San Francisco Symphony November 2024 Programming

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—The San Francisco Symphony’s November programming lineup features three Orchestral Series programs conducted by guest conductors. November 7–9, Nicholas Collon makes his Orchestral Series debut conducting Thomas Adès’ Three-piece Suite from Powder Her Face, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Conrad Tao, and Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. On November 15–17, Kazuki Yamada makes his Orchestral Series debut in a program featuring Dai Fujikura’s Entwine, Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major with Hélène Grimaud, and Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem with soprano Liv Redpath, baritone Michael Sumuel, and the SF Symphony Chorus. November 21–23, Bernard Labadie conducts an all-Mozart program featuring soprano Lucy Crowe. 

On November 2, the Symphony presents its 17th annual Día de los Muertos program, conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto and featuring trumpeter Pacho Flores. The concert is preceded by a festive array of family-friendly activities and followed by the ¡Fiesta! Día de los Muertos fundraiser. 

November features three favorite films performed live-to-picture by the San Francisco Symphony: Disney/Pixar’s Coco, conducted by Conner Gray Covington on November 1; Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick, conducted by Ben Palmer on November 26; and Miloš Forman’s Amadeus, conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos and featuring the SF Symphony Chorus on November 29–30.  

On November 10, violinist Itzhak Perlman is joined by an all-star group of collaborators including pianists Emanuel Ax and Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the Juilliard String Quartet, for Itzhak Perlman & Friends. SF Symphony musicians perform an afternoon chamber program the same day, featuring works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Maurice Ravel, and Richard Strauss.  

The month also features Wattis Foundation Music Director Radu Paponiu’s debut performance with the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra November 24 in a program featuring works by Leonard Bernstein, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Takashi Yoshimatsu’s Cyber Bird Concerto with 2024 SFSYO Concerto Competition winner, saxophonist Harry Jo.  

Orchestral Series
November 7–9: Enigma Variations
Nicholas Collon, Founder and Principal Conductor of Aurora Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony, makes his Orchestral Series debut in a concert featuring the first San Francisco Symphony performances of Thomas Adès’ Three-piece Suite from the chamber opera Powder Her Face. Pianist Conrad Tao joins Collon and the Orchestra to perform Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a piece packed with memorable melodies and generous with virtuosic display. The program closes with Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, each variation depicting one of Elgar’s friends.  

November 15–17: Fauré’s Requiem
Kazuki Yamada, Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Artistic and Music Director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, makes his Orchestral Series debut conducting the United States premiere of Entwine by Dai Fujikura. Written as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fujikura’s work is about “the physical touch we can no longer take for granted... Something we have all missed since the beginning of 2020, and something we now realize is what all humans need to live to the next day.” Pianist Hélène Grimaud performs Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, which, according to Ravel, was “written very much in the same spirit as [concertos by] Mozart and Saint-Saëns.” One of Gabriel Fauré’s best-known works, the Requiem features soprano Liv Redpath, who makes her Orchestral Series debut in these performances; baritone Michael Sumuel; and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.  

November 21–23: Labadie Conducts Mozart
Bernard Labadie, Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Music Director of La Chapelle de Québec, conducts an all-Mozart program featuring the Orchestral Series debut of soprano Lucy Crowe, who performs hidden gems from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Italian- and German-language repertoire. The program also includes Symphony No. 39, one of three late Mozart symphonies that profoundly shaped the direction of the genre. 

Special Event
November 2: Día de los Muertos
Carlos Miguel Prieto, Music Director of the North Carolina Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, and Orchestra of the Americas, conducts the San Francisco Symphony’s 17th annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration, featuring music by Carlos Chávez, Juan Pablo Contreras, José Pablo Moncayo, and Gabriela Ortiz. Trumpeter Pacho Flores also joins the Symphony to perform a concerto by Paquito D’Rivera. The concert is preceded by a festive array of family-friendly activities and followed by the ¡Fiesta! Día de los Muertos fundraiser.  

Every year leading up to the Symphony’s Day of the Dead celebration, the lobbies of Davies Symphony Hall are transformed with immersive art installations and altars built by local artists to honor the living and the deceased. Curated by longtime SF Symphony collaborator Martha Rodríguez-Salazar, this year’s event honors Mexico City’s most recognized 19th-century and 20th-century artists: José Guadalupe Posada, Diego Rivera, and Frida Kahlo.

Film Series
November 1: Coco—Film with Live Orchestra 
Conner Gray Covington makes his San Francisco Symphony debut conducting Disney/Pixar’s Coco live-to-picture. Coco, which was directed by Lee Unkrich with a score composed by Michael Giacchino, features original songs by Germaine Franco, Adrian Molina, and Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. The animated film tells the story of a young boy who journeys through the Land of the Dead to find his deceased great-great-grandfather.  

November 26: Top Gun: Maverick—Film with Live Orchestra 
Ben Palmer conducts Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun; Maverick live-to-picture, featuring a score composed by Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga, and Hans Zimmer. Starring Tom Cruise, the 2022 action drama is a sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun. Palmer makes his San Francisco Symphony debut in this concert. 

November 29–30: Amadeus—Film with Live Orchestra
Constantine Kitsopoulos conducts Miloš Forman’s Amadeus live-to-picture, joined by the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Featuring music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the film depicts a fictionalized version of the rivalry between Mozart and composer Antonio Salieri. 

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra 
November 24: San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra 
Wattis Foundation Music Director Radu Paponiu conducts his first concert with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra on Sunday, November 10. The program features saxophonist Harry Jo, winner of the 2024 SFSYO Concerto Competition, in Takashi Yoshimatsu’s Cyber Bird Concerto along with Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to Candide and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. 

Great Performers Series & Chamber Series
November 10: Chamber Music at Davies Symphony Hall 
In this chamber concert, San Francisco Symphony musicians perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (arranged for string trio), Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel einmal anders!, Maurice Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman,” K.265. 

November 10: Itzhak Perlman & Friends
Violinist Itzhak Perlman returns to Davies Symphony Hall with Itzhak Perlman & Friends, featuring an all-star lineup of collaborators including pianists Emanuel Ax and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and the Juilliard String Quartet. The performance includes Ernest Chausson’s Concert for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet; Jean-Marie Leclair’s Sonata for Two Violins in E minor; and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, K.493. 

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