Nothing Beats Being Here
It can happen with music you adore, and music you’ve never heard before. You’re at a concert and a melody rises from the orchestra, enveloping your senses. You, the composer, the musicians, and the conductor become one. It’s an exquisite moment. It happens when brilliant artists play with fierce virtuosity and blazing passion. It happens every time the San Francisco Symphony performs.
Season Highlights
New Works and Premieres
West Coast premieres at Davies Symphony Hall include a new work by Samuel Carl Adams, and "Four Preludes and Serious Songs" by Brahms, arranged by German composer Detlev Glanert. Hear a newly rediscovered arrangement of Prokofiev’s "Ivan the Terrible" for the first time in the United States, the world premiere of Mark Volkert’s "Pandora", and a repeat performance of "Absolute Jest" by the inimitable John Adams.
Guest Artists and Visiting Orchestras
The 2012-13 Season welcomes extraordinary soloists including Joshua Bell, Jonathan Biss, Yefim Bronfman, Julia Fischer, Marc-André Hamelin, Stephen Hough, Yuja Wang, Pinchas Zukerman, and such visionary leaders as Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt. Plus, hear Catherine Payne, Jonathan D. Fischer, William Bennett, and Jonathan Vinocour—four of the Orchestra’s own—in solo turns throughout the season.
The Great Performers Series returns to its tradition of inviting world-renowned orchestras and recitalists to Davies Symphony Hall. Don’t miss luminaries like Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, and András Schiff as they join the Russian National Orchestra, and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra for an exquisite season.
András Schiff plays Bach
October 7
October 21
April 14
April 21
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
November 11
November 12
Renée Fleming and Susan Graham
January 16
Gil Shaham in Recital
February 8
Russian National Orchestra
February 12
February 13
Itzhak Perlman in Recital
February 17
Matthias Goerne and Christoph Eschenbach
April 28
Conductor Debuts
The 2012-13 Season features several conductors in debut performances with the San Francisco Symphony. Vladimir Jurowski leads the Orchestra and Chorus in a program of Rachmaninoff and the United States premiere of Prokofiev’s Ivan the Terrible arranged by Atovmyan; Jaap van Zweden, one of today’s most sought-after conductors, leads Mozart and Brahms, and renowned Slovokian conductor Juraj Valčuha leads Gautier Capuçon in Dvořák’s Cello Concerto and Bartók’s Suite from The Wooden Prince.
Special Presentations in 2012-13
Throughout the season, the San Francisco Symphony presents outstanding musicians from across the musical spectrum. From Pink Martini with the San Francisco Symphony, Bernadette Peters, Bobby McFerrin, to Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, there is something for everyone. Get the best seats today — tickets are sure to go fast! View all of the 2012-13 Special Presentations.
New! San Francisco Symphony at Green Music Center
The San Francisco Symphony heads north to help inaugurate the brand new Green Music Center on the campus of Sonoma State University. Nestled at the foot of Sonoma Mountain, this state-of-the-art facility boasts outstanding acoustics, artistic wood interiors, and stunning wine country views which make for an exemplary concert experience. Here is your chance to be an inaugural subscriber of this exciting new series!
Learn more about the Green Music Center.
Project San Francisco
András Schiff
András Schiff begins a two-year Project San Francisco residency focused on the masterpieces of Bach, exploring works for solo keyboard and for keyboard and orchestra. With the San Francisco Symphony, he will perform Bach’s Keyboard Concertos Nos. 1 and 2, and in recital, he offers the complete Well-Tempered Clavier, the French Suites, and the English Suites. It’s a unique chance to hear Schiff, who the New York Observer described as “the foremost proponent of Bach’s keyboard music on the modern piano since Glenn Gould” in this repertoire.
Beethoven and Stravinsky
The 2012-13 Season spotlights works by two revolutionaries who lived a century apart-Beethoven and Stravinsky. From early works to the spiritual, survey the musical landscape of Beethoven all season long. Stravinsky’s music has been a passion of MTT’s since they met while MTT was studying at the University of Southern California. Stravinsky’s vivid and scandalous Rite of Spring anchors a two-concert exploration.
West Side Story
The beloved score of West Side Story comes to musical life at Davies Symphony Hall. Broadway legends Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim took Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet from Verona in the 1500s to New York’s Upper West Side in the 1950s. The San Francisco Symphony’s events will be the first-ever concert performance of the complete musical.
Interactive Digital Brochure
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