SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Guest conductors Jane Glover, Cristian Măcelaru, and Dalia Stasevska lead the San Francisco Symphony in three weeks of concerts at Davies Symphony Hall during the month of April.

April 13–15: Music for the Royal Fireworks
On April 13–15, Music Director of Music of the Baroque Jane Glover returns to conduct the SF Symphony for the first time since December 2018. The program highlights Johann Sebastian Bach’s cheerful Magnificat, featuring the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Featured Chorus soloists include sopranos Cheryl Cain and Morgan Balfour (both of whom are making their Orchestral Series solo debuts), mezzo-soprano Leandra Ramm, tenor Michael Jankosky, and bass Matthew Peterson. Originally adapted from a concerto for two harpsichords, Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin in D minor is performed by San Francisco Symphony Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik and Principal Oboe Eugene Izotov. The program also features the first SF Symphony performances of Stacy Garrop’s Spectacle of Light, a piece inspired by a drawing of a 1749 fireworks spectacle on the River Thames. The final piece of these concerts, George Frideric Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks, was written for that same 1749 fireworks event, which celebrated the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and the end of the War of the Austrian Succession.

April 21–23: Cristian Măcelaru Conducts Shostakovich
The April 21–23 concerts are conducted by Music Director of Orchestre National de France and Chief Conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cristian Măcelaru. The program includes selections from Wynton Marsalis’ Blues Symphony, marking the San Francisco Symphony’s first performances of music from this work. “The blues helps you remember back before the troubles on hand and in mind and they carry you on the wings of angels to a timeless higher ground,” says Marsalis about the piece. The concerts also highlight the United States premiere of Outi Tarkiainen’s Milky Ways, commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony for SF Symphony English horn player Russ de Luna. Tarkiainen says about the work, “Transporting us through the concerto is the hypnotic sound of the cor anglais that soars from Mother Earth to the celestial Milky Way; to the sweet, solid, loving cradle of life.” The program concludes with Symphony No. 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich, who, at age 19, wrote the work as a graduation exercise at the Petrograd Conservatory.

April 27–30: Joshua Bell Plays Sibelius
On April 27–30, Chief Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra Dalia Stasevska makes her Orchestral Series debut leading the SF Symphony in a program featuring violinist Joshua Bell. The concerts open with the first SF Symphony performances of Anna Meredith’s intense fanfare Nautilus, heard here in a version for full orchestra. Joshua Bell joins the Symphony to perform Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, the only concerto that Sibelius ever wrote. The program concludes with Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, originally conceptualized as a series of tone poems.

CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE: 

Tickets
Tickets for concerts at Davies Symphony can be purchased via sfsymphony.org or by calling the San Francisco Symphony Box Office at 415-864-6000.   

Location 
Davies Symphony Hall is located at 201 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.  

Health & Safety Information 
Davies Symphony Hall is currently operating at full audience capacity. Based on the advice of the San Francisco Symphony’s Health and Safety Task Force, a face covering and vaccination against COVID-19 are strongly recommended but no longer required for entry into Davies Symphony Hall. These policies are subject to change. Visit sfsymphony.org/safety for the San Francisco Symphony’s complete up-to-date health and safety protocols.  

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