San Francisco May 2025 Programming

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—The San Francisco Symphony’s May programming lineup features four Orchestral Series programs led by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and guest conductors Giancarlo Guerrero and Dalia Stasevska, a performance by pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Michael Feinstein with the SF Symphony, and a Shenson Spotlight Series recital by pianist Tony Siqi Yun. The month also includes a concert featuring award-winning singer Jon Batiste, as well as live-to-picture film series performances of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, a chamber music concert at the Legion of Honor, and the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra’s final performance of the 2024–25 season, with Wattis Foundation Music Director Radu Paponiu.

Orchestral Series
May 2–3: Guerrero Conducts Pines of Rome
Giancarlo Guerrero, Music Director of the Nashville Symphony, conducts the first SF Symphony performances of Asteroid 4179: Toutatis by Kaija Saariaho, who first became intrigued by Toutatis when she discovered that its orbit was close to Earth. She wrote, “I started to find its unusual shape and complex rotation interesting... Toutatis does not have a fixed north pole like the Earth... so Toutatis doesn’t have anything you could call a ‘day.’” The Orchestra also performs the 1947 version of Igor Stravinsky’s dramatic ballet score Petrushka and Ottorino Respighi’s Fountains of Rome, a tone poem depicting the Fountain of Trevi, the Fountain at the Villa Medici, and more. The program closes with one of Respighi’s most popular works, Pines of Rome, which premiered in 1924 after Fountains of Rome.

May 15–17: Stasevska Conducts Sibelius 5
Dalia Stasevska, Chief Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, leads the Orchestra in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ evocative Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Johannes Moser joins Stasevska and the Orchestra to perform the world premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Before we fall, an SF Symphony commission. The composer describes the work’s core inspiration as “the notion of teetering on the edge, of balancing on the verge of a multitude of opposites. The musical structure flows between lyricism and a sense of distorted energy.” Read more about Before we fall. Stasevska also conducts Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5, which features rich orchestral textures, bold brass proclamations, and a final movement inspired by serene scenes of Nordic swans.

May 23–25: Salonen Conducts The Firebird
The San Francisco Symphony’s 2024–25 season culminates in four weeks of programs led by Esa-Pekka Salonen, May 23–June 14, marking the end of his tenure as Music Director. May 23–25, Salonen conducts the first SF Symphony performances of Chorale by Magnus Lindberg, a longtime friend and collaborator of Salonen. Isabelle Faust joins Salonen and the Orchestra to perform Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, which the composer dedicated to the memory of Manon Gropius, the daughter of Gustav Mahler’s widow, who passed away at 18 years old. The program closes with Igor Stravinsky’s vibrant The Firebird, based on Russian folklore. Released on Apple Music Classical in 2024, Salonen and the SF Symphony’s recording of The Firebird was nominated for the 2025 Grammy® Award for Best Orchestral Performance.

May 29–June 1: Esa-Pekka Salonen & Hilary Hahn
Salonen leads the Orchestra in Ludwig van Beethoven’s relaxed and cheerful Symphony No. 4, originally commissioned for a Silesian count. Robert Schumann poetically captured the Fourth’s relationship to its more heavyweight neighbors when he called it “a slender Grecian maiden between two Nordic giants.” Hilary Hahn joins Salonen and the Orchestra for Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, his first and only violin concerto, seldom performed during his lifetime. Luckily, 17 years after his death, it was rescued from obscurity by Joseph Joachim and Felix Mendelssohn, who, as soloist and conductor, performed it so persuasively that it became an instant staple of the concert repertoire, as it has remained ever since. 

Special Event
May 18: Live Nation and SF Symphony Present Jon Batiste Maestro Tour
Multi-Grammy and Academy Award-winner Jon Batiste presents a performance at Davies Symphony Hall as part of his Maestro Tour, a uniquely intimate concert experience showcasing his genre-defying artistry. In this performance, he seamlessly melds styles at the piano, reinventing his own catalog alongside classical music, Black American musical traditions, contemporary pop, stream-of-consciousness experimental improvisations, and more. Maestro Tour comes during a landmark year for the visionary musician, following his recent Grammy wins—including Best Music Film for the critically acclaimed Netflix documentary American Symphony and Best Song Written for Visual Media for “It Never Went Away” from the film; his National Anthem performance at the 2025 Super Bowl; and the debut of MY UNITED STATE, a two-track project exploring his personal identity through the filter of the American identity. The San Francisco Symphony does not appear in this concert.

This concert is sold out. Limited numbers of returned tickets may become available; check Ticketmaster for current information.

Great Performers Series
May 20: Thibaudet & Feinstein with the SF Symphony
Pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Michael Feinstein perform their innovative program Two Pianos: Who Could Ask for Anything More?, exploring the musical world of George Gershwin, with conductor Keith Lockhart and the San Francisco Symphony. The concert showcases music spanning the 20th century world of classical music and the Great American Songbook, presented with historical and social commentary and anecdotes.

Shenson Spotlight Series
May 21: Tony Siqi Yun
Pianist Tony Siqi Yun performs a solo recital including Johannes Brahms’ Theme and Variations in D minor, Opus 18b; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Appassionata; Ferruccio Busoni’s Berceuse from Elegies, and Robert Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes. In 2019, Yun won First Prize and a Gold Medal at the inaugural China International Music Competition performing Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. In the 2024–25 season, Yun debuts with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and the Nashville Symphony. 

Film Series
May 8–10: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers–Film with Live Orchestra
Ludwig Wicki conducts Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers live-to-picture in a program featuring the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and the Pacific Boychoir Academy. With a score composed by Howard Shore, the 2002 fantasy adventure is the second installment of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, as the Fellowship of the Ring continues their quest to destroy the One Ring.

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra
May 18: San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra
Wattis Foundation Music Director Radu Paponiu conducts the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra in its final performance of the 2024-25 season. The concert features Anna Clyne’s This Midnight Hour, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Petite Suite de concert, and Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.

Chamber Series
May 11: Chamber Music at Gunn Theater at Legion of Honor
This chamber music program at the Gunn Theater at the Legion of Honor features SF Symphony Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik, former Symphony cellist Peter Wyrick, and guest pianist Anton Nel performing Joseph Haydn’s Piano Trio in G major, Hob.XV:25; Frank Bridge’s Phantasie for Piano Trio; and Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor.

Community Chamber Concert Series
May 3: San Francisco Public Library Merced Branch
The San Francisco Symphony's free Community Chamber Concert series features small ensembles from the Symphony performing at community spaces across San Francisco. These concerts are an opportunity for audiences to get to know SF Symphony musicians and see them perform in an intimate setting. On May 3 from 2:00–3:00pm at the San Francisco Public Library’s Merced Branch, San Francisco Symphony musicians Barbara Bogatin (Blair Cello Chair) and Raushan Akhmedyarova (Second Violin) perform a Community Chamber Concert featuring classical and folk selections from a range of composers and engage in a Q&A with the audience. All Community Chamber Concerts are free and open to the public. See the full list of upcoming concerts. 

[To view or download the full PDF version of this press release with calendar listings, click on DOWNLOAD PDF]