Press Room

Sep 21, 2021

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—The San Francisco Symphony announces new digital content to be released beginning today on the SFSymphony+ streaming service, now offered free of charge for all viewers. Highlights of the 2021–22 digital season include two signature projects led by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen—LIGETI: PARADIGMS, created in partnership with renowned media artist Refik Anadol and SF Symphony Collaborative Partner and roboticist Carol Reiley, and a new direct-to-digital staged production of Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, directed by Netia Jones.

Three new programs release today on SFSymphony+: SoundBox: Delirium, curated by pianist Jeremy Denk; CURRENTS: Niji 虹 (Rainbow), curated by koto master Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto; and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, Rhenish, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Additional digital projects to be released on SF Symphony+ throughout the season include a variety of orchestral performances and chamber music with San Francisco Symphony musicians and guest artists. All SFSymphony+ content can be viewed for free on-demand via SFSymphonyPlus.org or the SFSymphony+ app.

Signature Digital Projects on SFSymphony+
Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen leads members of the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus in LIGETI: PARADIGMS, a dynamic 30-minute audio and visual exploration of the shifting perspectives in three works of the influential Hungarian composer György Ligeti. In partnership with renowned media artist Refik Anadol and SF Symphony Collaborative Partner and roboticist Carol Reiley, this unique digital concert program pairs SF Symphony performances of Lux Aeterna, Ramifications, and Clocks and Clouds (recorded in COVID-restricted environments) with imagery generated by open-source Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms in their interpretation of Ligeti’s works. The composer’s aesthetic credo of examining and constantly revising sound paradigms is a foundation for merging music, visual art, and machine learning, offering three distinctive narratives filtered through a lens of AI. LIGETI: PARADIGMS premieres November 3 and will remain on SFSymphony+ for free on-demand viewing.

In June 2022, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony release a new staged production of Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, conceived and directed by acclaimed British director, designer, and video artist Netia Jones. The production is designed specifically for the SF Symphony’s SoundBox space, filmed and recorded within live and interactive video across multiple screens and projectors. Interwoven with original video, the program aims to recreate the aesthetic of a 1920’s recording studio and the 1921 Constructivist exhibition 5 x 5 = 25. Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and musicians of the SF Symphony are joined by narrators, actors, and dancers for the direct-to-digital concert program. Other explorations of Stravinsky’s music in the San Francisco Symphony’s 2021-22 Season include live performances of The Rite of Spring and Violin Concerto with Leila Josefowicz, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen (March 10-12, 2022); live performances of a new semi-staged production of Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and directed by Peter Sellars (June 10-12, 2022); and digital releases of Divertimento, 3 Pieces for Solo Clarinet, Elegy for Solo Viola, Concertino for String Quartet, and “Russian Maiden’s Song” on SFSymphony+ (January-March, 2022).

New releases today on SFSymphony+
Curated by pianist Jeremy Denk, SoundBox: Delirium weaves together music that meditates on the nature of the body in states of sorrow and healing, from composers across the ages. The program features music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, Marin Marais, Walter Moloney, Franz Schubert, Missy Mazzoli, Claudio Monteverdi, Darius Milhaud, Arnold Schoenberg, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gabriel Fauré, and Stephen Foster, with performances by Jeremy Denk, tenor Nicholas Phan, mezzo-soprano Silvie Jensen, SF Symphony musicians, and members of the SF Symphony Chorus, directed by Ragnar Bohlin. Jeremy Denk comments, “I hope this program gives a sense of our place in history, at times unsettling, but also finally, comforting.”
 
CURRENTS: Niji 虹 (Rainbow) is curated by koto master Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto and explores the intersection between classical music and Japanese classical musical culture. Conductor Ming Luke and harpist Destiny Muhammad join Shirley Muramoto and SF Symphony musicians in a program that celebrates the power of an instrument to connect across genres and reflect the endless diversity of our community, featuring the elegant sounds of Japanese koto in dialogue with music written by Muramoto. Shirley Muramoto expresses, “I called [this program] 'Niji' because it represents a rainbow of different people and different things in the Bay Area that I’ve had the fortune to connect with and collaborate with and share music with.” The San Francisco Symphony dedicates this CURRENTS episode to Oakland Symphony Music Director Laureate and original CURRENTS Host and Curator Michael Morgan (1957-2021).
 
Rounding out today’s new releases on SFSymphony+ is Robert Schumann’s euphoric portrait of the Rhineland, Symphony No. 3, Rhenish, recorded live in June 2021 at Davies Symphony Hall with Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the San Francisco Symphony.
 
Coming to SFSymphony+ this season
Other highlights of the 2021–22 SFSymphony+ season include a program devoted to the music of Giovanni Gabrieli; a season-long focus on the symphonies of Franz Joseph Haydn, with three separate digital releases of his Symphonies Nos. 6–8; chamber music performances with SF Symphony musicians, including a program featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performing works by Gabriel Fauré, Antonín Dvořák, George Gershwin, and Bill Evans; and performances of music by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Edvard Grieg, Jessie Montgomery, Carl Nielsen, Charles Ives, Jean Sibelius, Richard Strauss, and Igor Stravinsky.
 
About SFSymphony+
SFSymphony+ (SFSymphony Plus) is the San Francisco Symphony’s free on-demand video streaming service, launched in February 2021. All content released during the 2020–21 season remains available for viewing on SFSymphony+. This includes seven SoundBox programs; eight episodes of CURRENTS; Throughline: San Francisco Symphony—From Hall to Home; the Día de los Muertos, Deck the Hall, and 2021 Chinese New Year: Year of the Ox virtual celebrations; and Playing Changes, presented in partnership with Post:ballet.
 
SFSymphony+ is available for free browser-based streaming worldwide on sfsymphonyplus.org, via TV services including Apple TV, Amazon FireTV, Chromecast, Roku, and smart TVs, and can be downloaded as an app via Apple App Store, Amazon Firestick, Google Play – Android, and Google Play – TV.
 
Video Capture at Davies Symphony Hall
Helping to make these intricate video productions possible is a new Panasonic 4K Robotic Camera System, featuring 12 cameras, two telescoping camera stands, and a Tecnopoint robotic slider. With the Green Room at Davies Symphony Hall converted into a state-of-the-art video suite, the Panasonic Camera System gives the ability to capture high-quality video in three spaces simultaneously—the Davies Symphony Hall stage, SoundBox, and an additional small studio space in the building.

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