San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen Release Two New SFS Media Recordings on Apple Music Classical

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Former Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony are releasing two new SFS Media digital-only spatial audio recordings via the Apple Music Classical app. 

On Friday, May 22, Salonen and the Symphony release a new recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, recorded live in concert June 12–14, 2025, during Salonen’s final performances as Music Director. The recording features soprano Heidi Stober, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus with Chorus Director Jenny Wong. The Wall Street Journal remarked on the performance, “Never before in a concert hall have I heard this well-known work sound so unflagging, electric, and moving.”

On Friday, June 26, the Orchestra releases a new recording of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, conducted by Salonen and featuring soloist Sayaka Shoji. The performance, which Bachtrack hailed as “riveting,” marked Shoji’s Subscription Series debut with the San Francisco Symphony. The piece was recorded live in concert October 4–6, 2024. 

The San Francisco Symphony began its partnership with Apple Music Classical when the classical music streaming app launched in March 2023. Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Orchestra have previously released 15 spatial audio recordings through Apple Music Classical, including Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique; Anders Hillborg’s Kongsgaard Variations; György Ligeti’s Clocks and Clouds and Ramifications; Elizabeth Ogonek’s Sleep & Unremembrance; Sergei Prokofiev’s Music from Romeo and Juliet; Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome; Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto, featuring Rainer Eudeikis, SF Symphony Principal Cello and Philip S. Boone Chair; Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1, Symphony No. 5, and Finlandia; and Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, The Firebird, and Symphony in Three Movements. Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and The Firebird were each nominated for the Grammy Award® for Best Orchestral Performance in 2024 and 2025, respectively. The San Francisco Symphony Chorus and former Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin’s recording of György Ligeti’s Lux Aeterna, which was nominated for a 2024 Grammy® Award for Best Choral Performance, was also released through Apple Music Classical.   

With Apple Music Classical, Apple Music subscribers can easily find any recording in the world’s largest classical music catalog with fully optimized search; enjoy the highest audio quality available and experience many classical favorites in a whole new way with immersive spatial audio; browse expertly curated playlists, insightful composer biographies, and descriptions of thousands of works; and more. Apple Music Classical is available on the App Store and is included at no extra cost with nearly all Apple Music subscriptions. The combination of Apple Music Classical and Apple Music provides a complete music experience for everyone, from longtime classical fans to first-time listeners, and everyone in between.  

Jason O’Connell is the producer, editing engineer, and mixing engineer for these two new recordings. Jon Johannsen is the recording engineer and Mark Willsher is the mixing and mastering engineer.

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