCO: YUJA WANG AND MASON BATES

Pianist Yuja Wang and composer Mason Bates, two young artists championed by Michael Tilson Thomas and the SFS, return as this season’s Project San Francisco resident artists, collaborating with the Orchestra in concerts, chamber music, lectures and education and community events. Three works by Mason Bates – The B-Sides, Alternative Energy, and Liquid Interface – will be performed by MTT, Bates, and the Orchestra as part of a three-week festival pairing his music with Beethoven’s. Bates’ works will be also recorded for release on SFS Media. Since meeting at the original American Mavericks Festival in 2000, Bates and MTT have collaborated on a variety of projects, with the SFS, New World Symphony, and the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. His The B-Sides was commissioned by the SFS and premiered in 2009. The SFS commissioned and played Bates’ work for chorus and electronica, Mass Transmission, on the 2012 American Mavericks Festival, performing with Bates on electronica both in SF and on its two-week all-American Mavericks national tour. Bates is also a collaborator with the SFS on its new, curated musical experiences in the newly-created alternative performance space at Davies Symphony Hall, and is a well-known DJ who hosts and curates Mercury Soul nightclub dates.

One of the world’s most dynamic artists, Yuja Wang first appeared with the SFS in 2006 as a soloist on its Chinese New Year concert and has returned to the SFS every year since her debut. Most recently she joined MTT and the Orchestra on its acclaimed November 2012 tour of Asia. She also appears as soloist in its March 2013 concerts in Carnegie Hall and Newark. She joins the Orchestra to perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with MTT, and also performs a solo recital of works by Albéniz, Granados, and Liszt. As part of the Great Performers Series, she joins the visiting Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Gustavo Dudamel in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Additional details of Bates’ and Wang’s Project San Francisco residencies will be announced at a later date.

SEASON-LONG FOCUS ON J.S. BACH

The Orchestra continues its multi-year, in-depth exploration of the work and influence of J.S. Bach, featuring conductors and artists who bring a unique and historically informed perspective on the composer. Conductor Ton Koopman, one of the world’s preeminent Bach interpreters, begins a series of annual visits to the SFS to conduct the Orchestra in Bach and other Baroque repertoire. His May 2014 programs include works by father and son, J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 4 and Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51 and C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto No. 3 and Symphony in G major. SFS Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye is soloist in Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, along with soprano Carolyn Sampson, and Associate Principal Cello Peter Wyrick solos in C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto. In Koopman’s second week of concerts, the SF Symphony Chorus joins soloists soprano Teresa Wakim, mezzo-soprano Bogna Bartosz, tenor Tilman Lichdi, and bass Klaus Mertens with the Orchestra in J.S. Bach’s Cantata No. 118, Cantata No. 207a, Auf, Schmetternde Tone der muntern Trompeten, and Missa Brevis (Kyrie and Gloria from Mass in B minor). Three renowned Bach interpreters are featured in solo recitals throughout the year. Violinist Christian Tetzlaff performs a program of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. András Schiff, in his second year of recital performances of works by Bach co-presented by the SFS and SF Performances, performs Bach’s Partitas Nos. 1-6, his celebrated 2009 recording of which is a milestone of the Bach discography. In Schiff’s final recital, audiences have the rare opportunity to hear two monumental works of the keyboard literature in one program: J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. Conductor and organist Martin Haselböck performs his Davies Symphony Hall solo organ recital debut, preceding Koopman’s concert weeks.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY MUSICIANS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

San Francisco Symphony principal musicians are featured in variety of solo turns with the Orchestra this season. Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik, Principal Clarinet Carey Bell, Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye, Principal Horn Robert Ward and Associate Principal Cello Peter Wyrick all will be featured soloists during the year. Inouye is soloist on two successive concert weeks in April and May, with James Conlon in Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (Concerto for Piano, Trumpet, and String Orchestra) and then with Bach specialist Ton Koopman in J.S. Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen. Associate Principal Cello Peter Wyrick is soloist in C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto No. 3, also with Ton Koopman on the podium. Alexander Barantschik leads the SFS in a week of January concerts that include Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in D minor and Mozart’s Divertimento for Strings. Barantschik performs the Mendelssohn Concerto on the famed “David” Guarnerius violin. In April, Carey Bell appears with Herbert Blomstedt in Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto. Principal Horn Robert Ward is soloist with Michael Tilson Thomas leading the SFS in Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings in June during its Britten Centenary Festival.

The San Francisco Symphony Chorus, led by Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin, celebrates its 40^th anniversary in 2013-14 with a season of major works, first performances, and recordings. The Chorus is in the spotlight during many of the season’s artistic focal points, such as Britten’s Peter Grimes and Beethoven’s Mass in C and excerpts from King Stephen, with MTT on the podium; Bach’s Missa Brevis (Kyrie and Gloria) from Mass in B minor and the first SFS performances of both Bach’s Cantata No. 207a, Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten, with Ton Koopman; and Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht, with Pablo Heras-Casado. Semyon Bychkov leads the Orchestra and Chorus in Britten’s War Requiem the week of the 100^th anniversary of his birth. With Charles Dutoit conducting, the Chorus is featured in the first SFS performances of Poulenc’s Litanies of the Black Virgin, as well as Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, and the first performances of Fauré’s Requiem since 2003. Also, with MTT on the podium, the women of the SFS Chorus perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin conducts the Chorus in December holiday performances of Handel’s Messiah.

GUEST ARTISTS AND CONDUCTORS

The San Francisco Symphony’s 2013-14 season features some of the world’s most distinguished guest conductors, instrumentalists, and singers and many young, emerging artists. Returning for two-week engagements are SFS Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Pablo Heras-Casado, and Ton Koopman. Returning to lead the Orchestra in a week of concerts each are James Conlon, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (conducting the orchestra for the first time since 1985), Marek Janowski, Edwin Outwater, and Osmo Vänskä. Sarah Hicks leads the Orchestra in two film nights: A Night at the Oscars and Fantasia in Concert, and Richard Kaufman conducts Chaplin’s music for his film City Lights as the movie is presented on the big screen.

Soloists familiar to Davies Symphony Hall audiences include violinists James Ehnes, Julia Fischer, Janine Jansen, Leila Josefowicz, Gil Shaham, and Christian Tetzlaff; pianists Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Jeremy Denk, Kirill Gerstein, Hélène Grimaud, Garrick Ohlsson, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Simon Trpčeski, and Yuja Wang; and cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Alisa Weilerstein. Mason Bates performs on electronica.

Returning singers include sopranos Christine Brewer, Audra McDonald, Carolyn Sampson, Elza van den Heever, and Katie van Kooten; mezzo-sopranos Sasha Cooke, Charlotte Hellekant, and Nancy Maultsby; tenors James Gilchrist, Stuart Skelton, and Toby Spence; baritones Eugene Brancoveanu, Joshua Hopkins, and Alan Opie; and bass John Relyea.

Making their conducting debuts on the SFS podium are Lionel Bringuier, resident conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Jaap van Zweden, music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Joshua Gersen, winner of the prestigious 2011 Aspen Conducting Prize, and conducting fellow at the New World Symphony, where he is assistant conductor to MTT, is on the podium as the Orchestra performs Bernard Herrmann’s film scores for Psycho and Vertigo with the films, and also conducts the Orchestra in music to accompany Hitchcock! Greatest Hits.

Debut artists appearing this season with the SFS include pianists Till Fellner, Martin Helmchen, and Daniil Trifonov; violinist Simone Lamsma; sopranos Audrey Elizabeth Luna and Teresa Wakim, mezzo-sopranos Bogna Bartosz and Ann Murray; contralto Claudia Huckle; tenors Tilman Lichdi and Sean Panikkar; baritones Rodney Gilfrey and Roderick Williams, and bass Klaus Mertens.

GREAT PERFORMERS SERIES and SPECIAL CONCERTS

András Schiff, the Symphony’s 2012-13 Project San Francisco resident artist and one of the world’s greatest interpreters of Bach, returns next season to continue his multi-year exploration of Bach keyboard works, with two October recitals. His solo programs of Bach’s Partitas 1-6 and Bach’s Goldberg Variations with Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations are co-presented by the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Performances.

Gustavo Dudamel leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in two concerts, one with pianist Yuja Wang performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The Orchestra performs a work by Anders Hillborg and John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, in addition to Brahms and Tchaikovsky. Wang also performs a solo recital. Two other visiting orchestras perform in Davies Symphony Hall in 2013-14: the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, led by Yuri Temirkanov, and soloists pianist Denis Kozhukhin and violinist Vilde Frang, in programs of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Rimsky-Korsakov, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performs an all-Beethoven program led by Pinchas Zukerman, who is soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Gidon Kremer is featured in his Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra in a program of Britten, Shostakovich, and Mieczyslaw Weinberg.

Baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings Shostakovich and other Russian repertoire, violinist Christian Tetzlaff performs Bach, and pianists Murray Perahia and Evgeny Kissin perform solo recitals. Pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque appear in a special concert of all-American repertoire: Philip Glass, Gershwin, and excerpts from Bernstein’s West Side Story with percussionists.

NEW FILM SERIES

This season the San Francisco Symphony introduces a new film series, with live orchestral performances accompanying great films, starting Halloween week. Among the presentations are four Alfred Hitchcock film events, including the first performances by an orchestra of the full Bernard Herrmann score of Vertigo accompanying the film screening. The Orchestra will perform Hermann’s score live to the classic thriller Psycho (Oct. 30), and also performs a program featuring essential scenes from Hitchcock’s body of work, Hitchcock! Greatest Hits, on Nov. 2. Joshua Gersen conducts, in his debut with the Orchestra. Organist Todd Wilson performs the music for Hitchcock’s The Lodger, a silent early classic, on Davies Symphony Hall’s magnificent Ruffatti organ. On four Saturdays throughout the season, beginning with Hitchcock! Greatest Hits, the Symphony performs live to accompany highlights from Oscar-winning movies in A Night at the Oscars; Chaplin’s score to City Lights (with music by Chaplin and Arthur Johnston), and Fantasia in Concert, with a soundtrack of Stravinsky, Bach, Dukas, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Ponchielli, and Schubert.

GREEN MUSIC CENTER SERIES AND COLLEGE CAMPUS CONCERTS

In the 2013-14 season, beginning in September, the San Francisco Symphony continues its four-concert, Thursday night series at Weill Hall in the new Donald and Maureen Green Music Center (GMC) on the campus of Sonoma State University. In the GMC season’s opening concert, MTT leads the Orchestra in Zosha Di Castri’s new co-commissioned work, Lineage; Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Yefim Bronfman, and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 3. Later in the season, Semyon Bychkov leads the Orchestra in R. Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony; Alexander Barantschik performs Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and leads the Orchestra in Britten, Mozart and Piazzolla; and Charles Dutoit and Kirill Gerstein bring Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. The Orchestra also performs two concerts at the Mondavi Center at the University of California at Davis. At UC Davis, Marek Janowski leads pianist Martin Helmchen in Schumann’s Piano Concerto in October, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7, and Tilson Thomas conducts the Orchestra and Christian Tetzlaff in Sibelius, Bartók and Brahms in May.

FAMILY CONCERTS / YOUTH ORCHESTRA / ORGAN SERIES / CHAMBER MUSIC

Special events of the San Francisco Symphony’s 102^nd season include a variety of family, heritage, and community concerts, including its annual Día de los Muertos Community Concert and the annual Lunar New Year Concert and Celebration.

The San Francisco Symphony performs a variety of free and low-cost family and community concerts throughout the year, offering the Bay Area the widest possible opportunity to hear and experience orchestral music. The Orchestra’s annual free summer concerts at Dolores Park and Stern Grove take place in July. The Orchestra also performs its annual low-priced All-San Francisco concert for San Francisco’s community groups, Community Deck the Hall Holiday Concert, low-cost Concerts for Kids, and the Music for Families series.

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) performs three concerts under the direction of Wattis Foundation Music Director Donato Cabrera, beginning in November. The SFSYO also performs at the Bay Area Youth Orchestra Festival, held in January in Davies Symphony Hall, and its annual holiday performances of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.

The Orchestra’s three organ recitals scheduled for 2013-14 include the Davies Hall recital debut of conductor/ organist Martin Haselböck (playing Bach), and the returns of Olivier Latry and Paul Jacobs. The musicians of the SF Symphony perform both classical and contemporary repertoire in more intimate groups in two annual chamber music series, with six concerts at Davies Symphony Hall beginning in October and four at the Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Complete programs and artists for holiday concerts, Youth Orchestra, chamber music, and summer 2014 concerts will be announced at a later date.

MUSIC EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY CONCERTS

In its second century, the SF Symphony continues its commitment to bringing orchestral music and access to music to people at every age and life stage. The Symphony’s pioneering music education programs in San Francisco public schools serve students throughout their elementary and secondary years—grades 1-12. Its Adventures in Music program in San Francisco’s public schools reaches every first through fifth grader with comprehensive music education experiences, making it possible for them to learn about music in the classroom. Launching in 2013 is a revitalized children’s music education website, www.sfskids.org, developed in conjunction with the UC Irvine Center for Computer Games and Virtual Worlds. For older students, the Instrument Training and Support program offers substantial support for every San Francisco public middle and high school with an instrumental music program. Through the SFS Youth Orchestra and performances on Bay Area college campuses, the SFS continues to offer connections to young adults.

For adults, the Symphony offers Community of Music Makers amateur music-making choral and instrumental workshops, giving people the opportunity to develop their musical skills onstage at Davies Symphony Hall with the support of the musicians, staff, and resources of the SF Symphony. For chamber musicians seeking rehearsal or performance partners, a convening website developed with San Francisco Classical Voice (http://comm.sfcv.org) launched in 2012.

ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

The San Francisco Symphony, widely considered to be among the most artistically adventurous and innovative arts institutions in the U.S., celebrated its centennial season in 2011-12. The Orchestra was established by a group of San Francisco citizens, music-lovers, and musicians in the wake of the 1906 earthquake, and played its first concert on December 8, 1911. Almost immediately, the Symphony revitalized the city’s cultural life. The Orchestra has grown in stature and acclaim under a succession of distinguished music directors: American composer Henry Hadley, Alfred Hertz (who had led the American premieres of Parsifal, Salome, and Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera), Basil Cameron, Issay Dobrowen, the legendary Pierre Monteux (who introduced the world to Le Sacre du printemps and Petrushka), Enrique Jordá, Josef Krips, Seiji Ozawa, Edo de Waart, Herbert Blomstedt (now Conductor Laureate), and current Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT). Led by Tilson Thomas, entering his nineteenth season as Music Director, the SFS presents more than 220 concerts annually for an audience of nearly 600,000 in its home of Davies Symphony Hall and through national and international tours.

Since Tilson Thomas assumed his post as the SFS’s eleventh Music Director in 1995, he and the San Francisco Symphony have formed a musical partnership hailed as one of the most inspiring and successful in the country. MTT’s tenure with the Orchestra has been praised for outstanding musicianship, innovative programming, highlighting the works of American composers, and bringing new audiences to classical music. In addition, the Orchestra has been recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in music education and the use of multimedia, television, technology, and the web to make classical music available worldwide to as many people as possible. MTT is currently the longest-serving music director among those leading major American orchestras, and the longest-tenured music director in San Francisco Symphony history.

In its centennial season, the orchestra reprised its acclaimed American Mavericks Festival of music by pioneering modern American composers, featuring the world premieres of four commissioned works in two weeks of concerts at Davies Symphony Hall and on a two-week national tour, including four performances at Carnegie Hall. Its annual Project San Francisco residencies focus on artists and composers in a variety of musical settings, and in 2013-14 spotlights pianist Yuja Wang and composer Mason Bates. The San Francisco Symphony regularly mounts special weeklong semi-staged productions with multimedia, hosted and curated by MTT. In 2012-13 MTT and the SFS present specially staged performances of Grieg’s Peer Gynt, an enhanced concert experience with visual elements for Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, and the first concert performances by an orchestra of the complete music from Bernstein’s West Side Story. Tilson Thomas and the Orchestra are dedicating multiple concert weeks in 2012-13 and 2013-14 to the in-depth exploration of music by Beethoven.

Since 1996, when Tilson Thomas led the Orchestra on the first of their more than a dozen national tours together, they have continued an ambitious yearly touring schedule that takes them to Europe, Asia and throughout the United States. In March 2014, the Orchestra and MTT make a three-week tour of Europe’s major capitals and musical centers. Their two-week November 2012 tour of Asia with pianist Yuja Wang included performances by the Orchestra in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei, and Macau. They mounted a widely praised two-week national tour in 2012 with all- American Mavericks repertoire. In 2011, they made a three-week tour of Europe, culminating in Vienna performances of three Mahler symphonies to commemorate the anniversaries of the composer’s birth and death. Other touring highlights include a three-week 2007 European tour that featured two televised appearances at the BBC Proms in London and concerts at several other major European festivals.

The Orchestra’s recording series on SFS Media continues to reflect the artistic identity of its programming, including its commitment to performing the work of American maverick composers alongside that of the core classical masterworks. The San Francisco Symphony has recently recorded works from its American Mavericks Festival by Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison, and Edgard Varèse; John Adams’s Harmonielehre and Short Ride in a Fast Machine (2013 Grammy Award winner, Best Orchestral Performance); and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. In 2013, the Orchestra releases its recording of its centennial season performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and John Adams’ Absolute Jest, an SFS co-commission, will be recorded live in concert for release on SFS Media. Tilson Thomas and the Orchestra have recorded all nine of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies and the Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony, and the composer’s works for voices, chorus, and orchestra for SFS Media. Their 2009 recording with the SFS Chorus of Mahler’s sweeping Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand, and the Adagio from Symphony No. 10 won three Grammy awards, including Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance. Other significant recordings include scenes from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, a collection of Stravinsky ballets, a Gershwin collection, and works of Copland, among others. In addition to fifteen Grammy Awards, seven of them for the Mahler cycle, the SFS has won some of the world’s most prestigious recording awards, including Japan’s Record Academy Award and France’s Grand Prix du Disque.

Tilson Thomas and the SFS launched the national Keeping Score PBS television series and multimedia project in 2006, to help make classical music more accessible to people of all ages and musical backgrounds. The project, an unprecedented undertaking among orchestras, is anchored by eight composer documentaries, hosted by Tilson Thomas, and eight live concert films, and includes www.keepingscore.org, an innovative website to explore and learn about music; a national radio series; documentary and live performance DVD and CDs; and an education program for K-12 schools to further teaching through the arts by integrating classical music into core subjects. To date, more than nine million people have seen the Keeping Score television series, and the radio series has been broadcast on almost 100 stations nationally.

The San Francisco Symphony provides the most extensive education programs offered by any American orchestra today. In 1988, the Symphony established Adventures in Music (AIM), a free, comprehensive music education program that reaches every first- through fifth-grade child in the San Francisco Unified School District. AIM marks its 25^th anniversary in 2012-13. The SFS Instrument Training and Support program reaches students in all San Francisco public middle and high schools with instrumental music programs, providing coaching by professional musicians. The Symphony expanded its educational offerings in 2011-12 with Community of Music Makers, a program that supports amateur choral singers and instrumental musicians with professional coaching, rehearsals, and other learning opportunities. Launching in 2013 is a revitalized children’s music education website, www.sfskids.org, developed in conjunction with the UC Irvine Center for Computer Games and Virtual Worlds. The SFS also offers opportunities to hear and learn about great music through its programs Concerts for Kids, Music for Families, the internationally-acclaimed SFS Youth Orchestra, and annual free and community concerts.

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MAJOR INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS

The San Francisco Symphony is grateful for the support of its generous partners during the 2013-14 season:

Second Century Partners

Chevron

Inaugural Partner

Wells Fargo

Major Corporate Partners

Bank of America

Emirates Airline

Official Airline

Franklin Templeton Investments

HSBC Premier

Jones Day

J.P. Morgan

Macy’s Foundation

Morrison & Foerster LLP

William Hill Estate Winery

Official Wine

Public Funders

San Francisco Arts Commission

Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund

National Endowment for the Arts

San Francisco Symphony 2013-2014 Season at a Glance

San Francisco Symphony — 3/4/2013 9:52:33 AM

Contact:
Public Relations Department
San Francisco Symphony
(415) 503-5474
publicrelations@sfsymphony.org
www.sfsymphony.org/press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / March 4, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

2013-2014 SEASON AT A GLANCE

SFS COMMISSIONS, PREMIERES, AND FIRST PERFORMANCES

Thomas Adès	Excerpts from The Tempest (first SFS performances)
Thomas Adès	Three Studies from Couperin (first SFS performances)
C.P.E. Bach	Cello Concerto No. 3 in A major, H.439 (Wq.172) (first SFS performances)
J.S. Bach	Cantata No. 207a, Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten (first SFS performances)
Mason Bates	Liquid Interface (first SFS performances)
Mason Bates	Alternative Energy (first SFS performances)
Mason Bates	The B-Sides (SFS commission, 2009)
Benjamin Britten	Peter Grimes (first complete SFS performances)
Zosha Di Castri	Lineage (SFS co-commission, West Coast premiere)
Antonín Dvořák	Legends for Orchestra, Nos. 2, 6 and 10 (first SFS performances)
Bernard Herrmann	Vertigo (world premiere of full score with film)
Bernard Herrmann	Selections from Hitchcock films (first SFS performance)
György Ligeti	Concert Românesc (first SFS performances)
Jean-Baptiste Lully	Overture and Passacaille from Armide (first SFS performances)
Felix Mendelssohn	Die erste Walpurgisnacht, Opus 60 (first SFS performances)
Francis Poulenc	Litanies à la Vierge noire (Litanies of the Black Virgin), FP82 (first SFS performances)
Erwin Schulhoff	Scherzo from Symphony No. 5 (first SFS performances)
Various	Fantasia in Concert (first SFS performance with film)

WORKS BY LIVING COMPOSERS

John Adams	Absolute Jest (SFS co-commission)*
Thomas Adès	Excerpts from The Tempest (first SFS performances)
Thomas Adès	Three Studies from Couperin (first SFS performances)
Mason Bates	Liquid Interface (first SFS performances)
Mason Bates	Alternative Energy (first SFS performances)
Mason Bates	The B-Sides (SFS commission, 2009)
Zosha Di Castri	Lineage (West Coast premiere, New Voices co-commission)
Henri Dutilleux	Métaboles
Steven Mackey	Eating Greens

*On European tour

CONDUCTORS FOR THE 2013-2014 SEASON

Alexander Barantschik	January 22-26
Ragnar Bohlin	December 19-21
Herbert Blomstedt	April 3-6, April 9 & 11
Lionel Bringuier*	February 5-7
Semyon Bychkov	November 20-24, November 27 & 30
James Conlon	April 24-26
Charles Dutoit	May 29-30, June 4-7
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos	February 19-22
Pablo Heras-Casado	October 3-6, October 10-12
Marek Janowski	October 17-20
Ton Koopman	May 1-4, May 8-10
Edwin Outwater	October 24-26
Michael Tilson Thomas	Please see 2013-2014 calendar for complete dates
Jaap van Zweden*	February 12 & 14
Osmo Vänskä	January 30-February 1

*San Francisco Symphony debut

SOLOISTS FOR THE 2013-2014 SEASON

Emanuel Ax	piano	Beethoven/Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Opus 37	Sep. 26-28
Alexander Barantschik	violin	Beethoven/Romance No. 1 in G major, Opus 40	Jan. 8-11
Alexander Barantschik	violin	Beethoven/Romance No. 2 in F major, Opus 50	Jan. 8-11
Alexander Barantschik	violin	Mendelssohn/Violin Concerto in D minor	Jan. 22-26
Bogna Bartosz*	mezzo-soprano	J.S. Bach/ Missa Brevis	May 8-10
Mason Bates	electronica	Bates/Alternative Energy	Jan. 8-11
Mason Bates	electronica	Bates/Liquid Interface	Jan. 15-18
Mason Bates	electronica	Bates/The B-Sides	Feb. 27-Mar. 2
Carey Bell	clarinet	Nielsen/Clarinet Concerto, Opus 57	Apr. 3-6
Eugene Brancoveanu	baritone	Britten/Peter Grimes	June 26-29
Christine Brewer	soprano	Britten/War Requiem, Opus 66	Nov. 27 & 30
Yefim Bronfman	piano	Tchaikovsky/Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op.23	Sep. 11-14
Sasha Cooke	mezzo-soprano	Mahler/Symphony No. 3 in D minor	Sep. 18-21
Sasha Cooke^†	mezzo-soprano	Mahler/Symphony No. 3 in D minor	Nov. 16
Sasha Cooke^††	mezzo-soprano	Mahler/Symphony No. 3 in D minor	Mar. 16,18,20,23,26
Jeremy Denk	piano	Mozart/Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K.503	Nov. 7-10; 13 & 15
James Ehnes	violin	Barber/Violin Concerto, Opus 14	Sep. 5-6
Till Fellner*	piano	Mozart/Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491	Nov. 20-24
Julia Fischer	violin	Prokofiev/Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Opus 19	Mar. 6-9
Julia Fischer^††	violin	Prokofiev/Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Opus 19	Mar. 21,24,25
Kirill Gerstein	piano	Beethoven/Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19	June 4-7
James Gilchrist	tenor	Britten/War Requiem, Opus 66	Nov. 27 & 30
Rodney Gilfrey*	baritone	Adès/Scenes from The Tempest	Oct. 10-12
Rodney Gilfrey*	baritone	Mendelssohn/Die erste Walpurgisnacht, Opus 60	Oct. 10-12
Susan Graham^†	mezzo-soprano	Mahler/Symphony No. 3 in D minor	Nov. 14
Hélène Grimaud	piano	Brahms/Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Opus 83	Feb. 5-7
Charlotte Hellekant	mezzo-soprano	Adès/Scenes from The Tempest	Oct. 10-12
Charlotte Hellekant	mezzo-soprano	Mendelssohn/Die erste Walpurgisnacht, Opus 60	Oct. 10-12
Martin Helmchen*	piano	Schumann/Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus 54	Oct. 17-20
Joshua Hopkins	baritone	Handel/Messiah	Dec. 19-21
Claudia Huckle*	contralto	Handel/Messiah	Dec. 19-21
Mark Inouye	trumpet	Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 35	Apr. 24-26
Mark Inouye	trumpet	J.S. Bach/Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51	May 1-4
Janine Jansen	violin	Shostakovich/Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77 (99)	June 12-15
Leila Josefowicz	violin	Stravinsky/Violin Concerto in D major	Oct. 3-6
Simone Lamsma*	violin	Sibelius/Violin Concerto in D minor, Opus 47	Feb. 12 & 14
Tilman Lichdi*	tenor	J.S. Bach/ Missa Brevis	May 8-10
Audrey Elizabeth Luna*	soprano	Adès/Scenes from The Tempest	Oct. 10-12
Yo-Yo Ma	cello	Schumann/Cello Concerto in A minor, Opus 129	Feb. 28
Nancy Maultsby	mezzo-soprano	Britten/Peter Grimes	June 26-29
Audra McDonald	soprano	Repertoire TBD	Sep. 3
Klaus Mertens*	bass	J.S. Bach/ Missa Brevis	May 8-10
Ann Murray*	mezzo-soprano	Britten/Peter Grimes	June 26-29
Garrick Ohlsson	piano	Mozart/Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467	Apr. 9 & 11
Alan Opie	baritone	Britten/Peter Grimes	June 26-29
Sean Panikkar*	tenor	Handel/Messiah	Dec. 19-21
John Relyea	bass	Britten/Peter Grimes	June 26-29
Carolyn Sampson	soprano	J.S. Bach/Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51	May 1-4
Gil Shaham	violin	Prokofiev/Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63	Feb. 27-Mar. 2
Stuart Skelton	tenor	Britten/Peter Grimes	June 26-29
Toby Spence	tenor	Britten/Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, Op. 31	June 19-21
St. Lawrence String Quartet^††		John Adams/Absolute Jest	Mar. 14, 15, 17
Christian Tetzlaff	violin	Bartók/Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor	May 14-17
Jean-Yves Thibaudet	piano	Shostakovich/Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op.35	Apr. 24-26
Daniil Trifonov*	piano	Rachmaninoff/Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43	Jan. 30-Feb. 1
Simon Trpčeski	piano	Prokofiev/Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Opus 26	Oct. 24-26
Elza van den Heever	soprano	Britten/Peter Grimes	June 26-29
Katie van Kooten	soprano	Handel/Messiah	Dec. 19-21
Teresa Wakim*	soprano	J.S. Bach/ Missa Brevis	May 8-10
Yuja Wang	piano	Rachmaninoff/Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40	May 22-25
Robert Ward	horn	Britten/Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, Opus 31	June 19-21
Alisa Weilerstein	cello	Haydn/Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major	Feb. 19-22
Roderick Williams*	baritone	Britten/War Requiem, Opus 66	Nov. 27 & 30
Peter Wyrick	cello	C.P.E. Bach/Cello Concerto No. 3	May 1-4

*San Francisco Symphony debut

† United States tour, November 13-16, 2013

†† European tour, March 14-26, 2014

ARTIST AND CONDUCTOR DEBUTS

Lionel Bringuier	conductor	works by Brahms, Dutilleux and Ravel	February 5-7
Bogna Bartosz	mezzo-soprano	J.S. Bach/ Missa Brevis	May 8-10
Till Fellner	piano	Mozart/Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491	Nov 20-24
Joshua Gersen	conductor	Herrmann/Psycho film	Oct. 30
Joshua Gersen	conductor	Herrmann/Vertigo film	Nov. 1
Joshua Gersen	conductor	Herrmann/Hitchcock! Greatest Hits	Nov. 2
Rodney Gilfrey	baritone	Adès/Scenes from The Tempest	Oct. 10-12
Martin Helmchen	piano	Schumann/Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus 54	Oct. 17-20
Claudia Huckle	contralto	Handel/Messiah	Dec. 19-21
Simone Lamsma	violin	Sibelius/Violin Concerto in D minor, Opus 47	Feb. 12 & 14
Tilman Lichdi	tenor	J.S. Bach/ Missa Brevis	May 8-10
Audrey Elizabeth Luna	soprano	Adès/Scenes from The Tempest	Oct. 10-12
Klaus Mertens	bass	J.S. Bach/ Missa Brevis	May 8-10
Ann Murray	mezzo-soprano	Britten/Peter Grimes	June 26-29
Sean Panikkar	tenor	Handel/Messiah	Dec. 19-21
Daniil Trifonov	piano	Rachmaninoff/Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43	Jan. 30-Feb. 1
Jaap van Zweden	conductor	works by Mozart, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky	Feb. 12 & 14
Teresa Wakim	soprano	J.S. Bach/ Missa Brevis	May 8-10
Roderick Williams	baritone	Britten/War Requiem, Opus 66	Nov. 27 & 30

2013-14 GREAT PERFORMERS SERIES and SPECIAL EVENTS: CONDUCTORS AND ARTISTS

Donato Cabrera	conductor	Día de los Muertos	Nov. 2
Randall Craig Fleischer	conductor	Deck the Hall	Dec. 8
Gustavo Dudamel	conductor	Los Angeles Philharmonic	Mar. 11-12
Vilde Frang**	violin	Saint Petersburg Philharmonic	Mar. 3
Joshua Gersen*	conductor	Psycho film	Oct. 30
Joshua Gersen	conductor	Vertigo film	Nov. 1
Joshua Gersen	conductor	Hitchcock! Greatest Hits	Nov. 2
Martin Haselböck	organ	Recital	Apr. 27
Sarah Hicks	conductor	A Night at the Oscars	Feb. 15
Sarah Hicks	conductor	Fantasia in Concert	May 31
Dmitri Hvorostovsky	baritone	Recital with Ivari Ilja	May 25
Ivari Ilja	piano	Recital with Dmitri Hvorostovsky	May 25
Paul Jacobs	organ	Recital	Feb. 16
Richard Kaufman	conductor	City Lights film	Apr. 12
Evgeny Kissin	piano	Recital	Mar. 20
Denis Kozhukhin**	piano	Saint Petersburg Philharmonic	Mar. 2
Gidon Kremer	violin/conductor	Kremerata Baltica	Feb. 2
Kremerata Baltica	chamber orchestra		Feb. 2
Katia Labèque	piano	Recital with Marielle Labèque	Apr. 7
Marielle Labèque	piano	Recital with Katia Labèque	Apr. 7
Olivier Latry	organ	Recital	Oct. 12
Los Angeles Philharmonic			Mar. 11-12
Murray Perahia	piano	Recital	Feb. 20
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra			Jan. 26
Saint Petersburg Philharmonic			Mar. 2-3
András Schiff	piano	Recital	Oct. 6 & 13
Yuri Temirkanov	conductor	Saint Petersburg Philharmonic	Mar. 2-3
Christian Tetzlaff^†	violin	Recital	May 11
Yuja Wang^†	piano	Recital	Oct. 15
Yuja Wang^†	piano	Los Angeles Philharmonic	Mar. 12
Todd Wilson**	organ	The Lodger film	Oct. 31
Pinchas Zukerman	violin/conductor	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	Jan. 26

*San Francisco Symphony debut

** Davies Symphony Hall debut

† also appearing on SFS Subscription Season

San Francisco Symphony 2013-14 Season Calendar

San Francisco Symphony — 3/4/2013 10:00:00 AM

Contact:

Public Relations

San Francisco Symphony

(415) 503-5474

Tuesday, September 3 at 8 pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / March 4, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY 2013-2014 SEASON

CONCERT CALENDAR

Calendar editors, please note: Subscriptions to the 2013-2014 season go on sale to renewing subscribers and the general public Monday, March 4 at 10 a.m. at www.sfsymphony.org, (415) 864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, located on Grove Street between Franklin and Van Ness.

All concerts are at Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, unless otherwise noted.

OPENING NIGHT GALA WITH AUDRA MCDONALD

Davies Symphony Hall

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Audra McDonald soprano

San Francisco Symphony

Antheil Jazz Symphony

Gershwin An American in Paris

ALL SAN FRANCISCO CONCERT, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, September 5 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

James Ehnes violin

San Francisco Symphony

Antheil Jazz Symphony

Barber Violin Concerto, Opus 14

Gershwin An American in Paris

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Friday, September 6 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

James Ehnes violin

San Francisco Symphony

Antheil Jazz Symphony

Barber Violin Concerto, Opus 14

Gershwin An American in Paris

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, September 11 at 8 pm

Thursday, September 12 at 8 pm (Green Music Center – Sonoma State University)

Saturday, September 14 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Yefim Bronfman piano

San Francisco Symphony

Zosha Di Castri Lineage (New Voices Commission; West Coast premiere)

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Opus 23

Prokofiev Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Opus 44

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, September 18 at 8 pm

Thursday, September 19 at 8 pm

Friday, September 20 at 8 pm

Saturday, September 21 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Sasha Cooke mezzo-soprano

Women of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus

San Francisco Girls Chorus

San Francisco Symphony

Mahler Symphony No. 3 in D minor

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, September 26 at 10 am (Open Rehearsal)

Thursday, September 26 at 8 pm

Friday, September 27 at 8 pm

Saturday, September 28 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Emanuel Ax piano

San Francisco Symphony

Mahler Blumine

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Opus 37

Copland Music from the film Our Town

Debussy La Plus que lente

Delius On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring

Grieg The Last Spring, Opus 34, no.2

Rachmaninoff “Vocalise,” Opus 34, no.14

MUSIC FOR FAMILIES

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, September 28 at 2 pm

TBD conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Mendelssohn and Adès Festival

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, October 3 at 2 pm

Friday, October 4 at 8 pm

Saturday, October 5 at 8 pm

Sunday, October 6 at 2 pm

Pablo Heras-Casado conductor

Leila Josefowicz violin

San Francisco Symphony

Lully Overture and Passacaille from Armide

Thomas Adès Three Studies from Couperin

Stravinsky Violin Concerto in D major

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Opus 56, Scottish

ANDRÁS SCHIFF

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, October 6 at 7 pm

András Schiff piano

J.S. Bach Partita No. 5 in G major, BWV 829

J.S. Bach Partita No. 3 in A minor, BWV 827

J.S. Bach Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, BWV 825

J.S. Bach Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826

J.S. Bach Partita No. 4 in D major, BWV 828

J.S. Bach Partita No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Mendelssohn and Adès Festival

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, October 10 at 10 am (Open Rehearsal)

Thursday, October 10 at 8 pm

Friday, October 11 at 8 pm

Saturday, October 12 at 8 pm

Pablo Heras-Casado conductor

Audrey Elizabeth Luna soprano

Charlotte Hellekant mezzo-soprano

Rodney Gilfrey baritone

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

San Francisco Symphony

Mendelssohn Suite from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Opus 61

Thomas Adès Scenes from The Tempest

Mendelssohn Die erste Walpurgisnacht, Opus 60

OLIVIER LATRY ORGAN RECITAL

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, October 12 at 3 pm

Olivier Latry organ

Program to be announced

CHAMBER MUSIC WITH SF SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, October 13 at 2 pm

Musicians and program to be announced

ANDRÁS SCHIFF

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, October 13 at 7 pm

András Schiff piano

J. S. Bach Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

Beethoven Diabelli Variations, Opus 120

YUJA WANG

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Tuesday, October 15 at 8 pm

Yuja Wang piano

Works by Albeniz, Granados, and Liszt

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, October 17 at 2 pm

Friday, October 18 at 8 pm (UC Davis)

Saturday, October 19 at 8 pm

Sunday, October 20 at 2 pm

Marek Janowski conductor

Martin Helmchen piano

San Francisco Symphony

Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus 54

Dvořák Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Opus 70

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, October 24 at 2 pm

Friday, October 25 at 6:30 pm

Saturday, October 26 at 8 pm

Edwin Outwater conductor

Simon Trpčeski piano
San Francisco Symphony

Ligeti Concert Românesc

Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Opus 26

Dvořák Three Legends for Orchestra

Legend for Orchestra, Opus 59, no.2

Legend for Orchestra, Opus 59, no.6

Legend for Orchestra, Opus 59, no.10

Lutosławski Concerto for Orchestra

FILM SERIES: HITCHCOCK’S PSYCHO

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, October 30 at 8 pm

Joshua Gersen conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Herrmann Psycho

FILM SERIES: HITCHCOCK’S THE LODGER

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, October 31 at 7:30 pm

Todd Wilson organ

The Lodger silent film with organ accompaniment

FILM SERIES: HITCHCOCK’S VERTIGO

Davies Symphony Hall

World Premiere

Friday, November 1 at 8 pm

Joshua Gersen conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Herrmann Vertigo

DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS COMMUNITY CONCERT

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, November 2 at 2 pm

Festivities begin at 1 pm

Donato Cabrera conductor

San Francisco Symphony

FILM SERIES: HITCHCOCK’S GREATEST HITS

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, November 2 at 8 pm

Joshua Gersen conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Herrmann Hitchcock!

Excerpts from Hitchcock films

CHAMBER MUSIC WITH SF SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

Florence Gould Theatre at the Legion of Honor

Sunday, November 3 at 2 pm

Musicians and program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, November 7 at 8 pm

Friday, November 8 at 6:30 pm

Saturday, November 9 at 8 pm

Sunday, November 10 at 2 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Jeremy Denk piano

San Francisco Symphony

Beethoven Leonore Overture No. 3, Opus 72a

Steven Mackey Eating Greens

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K.503

Copland Symphonic Ode

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, November 17 at 2 pm

Donato Cabrera conductor

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

Program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, November 20 at 10 am (Open Rehearsal)

Thursday, November 21 at 8 pm (Green Music Center – Sonoma State University)

Saturday, November 23 at 8 pm

Sunday, November 24 at 2 pm

Semyon Bychkov conductor

Till Fellner piano

San Francisco Symphony

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491

R. Strauss An Alpine Symphony, Opus 64

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, November 27 at 8 pm

Saturday, November 30 at 8 pm

Semyon Bychkov conductor

Christine Brewer soprano

James Gilchrist tenor

Roderick Williams baritone

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

Pacific Boychoir, Kevin Fox director

San Francisco Symphony

Britten War Requiem, Opus 66

CHAMBER MUSIC WITH SF SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, December 1 at 2 pm

Musicians and program to be announced

MUSIC FOR FAMILIES

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, December 7 at 2 pm

TBD conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Program to be announced

DECK THE HALL: SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, December 8 at 11am and 3 pm

Randall Craig Fleisher conductor

Members of the San Francisco Symphony

PETER AND THE WOLF

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, December 14 at 1 pm and 4 pm

Donato Cabrera conductor

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf

CHAMBER MUSIC WITH SF SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

Florence Gould Theatre at the Legion of Honor

Sunday, December 15 at 2 pm

Musicians and program to be announced

COLORS OF CHRISTMAS

Davies Symphony Hall

Monday, December 16 at 8 pm

Tuesday, December 17 at 8 pm

Wednesday, December 18 at 8 pm

San Francisco Symphony

Program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, December 19 at 8 pm

Friday, December 20 at 8 pm

Saturday, December 21 at 8 pm

Ragnar Bohlin conductor

Katie Van Kooten soprano

Claudia Huckle contralto

Sean Panikkar tenor

Joshua Hopkins baritone

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

San Francisco Symphony

Handel Messiah

NEW YEAR’S EVE MASQUERADE BALL

Davies Symphony Hall

Tuesday, December 31 at 9 pm (doors open 8 pm)

San Francisco Symphony

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Beethoven and Bates Festival

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, January 8 at 8 pm

Thursday, January 9 at 2 pm

Friday, January 10 at 8 pm

Saturday, January 11 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Alexander Barantschik violin

Mason Bates electronica

San Francisco Symphony

Beethoven Romance No. 1 in G major, Opus 40

Beethoven Romance No. 2 in F major, Opus 50

Mason Bates Alternative Energy

Beethoven Symphony No. 1 in C major, Opus 21

CHAMBER MUSIC WITH SF SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, January 12 at 2 pm

Musicians and program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Beethoven and Bates Festival

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, January 15 at 8 pm

Thursday, January 16 at 8 pm

Friday, January 17 at 8 pm

Saturday, January 18 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Mason Bates electronica

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

San Francisco Symphony

Beethoven Excerpts from King Stephen, Opus 117

Overture, Women’s Chorus “Wo die Unschild Blumen streute…”

Victory March

Final Chorus “Heil! Heil unsern Enkeln…”

Mason Bates Liquid Interface

Beethoven Mass in C major, Opus 86

BAY AREA YOUTH ORCHESTRA FESTIVAL

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, January 19 at 3 pm

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

Other youth orchestras and programs to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, January 22 at 10 am (Open Rehearsal)

Wednesday, January 22 at 8 pm

Thursday, January 23 at 8 pm (Green Music Center, Sonoma State University)

Friday, January 24 at 6:30 pm

Saturday, January 25 at 8 pm

Sunday, January 26 at 2 pm

Alexander Barantschik leader and violinist

San Francisco Symphony

Mozart Divertimento for Strings

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in D minor

Britten Simple Symphony, Opus 4

Piazzolla Melodia—Libertango

MUSIC FOR FAMILIES

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, January 25 at 2 pm

TBD conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Program to be announced

ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, January 26 at 7 pm

Pinchas Zukerman conductor and violin

Royal Philarmonic Orchestra

Beethoven Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Opus 43

Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Opus 61
Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, January 30 at 2 pm

Friday, January 31 at 8 pm

Saturday, February 1 at 8 pm

Osmo Vänskä conductor

Daniil Trifonov piano

San Francisco Symphony

Sibelius Night Ride and Sunrise, Opus 55

Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Opus 43

Stravinsky Symphonies of Wind Instruments

Sibelius Symphony No. 6, Opus 104

GIDON KREMER AND KREMERATA BALTICA

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, February 2 at 7 pm

Gidon Kremer violin

Kremerata Baltica

Weinberg Concertino for violin and strings

Shostakovich (arr. Zinman/Pushkarev) Violin Sonata, Opus 134

Britten Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Opus 10

Shostakovich (Arr. Pushkarev) Anti-formalist Rayok

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, February 5 at 8 pm

Thursday, February 6 at 2 pm

Friday, February 7 at 8 pm

Lionel Bringuier conductor

Hélène Grimaud piano

San Francisco Symphony

Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Opus 83

Henri Dutilleux Métaboles

Ravel La Valse

LUNAR NEW YEAR CONCERT AND CELEBRATION

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, February 8 at 4 pm

San Francisco Symphony

Program to be announced

CHAMBER MUSIC WITH SF SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, February 9 at 2 pm

Musicians and program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, February 12 at 8 pm

Friday, February 14 at 8 pm

Jaap van Zweden conductor

Simone Lamsma violin

San Francisco Symphony

Mozart Overture from The Abduction from the Seraglio, K.384

Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor, Opus 47

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Opus 36

FILM SERIES: A NIGHT AT THE OSCARS

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, February 15 at 8 pm

Sarah Hicks conductor

PAUL JACOBS ORGAN RECITAL

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, February 16 at 3 pm

Paul Jacobs organ

Program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, February 19 at 8 pm

Thursday, February 20 at 2 pm

Friday, February 21 at 6:30 pm

Saturday, February 22 at 8 pm

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conductor

Alisa Weilerstein cello

San Francisco Symphony

Haydn Symphony No. 6 in D major, Le Matin

Haydn Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major

Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade, Opus 35

MURRAY PERAHIA

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, February 20 at 8 pm

Murray Perahia piano

Program to be announced

CHAMBER MUSIC WITH SF SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

Florence Gould Theatre at the Legion of Honor

Sunday, February 23 at 2 pm

Musicians and program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Beethoven and Bates Festival

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, February 27 at 10 am (Open Rehearsal)

Thursday, February 27 at 8 pm

Saturday, March 1 at 8 pm

Sunday, March 2 at 2 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Gil Shaham violin

Mason Bates electronica

San Francisco Symphony

Mason Bates The B-Sides

Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Opus 63

Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A major, Opus 92

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Friday, February 28 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Yo-Yo Ma cello

San Francisco Symphony

Ives/Brant The Alcotts from A Concord Symphony

Schumann Cello Concerto in A minor, Opus 129

Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A major, Opus 92

SAINT PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, March 2 at 7 pm

Yuri Temirkanov conductor

Denis Kozhukhin piano

Saint Petersburg Philharmonic

Rimsky-Korsakov Suite from The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh

Giya Kancheli …al Niente

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Opus 23

SAINT PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Monday, March 3 at 8 pm

Yuri Temirkanov conductor

Vilde Frang violin

Saint Petersburg Philharmonic

Rossini Overture to The Barber of Seville

Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Opus 63

Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Opus 27

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, March 6 at 2 pm

Friday, March 7 at 8 pm

Saturday, March 8 at 8 pm

Sunday, March 9 at 2 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Julia Fischer violin

San Francisco Symphony

Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Opus 19

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Opus 14

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC, GUSTAVO DUDAMEL CONDUCTING

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Tuesday, March 11 at 8 pm

Gustavo Dudamel conductor

Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

John Corigliano Symphony No. 1

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Opus 64

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC, GUSTAVO DUDAMEL CONDUCTING

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, March 12 at 8 pm

Gustavo Dudamel conductor

Yuja Wang piano

Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp major, Opus 1

Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D major, Opus 73

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, March 16 at 2 pm

Donato Cabrera conductor

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

Program to be announced

EVGENY KISSIN

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, March 20 at 8 pm

Evgeny Kissin piano

Schubert Sonata in D major, D.850
Scriabin Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor, Opus 19

Scriabin Selections from Twelve Études, Opus 8

Étude No. 2 in F-sharp minor

Étude No. 4 in B major

Étude No. 5 in E major

Étude No. 8 in A-flat major

Étude No. 9 in G-sharp minor

Étude No. 11 in B-flat minor

Étude No. 12 in D-sharp minor

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, April 3 at 2 pm

Friday, April 4 at 6:30 pm

Saturday, April 5 at 8 pm

Sunday, April 6 at 2 pm

Herbert Blomstedt conductor

Carey Bell clarinet

San Francisco Symphony

Nielsen Clarinet Concerto, Opus 57

Schubert Symphony in C major, D.944, The Great

KATIA AND MARIELLE LABÈQUE

Davies Symphony Hall

Monday, April 7 at 7 pm

Katia and Marielle Labèque duo piano

Gershwin Three Preludes for Two Pianos

Philip Glass Four Movements for Two Pianos

Bernstein Excerpts from West Side Story

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, April 9 at 10 am (Open Rehearsal)

Wednesday, April 9 at 8 pm

Friday, April 11 at 8 pm

Herbert Blomstedt conductor

Garrick Ohlsson piano

San Francisco Symphony

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467

Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, Romantic

FILM SERIES: CITY LIGHTS

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, April 12 at 8 pm

Richard Kaufman conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Chaplin City Lights

CHAMBER MUSIC WITH SF SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, April 13 at 2 pm

Musicians and program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, April 24 at 2 pm

Friday, April 25 at 8 pm

Saturday, April 26 at 8 pm

James Conlon conductor

Jean-Yves Thibaudet piano

Mark Inouye trumpet

San Francisco Symphony

Schulhoff Scherzo from Symphony No. 5

Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Opus 35

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Opus 74, Pathétique

MARTIN HASELBÖCK ORGAN RECITAL

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, April 27 at 3 pm

Martin Haselböck organ

Program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, May 1 at 2 pm

Friday, May 2 at 8 pm

Saturday, May 3 at 8 pm

Sunday, May 4 at 2 pm

Ton Koopman conductor

Carolyn Sampson soprano

Peter Wyrick cello

Mark Inouye trumpet

San Francisco Symphony

J.S. Bach Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D major, BWV 1069

C.P.E. Bach Cello Concerto No. 3 in A major, H.439 (Wq.172)

C.P.E. Bach Symphony in G major, H.666 (Wq.183,4)

J.S. Bach Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51

MUSIC FOR FAMILIES

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, May 3 at 2 pm

TBD conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, May 8 at 10 am (Open Rehearsal)

Thursday, May 8 at 8 pm

Friday, May 9 at 6:30 pm

Saturday, May 10 at 8 pm

Ton Koopman conductor

Teresa Wakim soprano

Bogna Bartosz mezzo-soprano

Tilman Lichdi tenor

Klaus Mertens bass

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

San Francisco Symphony

J.S. Bach Cantata No. 207a, Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten

J.S. Bach Missa Brevis (1733) (Kyrie and Gloria from Mass in B minor, BWV 232)

CHAMBER MUSIC WITH SF SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

Florence Gould Theatre at the Legion of Honor

Sunday, May 11 at 2 pm

Musicians and program to be announced

CHRISTIAN TETZLAFF

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, May 11 at 7 pm

Christian Tetzlaff violin

J.S. Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001-1006

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, May 14 at 8 pm

Thursday, May 15 at 8 pm (UC Davis)

Friday, May 16 at 8 pm

Saturday, May 17 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Christian Tetzlaff violin

San Francisco Symphony

Sibelius Lemminkäinen's Return, Opus 22, no.4

Bartók Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor

Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Opus 98

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, May 18 at 2 pm

Donato Cabrera conductor

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

Program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, May 22 at 8 pm

Friday, May 23 at 8 pm

Saturday, May 24 at 8 pm

Sunday, May 25 at 2 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Yuja Wang piano

San Francisco Symphony

Tchaikovsky The Tempest, Opus 18

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Opus 40

Debussy Images

DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY

Great Performers Series

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, May 25 at 8 pm

Dmitri Hvorostovsky baritone

Ivari Ilja piano

Glinka, Borodin, Rachmaninoff, Glière Romances on Poems by Alexander Pushkin

Shostakovich Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti, Opus 145a

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, May 29 at 10 am (Open Rehearsal)

Thursday, May 29 at 8 pm

Friday, May 30 at 8 pm

Charles Dutoit conductor

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

San Francisco Symphony

Poulenc Litanies à la Vierge noire, FP82

Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms

Fauré Requiem, Opus 48

FILM SERIES: FANTASIA in Concert

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, May 31 at 8 pm

Sarah Hicks conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Fantasia

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Davies Symphony Hall

Wednesday, June 4 at 8 pm

Thursday, June 5 at 8 pm (Green Music Center – Sonoma State University)

Friday, June 6 at 8 pm

Saturday, June 7 at 8 pm

Charles Dutoit conductor

Kirill Gerstein piano

San Francisco Symphony

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Opus 19

Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Opus 93

CHAMBER MUSIC WITH SF SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

Davies Symphony Hall

Sunday, June 8 at 2 pm

Program to be announced

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, June 12 at 2 pm

Friday, June 13 at 8 pm

Saturday, June 14 at 8 pm

Sunday, June 15 at 2 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Janine Jansen violin

TBD gamelan ensemble

San Francisco Symphony

Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Opus 77(99)

Britten Excerpts from The Prince of the Pagodas, Opus 57

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, June 19 at 8 pm

Friday, June 20 at 8 pm

Saturday, June 21 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Toby Spence tenor

Robert Ward horn

San Francisco Symphony

Copland Danzón cubano

Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, Opus 31

Shostakovich Symphony No. 15 in A major, Opus 141

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Thursday, June 26 at 8 pm

Friday, June 27 at 8 pm

Sunday, June 29 at 2 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Stuart Skelton tenor (Peter Grimes)

Elza van den Heever soprano (Ellen Orford)

Alan Opie baritone (Captain Balstrode)

Ann Murray mezzo-soprano (Auntie)

Nancy Maultsby mezzo-soprano (Mrs. Sedley)

Eugene Brancoveanu baritone (Ned Keene)

John Relyea bass (Mr. Swallow)

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

San Francisco Symphony

Britten Peter Grimes (semi-staged, enhanced concert production)

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTING

Davies Symphony Hall

Saturday, June 28 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Tal Rosner video artist

San Francisco Symphony

Copland Danzón cubano

Britten Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Opus 33a [with video]

Shostakovich Symphony No. 15 in A major, Opus 141

Connect with the San Francisco Symphony through social media:

The San Francisco Symphony is grateful for the support of its generous partners during the 2013-14 season:

Second Century Partners

Chevron

Inaugural Partner

Wells Fargo

Major Corporate Partners

Bank of America

Emirates Airline

Official Airline

Franklin Templeton Investments

HSBC Premier

Jones Day

J.P. Morgan

Macy’s Foundation

Morrison & Foerster LLP

William Hill Estate Winery

Official Wine

Public Funders

San Francisco Arts Commission

Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund

National Endowment for the Arts

-SFS-

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony release recording of John Adams' Harmonielehre and Short Ride in a Fast machine on SFS Media March 13, 2012

San Francisco Symphony — 1/23/2012 1:05:42 PM

MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS AND THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY RELEASE RECORDING OF JOHN ADAMS’ HARMONIELEHRE AND

SHORT RIDE IN A FAST MACHINE ON SFS MEDIA MARCH 13, 2012

Exclusive pre-release download from iTunes available February 15

SAN FRANCISCO, January 23, 2012 —Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) will release a hybrid SACD recording of works by John Adams in conjunction with its month-long American Mavericks Festival in March 2012. Self-produced on the Orchestra’s SFS Media label, the recording features the SFS commission Harmonielehre and Short Ride in a Fast Machine, a work commissioned by MTT. The recording will be available for pre-release by download exclusively from Apple’s iTunes Music Store beginning February 15, the composer’s birthday. The San Francisco Symphony’s e-store is currently accepting pre-sale orders for the Adams recording at sfsymphony.org/store and on February 15 it will become available at the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall. National and international retail release for the recording will be March 13. On March 15, MTT leads the SFS in world premiere of Absolute Jest, a new work by Adams commissioned for its centennial season, with additional performances in Chicago, Ann Arbor and Carnegie Hall.

The SFS commissioned, premiered and recorded Harmonielehre in March 1985 under Edo De Waart during Adams’ tenure as SFS composer in residence. Adams recalled, “I was a young composer when I wrote Harmonielehre and I had really only written two other orchestra pieces at that point and one of them was Harmonium, which was premiered by the San Francisco Symphony only a few years before that. Harmonielehre was tough coming out… I was searching for what I wanted to say. I knew that part of what I wanted to write for the orchestra was a music that would kind of strum the strings of its repertoire that would play to its strengths… [with Harmonielehre] I really confronted who I was, who I am, John Adams as a composer - somebody who grew up listening to classical music, classical orchestral music, who played in orchestras when I was younger, who conducted, who loved that repertoire, but at the same time was somebody who also grew up listening to jazz and rock and who was very influenced by minimalism. So it’s this rather strange marriage of the driving pulse of American minimalism and the sensuous and emotional and expressive world of the great European masterpieces.”

Michael Tilson Thomas, who conducted the work during his first season as SFS Music Director in 1995 and multiple times since, said of the work, “When a new piece is premiered, it can make a stunning impression. But the real story of that piece is what emerges over time. When the SFS first performed Harmonielehre in the mid-80s it was a life changing moment for everybody who heard it. I heard it first on the recording and I was drawn into the piece in so many ways, its enormous power, but also its tenderness and depth of expression. And now, decades later, the piece still stands up.”

MTT commissioned Short Ride in a Fast Machine from John Adams in 1986 for a Pittsburgh Symphony performance in Massachusetts. Adams shared, “Michael called me back in 1986 when he was opening a new music festival in Massachusetts with the Pittsburgh Symphony and he asked me to do a fanfare. The sort of traditional fanfare with blaring trumpets didn’t really appeal to me, and how do you write a fanfare when Copland has already done it so well? I thought about it and for some reason the connection with Cape Cod came to mind. Years before that I had been there with a former brother-in-law and he had asked me at about 1 in the morning if I would like to take a ride with him in his Lamborghini. I did and once he started up I wished I hadn’t because he drove very, very fast. The idea of a piece that had that combination of excitement and thrill and was just on the edge of anxiety or terror was the motivating force for [Short Ride in a Fast Machine.] The piece starts with the click of the wood block and that wood block never changes, it just keeps driving and it’s sort of like a gauntlet through which a 100-piece orchestra has to pass.”

In September 2011 MTT and the San Francisco Symphony capped their Centennial Season Opening Gala program with an orchestral and multimedia performance of Short Ride in a Fast Machine. This performance will be screened on PBS’s Great Performances on March 30.

One of America’s most admired and respected composers, John Adams has enjoyed a strong relationship with the San Francisco Symphony for more than 30 years. Adams was appointed contemporary music adviser to the San Francisco Symphony in 1979 and composer-in-residence between 1982 and 1985, a tenure which helped set the precedent for composer residencies at orchestras around the world. The creative relationship between the SF Symphony and John Adams has been extraordinarily productive: since 1981 the SFS has performed 22 of his works, six of which were SFS commissions. The Orchestra has performed six world premieres of Adams’ music and four U.S. premieres, most recently the March 2007 U.S. premiere of his opera A Flowering Tree, a San Francisco Symphony co-commission. On March 15 at Davies Symphony Hall the Orchestra will perform the world premiere of Absolute Jest, a new work by Adams it commissioned for its centennial season. The work is based on fragments of Beethoven scherzos, and features the St. Lawrence String Quartet. John Adams’ writings and more about his work can be enjoyed on his website, earbox.com.

Over the course of the American Mavericks Festival in 2012 three more works will be recorded for future release on SFS Media: Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra featuring Paul Jacobs on March 8 and 9, Carl Ruggles’ Sun-treader, and Henry Cowell’s Piano Concerto with Jeremy Denk on March 10 and 14.

All SFS Media recordings are available from the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall and online at sfsymphony.org/store as well as other major retailers. The recordings can also be purchased as downloads from iTunes and Amazon and other digital outlets. SFS Media recordings are distributed by Harmonia Mundi in the U.S., SRI Canada, IODA digitally and Avie internationally.

Title: Adams: Harmonielehre, Short Ride in a Fast Machine

Composer: John Adams (1947-)

Artists: Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor; San Francisco Symphony

Recorded: Harmonielehre recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall December 8-11, 2010 Short Ride in a Fast Machine recorded at the San Francisco Symphony’s Centennial Season Opening Gala on September 7, 2011.

Label: SFS Media

Catalogue Number: SFS0053

Release Date: March 13, 2012; Available for pre-release by download exclusively from Apple’s iTunes Music Store beginning February 15, 2012

Distribution:Harmonia Mundi (North America excluding Canada); SRI Canada (Canada); Avie (International); IODA (Digitally); Online: sfsymphony.org/store

Media copies: If members of the press would like a copy of the recording for review, please contact Shuman Associates at shumanpr@shumanassociates.net or Louisa Spier at lspier@sfsymphony.org.

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Win 2013 Grammy Award

San Francisco Symphony — 2/10/2013 3:42:06 PM

Contact:	National Press Representation:
Public Relations	Shuman Associates
San Francisco Symphony	Lisa Jaehnig
(415) 503-5474	(646) 489-2700
publicrelations@sfsymphony.org	ljaehnig@shumanassociates.net
www.sfsymphony.org/press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / February 10, 2013

MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS AND THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

WIN 2013 GRAMMY AWARD

Recording of music by Bay Area composer John Adams wins for

Best Orchestral Performance

SAN FRANCISCO, February 10 – Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony’s (SFS) live concert recording of works by Bay Area composer and longtime collaborator John Adams has won a 2013 Grammy^® Award today in the category of Best Orchestral Performance. The recording of Harmonielehre and Short Ride in a Fast Machine was released in March 2012 in conjunction with the Orchestra’s month-long American Mavericks festival and tour. This award marks the 15^th Grammy win for the San Francisco Symphony and the 8^th award on its own SFS Media label. MTT and the Orchestra garnered seven Grammy awards for their recent recording cycle of works by Gustav Mahler.

The SFS commissioned, premiered, and recorded Harmonielehre in March 1985 during Adams’ tenure as SFS composer in residence. Hear Adams and MTT’s insights about the work at http://bit.ly/YTHarmonielehre. Michael Tilson Thomas commissioned Short Ride in a Fast Machine from John Adams in 1986. A video excerpt of the Grammy winning performance from the Orchestra’s Centennial Season Opening Gala in September 2011 can be viewed at http://bit.ly/13fiNce. Adams and Tilson Thomas talk about the genesis of Short Ride in a Fast Machine in a short video found at http://bit.ly/YTShortRide.

MTT and the SFS’ releases on SFS Media reflect the artistic identity of the orchestra’s programming, including its commitment to performing the work of American maverick composers alongside that of the core classical masterworks. The recording is available as a hybrid SACD, playable in conventional CD players as well as in SACD stereo and SACD surround formats for audiophiles who want a greater range of premiere sound options, and as a studio master quality digital download. All SFS Media recordings are available from the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall and online at sfsymphony.org/store as well as other major retailers. The recordings can also be purchased as downloads from iTunes and other digital outlets. SFS Media recordings are distributed by harmonia mundi in the U.S., SRI Canada, IODA digitally and Avie internationally.

For more information about this and other Grammy awards visit www.grammy.com.

Title:

Adams: Harmonielehre, Short Ride in a Fast Machine

Composer:

John Adams (1947- )

Artists:

Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Recorded:

Harmonielehre recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall December 8-11, 2010. Short Ride in a Fast Machine recorded at the San Francisco Symphony’s Centennial Season Opening Gala on September 7, 2011.

Label:

SFS Media

Catalogue No.:

SFS0053

Release Date:

March 13, 2012

Distribution:

harmonia mundi (U.S.)

SRI (Canada)

Avie (International)

IODA (Digital)

Online: sfsymphony.org/store

Connect with SFS through social media:

Emirates is the Official Airline of the San Francisco Symphony.

William Hill^® Estate Winery is the Official Wine of the San Francisco Symphony.

San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com is the Official Media Partner of the San Francisco Symphony

-SFS-

SF Symphony concerts May 15 and 16 with Marek Janowski cancelled

San Francisco Symphony — 2/12/2013 10:36:27 AM

Contact:

Public Relations Department

San Francisco Symphony

(415) 503-5474

Wednesday, May 15 at 10 am (Open Rehearsal)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / February 12, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY MAY 15 and 16 CONCERTS AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL WITH MAREK JANOWSKI CANCELLED

The San Francisco Symphony concerts led by conductor Marek Janowski on Wednesday, May 15 and Thursday, May 16 at 8 p.m. have been cancelled due to a schedule change. Janowski will conduct the other previously scheduled concerts that week, including an Open Rehearsal at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 15, and 8 p.m. concerts on Friday, May 17, and Saturday, May 18. Janowski is joined by soloists Arabella Steinbacher on violin and Alban Gerhardt on cello in Brahms’s Double Concerto. The Orchestra performs Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, Rhenish, and his Manfred Overture opens the concert program, which is unchanged.

Ticketholders for the Wednesday, May 15 and Thursday, May 16 8 pm SF Symphony concerts may exchange their tickets for either of the other two Janowski-led concerts, on May 17 or 18. Ticket exchanges for other concerts, donations, or requests for refunds or gift certificates may also be made through the San Francisco Symphony Patron Services Office by calling 415-864-6000 Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.

WHO:

Marek Janowski conductor

Arabella Steinbacher violin

Alban Gerhardt cello

San Francisco Symphony

PROGRAM:

Schumann Manfred Overture

Brahms Double Concerto, Opus 102

Schumann Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Opus 97, Rhenish

WHEN:

Friday, May 17 at 8 pm

Saturday, May 18 at 8 pm

WHERE:

Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco

PRE-CONCERT TALK: Alexandra Amati-Camperi gives an “Inside Music” talk from the stage starting one hour prior to each concert. Free to all concert ticket holders; doors open 15 minutes before.

AUDIO PROGRAM NOTES: A free podcast on Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 will be downloadable from sfsymphony.org/podcasts and from the iTunes store.

BROADCAST: These concerts will be broadcast on Classical 89.9/90.3/104.9 KDFC and kdfc.com on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 at 8 p.m. Pacific Time.

TICKETS: Open Rehearsal: $22 general, $40 reserved. Concerts: $15-$150. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

Marek Janowski's appearance is supported by the Louise M. Davies Guest Conductor Fund.

Emirates is the Official Airline of the San Francisco Symphony.

William Hill^® Estate Winery is the Official Wine of the San Francisco Symphony.

San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com is the Official Media Partner of the San Francisco Symphony.

-SFS-

Rufus Wainwright June 9 concert on sale January 29; SF Symphony January-April concert calendar updates

San Francisco Symphony — 1/22/2013 4:04:34 PM

Contact:

Public Relations

San Francisco Symphony

(415) 503-5474

Wednesday, January 23 at 8 pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / UPDATED January 22, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

CONCERT CALENDAR AND PROGRAM UPDATES

Please note: New concerts, changes, and updates to previous calendar are highlighted in red. Tickets to all concerts are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco. All concerts are at Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA unless otherwise noted.

NEW CONCERT ADDED – ON SALE TUESDAY, JANUARY 29 at 10 am

An evening with RUFUS WAINWRIGHT

Sunday, June 9 at 8 pm

Please note that this is a solo performance; Rufus Wainwright will be playing piano and guitar. The San Francisco Symphony is not performing on this concert.

Tickets: $20-$88. Tickets on sale on Tuesday, January 29 at 10 am at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, January 24 at 2 pm

Friday, January 25 at 6:30 pm

Saturday, January 26 at 8 pm

Alexander Barantschik leader and violin

Catherine Payne piccolo

Jonathan Fischer oboe

San Francisco Symphony

Vivaldi Piccolo Concerto in C major, RV 443

Bach Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041

Mozart Divertimento in D major for Strings, K.136(125a)

Bach Concerto in D minor for Violin and Oboe, BWV 1060

Mozart Serenade No. 6 in D major, K.239, Serenata notturna

Tickets: $15-$150. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

MUSIC FOR FAMILIES with the San Francisco Symphony

Saturday, January 26 at 2 pm

Donato Cabrera conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Tchaikovsky Russian Dance from Nutcracker

Schubert First movement from Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D.759, Unfinished

Stravinsky Circus Polka

Rimsky-Korsakov The Young Prince and the Young Princess from Scheherazade

Dvořák Slavonic Dance, Opus 44 No. 7

Mahler Third movement from Symphony No. 1 (excerpt)

Tchaikovsky March-Scherzo from Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Opus 74, Pathétique

Rossini Allegro vivace from Overture to William Tell

The Wonderful World of the Symphony: How It All Works! The symphony orchestra can sound like the tiniest whisper or the mightiest roar—they can do it all! Learn about the wonderful world of the symphony and how it all works. Features music from Schubert’s beloved Symphony No. 8 and the spectacular March from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6.

Tickets: $15-$60. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

CHELSEA CHEN

Sunday, January 27 at 3 pm

Chelsea Chen organ

Bach (arr. Dupré) Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29, “Wir danken dir, Gott”

Debussy (arr. Chen) Children’s Corner

Chelsea Chen Taiwanese Suite

Ad Wammes Miroir

Eben Moto Ostinato from Sunday Music

Dupré Prelude and Fugue in B major, Opus 7, no.1

Rod Gorby Jazz Prelude on “I Got Rhythm” (Gershwin)

Vierne Naïades from Pièces de Fantasie

Duruflé Toccata from Suite, Opus 5

Tickets: $20-$30. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Wednesday, January 30 at 8 pm (Davies)

Thursday, January 31 at 8 pm (Green Music Center, Sonoma State University.)

Friday, February 1 at 8 pm (Davies)

Charles Dutoit conductor

James Ehnes violin

San Francisco Symphony

Ravel Rapsodie espagnole

Lalo Symphonie espagnole, Opus 21

Elgar Enigma Variations, Opus 36

Tickets: $15-$146. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

CHINESE NEW YEAR CONCERT and CELEBRATION

Saturday, February 2 at 4 pm

Mei-Ann Chen conductor

George Gao erhu

San Francisco Symphony

Traditional Lion Dance

Tyzen Hsiao The Angel from Formosa

An-Lun Huang Saibei Dance

Traditional (arr. Yuan-kai Bao) Ali Mountain Evergreen

Gang Cheng/Zhang-Hao He The Butterfly Lovers’ Concerto (George Gao)

The San Francisco Symphony rings in the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Snake on Saturday, February 2 at its 13^th Annual Chinese New Year Concert and Celebration in Davies Symphony Hall. The celebrations begin with a Festival Reception for all ticketholders at 3:00pm. The pre-concert festivities in the Davies Symphony Hall lobbies provide family-friendly entertainment and activities, including children’s arts and crafts and Chinese calligraphy, as well as complimentary food, desserts and tea bars. The 4:00pm concert celebrates the Lunar New Year and San Francisco’s unique cultural fabric by featuring a combination of traditional Asian music alongside orchestral works composed by Asian and Asian-American composers. The elegant Lunar New Year Imperial Dinner, inspired by the rich visual pageantry of traditional New Year celebrations, is at 6:00pm in City Hall’s Grand Rotunda. Tickets for the Imperial Dinner are sold separately.

Tickets: $25-$72. Tickets are available through sfsymphony.org, by phone at (415) 864-6000, or at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. Tickets for the post-concert Imperial Dinner at San Francisco’s City Hall are available by calling the SFS Volunteer Council at (415) 503-5500.

CHAMBER MUSIC with SF Symphony Musicians

Sunday, February 3 at 2 pm

Bruce Broughton Hornworks—Theme and Variations for 2 Descant Horns, 3 Horns in F, and Tuba

Robert Ward, Nicole Cash, Jonathan Ring, Bruce Roberts, Jessica Valeri, horns; Peter Wahrhaftig, tuba

Ravel String Quartet in F major

Polina Sedukh, David Chernyavsky, violin; Wayne Roden, viola; David Goldblatt, cello

Brahms Piano Quartet in C minor, Opus 60

Sarn Oliver, violin; Matthew Young, viola; Sébastien Gingras, cello; Akimi Fukuhara, piano

Tickets: $36. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Wednesday, February 6 at 8 pm

Thursday, February 7 at 8 pm

Saturday, February 9 at 8 pm

Sunday, February 10 at 2 pm

Charles Dutoit conductor

Erin Wall soprano

Paul Groves tenor

Pacific Boy Choir Kevin Fox, director

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

San Francisco Symphony

Poulenc Stabat Mater

Berlioz Te Deum, Opus 22

Tickets: $34-$150. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

GIL SHAHAM IN RECITAL

Friday, February 8 at 8 pm

Gil Shaham violin

Akira Eguchi piano

Bach Partita No. 3 in E major for Solo Violin, BWV 1006

Avner Dorman Niggunim (Violin Sonata No. 3)

William Bolcom Suite No. 2 for Solo Violin (Music Accord Commission)

Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Opus 47, Kreutzer

Tickets: $15-$93. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA

Tuesday, February 12 at 8 pm

Giancarlo Guerrero conductor

Daniil Trifonov piano

Russian National Orchestra

Smetana Overture to The Bartered Bride

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Opus 23

Dvořák Symphony No. 6 in D major, Opus 60

RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA

Wednesday, February 13 at 8 pm

Giancarlo Guerrero conductor

Daniil Trifonov piano

Russian National Orchestra

Verdi Overture to I vespri siciliani

Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Opus 26

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Opus 36

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, February 14 at 2 pm

Friday, February 15 at 8 pm

Saturday, February 16 at 8 pm

Sunday, February 17 at 2 pm

Pablo Heras-Casado conductor

Stephen Hough piano

San Francisco Symphony

Magnus Lindberg EXPO (West Coast Premiere)

Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major

Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Opus 100

ITZHAK PERLMAN IN RECITAL

Sunday, February 17 at 7 pm

Itzhak Perlman violin

Rohan De Silva piano

Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major, Opus 12

Franck Violin Sonata in A major

Tartini (arr. Kreisler) Violin Sonata No. 4 in G minor, Devil’s Trill

Additional works to be announced from the stage

Tickets: $15-$138. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, February 21 at 2 pm

Friday, February 22 at 8 pm

Saturday, February 23 at 8 pm

Yan Pascal Tortelier conductor

William Bennett oboe

San Francisco Symphony

Debussy (orch. Büsser) Petite Suite

R. Strauss Oboe Concerto

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Opus 11

MUSIC FOR FAMILIES with the San Francisco Symphony

Saturday, February 23 at 2 pm

Donato Cabrera conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Rossini Overture to Barber of Seville (excerpt)

Beethoven First Movement from Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67

Ibert Third Movement from Concerto for Flute (excerpt)

Annie Wu, flute (SFS Youth Orchestra member)

Sousa The Thunderer March

Beethoven Finale from Symphony No. 7 in A major, Opus 92

Stookey The Composer is Dead

Nathaniel Stookey, narrator

Please note: Strauss’s Overture to Die Fledermaus (excerpt) has been removed from the program

Composer, Conductor, Musician and You! This exciting concert examines each of these four elements and the ways they depend upon each other for success. Meet composer Nathaniel Stookey and hear one of his most famous pieces—The Composer is Dead—a musical setting of a fun mystery story written by acclaimed author Lemony Snicket.

CHAMBER MUSIC with SF Symphony Musicians

Sunday, February 24 at 2 pm

Florence Gould Theatre at the Legion of Honor

Alexander Barantschik violin

Florin Parvulescu violin

Jonathan Vinocour viola

Yun Jie Liu viola

Peter Wyrick cello

Schubert Quartetsatz in C minor, D. 703

Shostakovich String Quartet No. 3 in F major, Opus 73

Mozart String Quintet in E-flat major, K. 614

Tickets: $50 Legion of Honor members; $54 non-members. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, February 28 at 10 am (Open Rehearsal)

Thursday, February 28 at 8 pm

Friday, March 1 at 6:30 pm

Saturday, March 2 at 8 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Nadine Sierra soprano

San Francisco Symphony

Mozart Selections from Zaïde, K.344:

“Ruhe sanft mein ganzes Leben”

“Trostlos schluchzet Philomel”

“Tiger! Wetze nur die Klauen”

Bruckner Symphony No. 7 in E minor

Tickets: Open Rehearsal: $22 general, $40 reserved. Concerts: $15-$150. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Wednesday, March 6 at 8 pm (Davies)

Thursday, March 7 at 8 pm (Green Music Center, Sonoma State University)

Friday, March 8 at 8 pm (Davies)**

Saturday, March 9 at 8 pm (Davies)

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Yuja Wang piano

Samuel Carl Adams electronica

San Francisco Symphony

Samuel Carl Adams Drift and Providence

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Opus 58
Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Opus 68

Tickets: $15-$160. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

**Davies After Hours, a post-concert music event, begins immediately following the Friday, March 8 concert in the Second Tier lobby-turned-lounge. Free to March 8 ticketholders.

CAMERON CARPENTER

Sunday, March 10 at 3 pm

Cameron Carpenter organ

Program to be announced from the stage

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, March 14 at 2 pm

Friday, March 15 at 8 pm

Saturday, March 16 at 8 pm

Sunday, March 17 at 2 pm

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Mahler Symphony No. 9 in D major

Tickets: $15-$155. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

Sunday, March 24 at 2 pm

Donato Cabrera conductor

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

Evan Chapman second thoughts for percussion quartet

Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings

Respighi Fountains of Rome

R. Strauss Serenade for Winds, Op. 7

Schumann Symphony No. 2

Tickets: $45 reserved seating, $12 general admission. Available at sfsymphony.org, 415-864-6000, or the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

BERNADETTE PETERS

Friday, March 29 at 8 pm

Bernadette Peters vocalist

and her band

Marvin Laird musical director

and members of the San Francisco Symphony

Tickets: $20-98. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

Editors, please note: The Gipsy Kings concert previously scheduled for this date has been cancelled.

BOBBY MCFERRIN

Saturday, March 30 at 8 pm

Bobby McFerrin vocalist

and his band

Vocal innovator McFerrin performs his “spirityouall” program, an homage to his father, the opera singer Robert McFerrin, Sr., and the generations of Americans who sang of our shared joy and pain through songs commonly known as spirituals ("He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" and "Every Time I Feel The Spirit," plus original tunes).

(Note: The SF Symphony is not performing on this concert).

Tickets: $15-$85. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, 415-864-6000, or the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Friday, April 5 at 8 pm

Saturday, April 6 at 8 pm

Bernard Labadie conductor

Lydia Teuscher soprano

Nicholas Phan tenor

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

San Francisco Symphony

Mozart Ave verum corpus, K. 618

Mozart Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K.543

Handel Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day

MUSIC FOR FAMILIES with the San Francisco Symphony

Saturday, April 6 at 2 pm

Donato Cabrera conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Dvořák Symphony No. 9, From the New World

Musical Discoveries! Discover one of the greatest symphonies ever written: Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, also known as the New World Symphony. Dvořák was inspired to write the New World Symphony after a visit to America. Like chapters in a book, each movement of this symphony tells part of a wonderful story. You’ll hear how a great composer transformed his experiences and impressions into an exciting musical masterpiece. Join us for a delightful afternoon of musical discovery!

CHAMBER MUSIC with SF Symphony Musicians

Sunday, April 7 at 2 pm

Andriasov Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Opus 7

Victor Romasevich, violin; Jill Brindel, cello; Marilyn Thompson, piano

George Crumb Madrigals, Books I-IV

Catherine Payne, piccolo; Scott Pingel, bass; Douglas Rioth, harp; James Lee Wyatt, III; percussion

Bruch Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano

David Neuman, clarinet; Wayne Roden, viola; June Oh, piano

Hindemith Octet (1958)

Dan Carlson, Jonathan Vinocour, David Kim, viola; Peter Wyrick, cello; Mark Wright, bass;

David Neuman, clarinet; Steven Dibner, bassoon; Bruce Roberts, horn

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, April 11 at 2 pm

Friday, April 12 at 6:30 pm

Saturday, April 13 at 8 pm

Sunday, April 14 at 2 pm

Herbert Blomstedt conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Wagner Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde

Ingvar Lidholm Poesis

Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Opus 55, Eroica

ANDRÁS SCHIFF

Project San Francisco

Sunday, April 14 at 7 pm

András Schiff piano

Bach French Suites for Keyboard, BWV 812-BWV 817

Co-presented by the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Performances

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Wednesday, April 17 at 10 am (Open Rehearsal)

Wednesday, April 17 at 8 pm (Davies)

Thursday, April 18 at 8 pm (Mondavi Center, UC Davis)

Friday, April 19 at 8 pm (Davies)

Saturday, April 20 at 8 pm (Davies)

Herbert Blomstedt conductor

Augustin Hadelich violin

San Francisco Symphony

Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Opus 61

Nielsen Symphony No. 5, Opus 50

Note: Julia Fischer has cancelled her appearances for personal reasons.

ANDRÁS SCHIFF

Project San Francisco

Sunday, April 21 at 2 pm

András Schiff piano

Bach English Suites for Keyboard, BWV 806-BWV 811

Co-presented by the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Performances

CHAMBER MUSIC with SF Symphony Musicians

Florence Gould Theatre at the Legion of Honor

Sunday, April 21 at 2 pm

Alexander Barantschik violin

Florin Parvulescu violin

Jonathan Vinocour viola

Michael Grebanier cello

Anton Nel piano

Mozart Piano Trio in C major, K. 548

R. Strauss Violin Sonata in E-flat major, Opus 18

Dohnányi Piano Quintet in C minor, Opus 1

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, April 25 at 8 pm

Friday, April 26 at 8 pm

Saturday, April 27 at 8 pm

Christoph Eschenbach conductor

Matthias Goerne baritone

San Francisco Symphony

Schoenberg Chamber Symphony No. 1, Opus 9b

Wagner “Die Frist ist um” from The Flying Dutchman

Wagner Wotan’s Farewell from Die Walküre

Dvorák Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95, From the New World

PAUL JACOBS

Sunday, April 28 at 3 pm

Paul Jacobs organ

Ragnar Bohlin conductor

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

Bach Clavier-Übung III: German Organ Mass

MATTHIAS GOERNE AND CHRISTOPH ESCHENBACH

Sunday, April 28 at 7 pm

Matthias Goerne baritone

Christoph Eschenbach piano

Schubert Winterreise, D.911

-SFS-

MTT and the SF Symphony open annual 4-concert series at the Green Music Center December 6

San Francisco Symphony — 10/25/2012 9:36:25 AM

Contact:

(415) 503-5474

Thursday, January 31 at 8 pm

MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS AND THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY PERFORM THEIR FIRST CONCERT AT THE GREEN MUSIC CENTER AT SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6 AT 8 PM

Yefim Bronfman performs Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto; program includes world premiere

of Pandora, new work by SFS Assistant Concertmaster Mark Volkert

The Orchestra’s annual four-concert series also includes performances January 31, March 7, and May 23, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO, October 25—Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) leads the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in their first performances at Sonoma State University’s recently opened Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall at Green Music Center on Thursday, December 6 at 8 pm. On the program is the world premiere of a new work by SFS Assistant Concertmaster Mark Volkert, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, with pianist Yefim Bronfman, and R. Strauss’Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks. The SFS’ annual series at the Green Music Center includes four Thursday concerts. In addition to the performance on December 6, they perform with violinist James Ehnes and conductor Charles Dutoit in a program of Ravel, Lalo and Elgar on January 31, 2013. They return March 7 with MTT and pianist Yuja Wang in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, and the Orchestra performs Brahms’ Symphony No. 1. On May 23 conductor David Robertson leads the Orchestra and pianist Marc-André Hamelin in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in D major for the Left Hand and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and Ravel’s La Valse.

Inspired by the acoustical perfection of Tanglewood’s Seiji Ozawa Hall, the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall opened in September with performances by pianist Lang Lang and bluegrass-folk artist Alison Krauss & Union Station. The new building completes Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center. The San Francisco Symphony performs four concerts there in its inaugural season and the hall is the new home of the Santa Rosa Symphony. Weill Hall, Lawn, and Commons join a state-of-the-art music education building, faculty offices, and an elegant restaurant and executive retreat center. Designed by architect William Rawn, working closely with acoustician Lawrence Kirkegaard, the 1,400-seat hall was designed to replicate the intimacy and acoustics of Vienna’s Musikverein and Symphony Hall in Boston.

Assistant Concertmaster of the SFS violin section since 1972, Mark Volkert has previously had two works for orchestra and numerous chamber works performed by the SFS. Based on a chamber trio, Pandora was expanded for orchestra at the suggestion of SFS Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, who says of Volkert, “He writes with such understanding and brilliance, especially for strings, because he is such a master string player himself.”

A frequent collaborator with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas, Yefim Bronfman also performs chamber music with SFS musicians on December 9 at Davies Symphony Hall. This season sees a year-long orchestral and chamber residency with the Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra and Mariss Jansons, as well as performances with the Vienna Philharmonic and Michael Tilson Thomas in Vienna and London in April 2013. Click here to see a video of Bronfman and MTT.

CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, December 6 at 8 pm

Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall

Green Music Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Yefim Bronfman piano

San Francisco Symphony

R. Strauss Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Opus 28

Mark Volkert Pandora (World Premiere)

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Opus 73, Emperor

Tickets: $15-$145. Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco, and at the Green Music Center Box Office located on the first floor of the SSU Student Union in the interior of the Sonoma State University Campus.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall

Green Music Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park

Charles Dutoit conductor

James Ehnes violin

San Francisco Symphony

Ravel Rapsodie espagnole

Lalo Symphonie espagnole, Opus 21

Elgar Enigma Variations, Opus 36

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, March 7 at 8 pm

Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall

Green Music Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Yuja Wang piano

San Francisco Symphony

Berio Eindrücke

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Opus 58
Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Opus 68

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, May 23 at 8 pm

Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall

Green Music Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park

David Robertson conductor

Marc-André Hamelin piano

San Francisco Symphony

Elliott Carter Variations for Orchestra

Ravel Piano Concerto in D major for the Left Hand

Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue

Ravel La Valse

Emirates is the Official Airline of the San Francisco Symphony.

William Hill^® Estate Winery is the Official Wine of the San Francisco Symphony.

San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com is the Official Media Partner of the San Francisco Symphony.

-SFS-

SF Symphony Youth Orchestra 2012-13 season opens Nov. 4 in Davies Symphony Hall

San Francisco Symphony — 10/3/2012 4:27:20 PM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / October 3, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES 2012-13 SEASON

WITH WATTIS FOUNDATION MUSIC DIRECTOR DONATO CABRERA

Season highlights include:

Mozart’s Oboe Concerto featuring Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition winner Liam Boisset

A debut performance at the SF Symphony’s annual Día de los Muertos Community Concert

Holiday concerts of Peter and the Wolf featuring guest narrator Olympia Dukakis

West Coast premiere of Nathaniel Stookey’s Mahl/er/werk

SAN FRANCISCO, October 3, 2012 — The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) and Wattis Foundation Music Director Donato Cabrera open the 2012-13 season on Sunday, November 4 at 2pm in Davies Symphony Hall. The season includes subscription concerts in March and May 2013—featuring the West Coast premiere of Nathaniel Stookey’s Mahl/er/werk—a debut appearance at the San Francisco Symphony’s fifth annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Community Concert, holiday performances of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with guest narrator Olympia Dukakis, and an appearance at the annual Bay Area Youth Orchestra Festival. The busy concert schedule and broad range of repertoire—from Nathaniel Stookey and Ligeti to Copland, Mozart and Tchaikovsky—highlight both the SFSYO’s high-caliber musicianship and the SFS’s commitment to nurturing future generations of musicians and concert-goers.

Before opening its regular subscription series, the SFSYO for the first time performs at the San Francisco Symphony’s fifth annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Community Concert on Saturday, November 3 at 2pm. The Symphony’s Día de los Muertos Community Concert is an annual cultural collaboration to celebrate Mexican heritage and community with music and festivities for all ages. The SFSYO performs Copland’s El Salon México and José Pablo Moncayo’s Huapango on the program, while other performers include the San Francisco Symphony chorus, Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán, guest actors and dancers, and narrator Luis Valdez.

The Sunday, November 4 subscription concert features Donato Cabrera leading the Youth Orchestra in a program of Copland’s El Salon México, Mozart’s Oboe Concerto featuring SFSYO 2012 Concerto Competition winner Liam Boisset, and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1.

This year, the annual holiday performances of Peter and the Wolf feature special guest narrator Olympia Dukakis and take place on Saturday, December 8 at 1pm and 4pm in Davies Symphony Hall. The program also includes an array of favorite holiday music for the entire family to enjoy.

On Sunday, January 20 at 3pm, the SFSYO takes part in the annual Bay Area Youth Orchestra Festival, this year hosted by the Santa Rosa Symphony at the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University. Every year, six of the Bay Area’s most talented young orchestral ensembles participate in this festival, which is hosted by the San Francisco Symphony on a biannual basis. Proceeds from the concert benefit six organizations, one within each orchestra’s local community, that provide resources to underserved and homeless youth.

On Sunday, March 24 at 2pm, Donato Cabrera and the SFSYO will perform their second subscription concert, featuring Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, Respighi’s Fountains of Rome, Richard Strauss’s Serenade for Winds, Op. 7, and Schumann’s Symphony No. 2.

The SFSYO and Cabrera conclude the season on Sunday, May 19 at 2pm with a concert that includes the West Coast premiere of Nathaniel Stookey’s Mahl/er/werk, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Ligeti’s Atmosphères, and Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2. Nathaniel Stookey’s latest orchestral work, Mahl/er/werk, was commissioned by NDR-Sinfonie (Hamburg) for the final concert of their centennial Mahler cycle and was premiered under Christoph Eschenbach before an audience of 10,000. It received its United States premiere at the New England Conservatory in 2011 and will be recorded by NDR in 2013. The Schleswig-Holsteiner Zeitung describes Mahl/er/werk as a “crazy puzzle” and an “intelligent, musically appealing, even exhilarating homage to Gustav Mahler.”

Nathaniel Stookey has a particularly special connection to the San Francisco Symphony and its Youth Orchestra: in addition to being an alumnus of the SFSYO, Stookey received his first commission from the SFS at the age of 17, for the Orchestra’s “New and Unusual Music Series.” In 2006, the San Francisco Symphony commissioned, premiered, and recorded Stookey’s The Composer Is Dead, a sinister guide to the orchestra with narration by Lemony Snicket. The work has since been performed by over 100 orchestras on four continents and is one of the five most performed classical works of the 21st century, worldwide. In 2007, members of the SFSYO performed in the world premiere of Stookey’s Junkestra, a work for an orchestra of objects scavenged at the San Francisco Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Center. Junkestra subsequently drew thousands of listeners to warehouses, public squares, and YouTube before being taken up by the San Francisco Symphony and other classical presenters.

About the SFSYO

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) is recognized internationally as one of the finest youth orchestras in the world. Founded by the San Francisco Symphony in 1981, the SFSYO’s musicians are chosen from more than 300 applicants in annual auditions. The SFSYO’s purpose is to provide an orchestral experience of pre-professional caliber, tuition-free, to talented young musicians from the greater Bay Area. The more than 100 diverse musicians, ranging in age from 12 to 21, represent communities from throughout the Bay Area. The SFSYO rehearses and performs in Davies Symphony Hall under the direction of Wattis Foundation Music Director Donato Cabrera. Jahja Ling served as the SFSYO’s first Music Director, followed by David Milnes, Leif Bjaland, Alasdair Neale, Edwin Outwater, and Benjamin Shwartz.

As part of the SFSYO’s innovative training program, musicians from the San Francisco Symphony coach the young players each Saturday afternoon in sectional rehearsals, followed by full orchestra rehearsals with Maestro Cabrera. SFSYO members also have the opportunity to work with many of the world-renowned artists who perform with the SFS each week. SFS Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, SFS Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Simon Rattle, Kurt Masur, Valery Gergiev, Leonard Slatkin, Yo-Yo Ma, Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Midori, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Sarah Chang, and many others have worked with the SFSYO. Of equal importance, the students are able to talk with these prominent musicians, asking questions about their lives, their professional and personal experiences, and about music.

About Donato Cabrera

Donato Cabrera is the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) and the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO). He works closely with SFS Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and frequently conducts the San Francisco Symphony throughout the year, including the annual Día de los Muertos Community Concert, as well as the Concerts for Kids, Adventures in Music, and Music for Families concerts, which annually draw more than 60,000 young people and their families from throughout the Bay Area to Davies Symphony Hall. Cabrera made his San Francisco Symphony debut in April 2009 when he conducted the Orchestra with 24 hours’ notice in a program that included Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 and Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. From 2005 to 2008, Cabrera was Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Opera, where he prepared the cast and conducted the first rehearsals for the world premiere of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic as well as conducting performances of Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, Tannhäuser, and The Magic Flute. In December 2009, he made his debut with the San Francisco Ballet, conducting performances of The Nutcracker.

About Liam Boisset

2012-13 marks Liam Boisset’s second season in the SFSYO, where he participated in the ensemble’s July 2012 tour of Germany, Luxembourg, and Austria. He is currently a senior at San Francisco’s Ruth Asawa School of the Arts (SOTA). Boisset’s music studies began in a Yamaha music program for preschoolers at age four, where he studied keyboard and basic music theory. He began studying the oboe at age nine, and has been a member of the Contra Costa Youth Orchestra and Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as a guest artist with the Oakland Youth Orchestra. Since 2009, he has studied oboe with San Francisco Symphony Principal Oboist William Bennett. In ninth grade, Boisset was admitted to the University Symphony Orchestra of the University of California at Berkeley. Summer festivals, camps and workshops include Cazadero Performing Arts Camp, Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop, San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Summer Music West program, and Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute.

About Olympia Dukakis

Olympia Dukakis is an actress, director, producer, teacher, activist, and author of the best-selling book Ask Me Again Tomorrow. She has won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA Film Award, a Los Angeles Film Critics Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Moonstruck. On Broadway she has performed in Rose and Social Security, and in London she has also performed in Rose, as well as Credible Witness. She has performed in over 130 productions Off-Broadway and regionally at theatres including A.C.T., Shakespeare in the Park, Shakespeare & Co., and the Williamstown Summer Theatre Festival, where she also served as Associate Director. Dukakis is a founding member of the Whole Theatre in Montclair, NJ and she served as their Producing Artistic Director for 19 years. She is also a founding member of the Actor’s Company and the Charles Playhouse, both in Boston. Film credits include Cloudburst, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Steel Magnolias, Dad, Look Who’s Talking I, II & III, and Mighty Aphrodite, among others.

About Nathaniel Stookey

First commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony at age 17, Nathaniel Stookey has gone on to collaborate with many of the world’s great orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra, where he was composer-in-residence under Kent Nagano. Stookey’s concerto for two violins and strings, Double, was commissioned to represent the year 1999 in the millennial Festival of 999 Years of Music in Sheffield, England, and has since been released on Albany records. According to BBC commentator Norman Lebrecht, Stookey’s The Composer is Dead—which was commissioned, premiered, and recorded by the San Francisco Symphony—is one of the five most performed classical works of the 21st century, worldwide. In 2013, Stookey’s String Quartet No. 3 The Mezzanine, commissioned by Kronos Quartet, will receive it first performances in San Francisco. Read Nathaniel Stookey’s full biography here.

CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

DONATO CABRERA / WATTIS FOUNDATION MUSIC DIRECTOR

2012-2013 SEASON

DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS COMMUNITY CONCERT

Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 2pm

Davies Symphony Hall

Donato Cabrera conductor

Sunday, November 4, 2012 at 2pm

San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Ragnar Bohlin, director

Circulo Cultural, actors

Los Lupeños de San José, dancers

Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán

Luis Valdez, narrator

Copland El Salón México (performed by the SFSYO)

Moncayo Huapango (performed by the SFSYO)

Ramírez Selections from Misa Criolla

Songs including: El son del Gavilan, El Son de La Negra, and El Pasajero

The entire family is welcome to this afternoon matinee as the San Francisco Symphony’s Chorus and Youth Orchestra celebrate Mexican music and culture in its fifth annual Day of the Dead Community Concert. Doors open at 1pm and concertgoers may enjoy pre-concert festivities, refreshments and colorful displays celebrating Día de los Muertos in the Davies Symphony Hall lobby. The concert will be 90 minutes in duration and includes one 20-minute intermission. Click here to watch a short video showing scenes of the San Francisco Symphony’s Día de los Muertos Community Concert.

Tickets: $15-$68. Available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

Half price for ages 17 and under. Recommended for ages 7 and older.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

Davies Symphony Hall

Donato Cabrera conductor

Liam Boisset oboe

Saturday, December 10, 2012 at 1pm and 4pm

Copland El Salon México

Mozart Oboe Concerto

Sibelius Symphony No. 1

Tickets: $45 reserved seating, $12 general admission. Available at sfsymphony.org, 415-864-6000, or the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

PETER AND THE WOLF

Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco

Donato Cabrera conductor

Olympia Dukakis narrator

Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 2pm

Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf

Additional holiday repertoire TBA

Tickets: Davies Symphony Hall concerts $15-$57; half price for ages 17 and under. Available at sfsymphony.org, 415-864-6000, or the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

BAY AREA YOUTH ORCHESTRA FESTIVAL

Sunday, January 20, 2013 at 3pm

Green Music Center

Sonoma State University

Rohnert Park, CA

Youth Orchestras, program, and ticket information TBA

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

Davies Symphony Hall

Donato Cabrera conductor

Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 2pm

Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings

Respighi Fountains of Rome

R. Strauss Serenade for Winds, Op. 7

Schumann Symphony No. 2

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

Davies Symphony Hall

Donato Cabrera conductor