October 1, 2025
Leading with Openness
Conductors David Afkham and Jun Märkl make their San Francisco Symphony debuts
David Afkham says a conducting debut is like meeting someone new.
“Every orchestra has its own character; to meet that character, that personality through music is very exciting. I’m very much looking forward to meeting the San Francisco Symphony.”
The conductor, who is chief conductor and artistic director of the Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus, makes his San Francisco Symphony debut this month in a program featuring Shostakovich’s devastating Symphony No. 8 and Sergey Khachatryan performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.
“I’m always very open to listening to the qualities, the traditions, the way of playing, the way of making music together. And then it’s all about give and take. I give my ideas, I listen to their ideas, and at the end, it’s something that we have discovered together, and that’s beautiful. I don’t have a specific routine for the first rehearsal. I just introduce myself, and then immediately, we start making music together. That’s why we’re there!”
This may be Afkham’s first visit to Davies Symphony Hall, but not to the City.
“I came to San Francisco a long, long time ago, when I was still in school. My family made a trip out west. I have very beautiful memories of San Francisco, and I really hope I’ll have some time to discover more. That’s also part of our profession as musicians: We are so connected worldwide. It’s beautiful to speak in other languages, to experience new cultures. It should be like that, and to have the opportunity to experience San Francisco, is really a must.”
Story continues below...
“Every orchestra has its own character; to meet that character, that personality through music is very exciting. I’m very much looking forward to meeting the San Francisco Symphony.”
The conductor, who is chief conductor and artistic director of the Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus, makes his San Francisco Symphony debut this month in a program featuring Shostakovich’s devastating Symphony No. 8 and Sergey Khachatryan performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.
“I’m always very open to listening to the qualities, the traditions, the way of playing, the way of making music together. And then it’s all about give and take. I give my ideas, I listen to their ideas, and at the end, it’s something that we have discovered together, and that’s beautiful. I don’t have a specific routine for the first rehearsal. I just introduce myself, and then immediately, we start making music together. That’s why we’re there!”
This may be Afkham’s first visit to Davies Symphony Hall, but not to the City.
“I came to San Francisco a long, long time ago, when I was still in school. My family made a trip out west. I have very beautiful memories of San Francisco, and I really hope I’ll have some time to discover more. That’s also part of our profession as musicians: We are so connected worldwide. It’s beautiful to speak in other languages, to experience new cultures. It should be like that, and to have the opportunity to experience San Francisco, is really a must.”
Story continues below...
Another conductor debuting with the San Francisco Symphony this month is Jun Märkl, who is music director of the Indianapolis Symphony and Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra. Märkl says with a new orchestra, you don’t know at first what the chemistry will be, but he always trusts there will be goodwill on both sides.
“My father [violinist and concertmaster Josef] told me, ‘We musicians can tell after two minutes how the week is going to be!’ It’s the same for me on the podium. But what I always like, and what I find very much in the United States, you start into that relationship with a very open mind, and then you just see how it works. I’m a very positive person and very optimistic person, so then I go with the best I can do and with my joy of making music. And we have a great program!”
While Märkl’s program this month marks his debut, he previously worked with some of the Orchestra’s musicians at the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. “I know what a fantastic orchestra it is, and what they’re capable of.”
Not surprisingly, both Afkham and Märkl come from musical families.
Afkham’s three sisters are musicians (and two of them are also doctors!). His brother Micha is a violist in the Berlin Philharmonic.
“I’m the youngest. It’s wonderful to share music with my family and learn from my siblings. I’ve conducted Micha, and we have a great exchange of ideas. He gives advice, and we talk about music. I’m always grateful to learn from him. I haven’t conducted him with the Berlin Philharmonic yet. I’m still waiting!”
In addition to his concertmaster father, Märkl also studied with two conducting giants, including one with San Francisco Symphony ties.
“Seiji Ozawa, for me, is one of the greatest conductors,” Märkl says of the late musician, who was music director of the Symphony from 1970 to 1977. “His body language was absolutely clear: he could just show how to play.”
Märkl’s experience with Ozawa carried over to his early work in the theater. “I spent maybe the first 25 years of my career in opera, where most of the time you just step in and do the performance without any rehearsal. You have to show everything. That experience with Seiji was a key moment for me.”
Märkl also cites his work with Leonard Bernstein as a formative experience. “It was so inspiring. He taught me that to perform a work, you have to know so much about not only that work, but about the whole story around it, about the composer, about the time, about the other composers at that time, about where the story comes from.”
In his program with the San Francisco Symphony, Märkl leads Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2, with Leonidas Kavakos as soloist, and Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé.
While Daphnis et Chloé has its origins in dance, Märkl is convinced that the work is equally effective as a concert work. “It’s full of colors. Ravel was one of the two or three great masters of instrumentation for orchestra, and Daphnis displays that talent to the fullest.”
Märkl finds that Daphnis subverts the idea of Ravel as a “cool” composer. “This is very passionate, emotional music. Ravel was pushed by the story of these lovers to go to the extreme of what he can express musically. You get some colors and melodic lines and harmonies that you can’t find in his other orchestral music. It’s really fantastic!”
The conductor is looking forward to exploring Daphnis with the San Francisco Symphony, whose history with the work can be traced to the days of Pierre Monteux. “This is a very complicated work, with a lot of inner voices where you have to be really precise; you have to have a feel for this French music. That’s something I think this orchestra can do really well.”
Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 is equally rewarding for Märkl. “For me, there are two really interesting aspects of the Bartók. One is the balance—to get a good balance with the soloist, because the orchestra is sometimes quite intense. And the second is to really understand what the soloist is doing. I want to try to come as close as possible to how Kavakos sees the piece.”
Concerto appearances come together quickly, and Märkl makes a point of meeting with the soloist before the first orchestra rehearsal. “That usually goes very fast, so you have to be prepared and be very quick in trying to understand what the soloist is trying to do. I give [Kavakos] the benefit of his knowledge, and then I try to go with his interpretation.”
Afkham is also conducting a violin concerto on his San Francisco Symphony program, in this case the beloved Tchaikovsky.
“It’s a masterpiece in every aspect. We always have to respect the score, even with music that we all know so well. I take out the score and try to read it as if it’s the first time.”
Afkham looks forward to performing with violinist Sergey Khachatryan, with whom he’s worked several times. “He’s a very refined musician. There is always deep meaning in his playing; it’s not just playing notes. There’s a message that he wants to deliver, and I like that very much. I am very much looking forward to doing the Tchaikovsky with him.”
The second half of the program is Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8.
“It’s definitely one of the darkest pieces that Shostakovich ever wrote,” says Afkham, “a tragic, dramatic piece with a lot of lamenting voices. He composed it very quickly in the summer of 1943, after the Soviet victory over the German army and its horrific siege of Leningrad. There was an expectation that the symphony would celebrate that victory, but Shostakovich was haunted by the horrors of war, and Stalin’s repressive regime.” (The work received a tepid reception from Soviet officials and fell out of the repertoire for more than a decade.)
Shostakovich’s work presents many challenges for a conductor, Afkham says. “It’s such a huge work, a world in itself. It’s my job to transmit the energy, the colors, the atmosphere of the score to the musicians, and through them to the audience, to move their hearts and minds.”
For Afkham, the meaning behind Shostakovich’s work goes deeper than any single performance. “The question is, why are we performing this work; what should it remind us of in our times? This is the important thing; this is the challenge.”
Märkl shares a similar commitment to revealing the greater truths contained within the music. “There are so many layers of experience and knowledge you have to get to really know a work—layers of music, history, and esthetics. Bernstein showed me how universal music is.”
Steve Holt is an arts reporter and Contributing Writer to the San Francisco Symphony program book.
“My father [violinist and concertmaster Josef] told me, ‘We musicians can tell after two minutes how the week is going to be!’ It’s the same for me on the podium. But what I always like, and what I find very much in the United States, you start into that relationship with a very open mind, and then you just see how it works. I’m a very positive person and very optimistic person, so then I go with the best I can do and with my joy of making music. And we have a great program!”
While Märkl’s program this month marks his debut, he previously worked with some of the Orchestra’s musicians at the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. “I know what a fantastic orchestra it is, and what they’re capable of.”
Not surprisingly, both Afkham and Märkl come from musical families.
Afkham’s three sisters are musicians (and two of them are also doctors!). His brother Micha is a violist in the Berlin Philharmonic.
“I’m the youngest. It’s wonderful to share music with my family and learn from my siblings. I’ve conducted Micha, and we have a great exchange of ideas. He gives advice, and we talk about music. I’m always grateful to learn from him. I haven’t conducted him with the Berlin Philharmonic yet. I’m still waiting!”
In addition to his concertmaster father, Märkl also studied with two conducting giants, including one with San Francisco Symphony ties.
“Seiji Ozawa, for me, is one of the greatest conductors,” Märkl says of the late musician, who was music director of the Symphony from 1970 to 1977. “His body language was absolutely clear: he could just show how to play.”
Märkl’s experience with Ozawa carried over to his early work in the theater. “I spent maybe the first 25 years of my career in opera, where most of the time you just step in and do the performance without any rehearsal. You have to show everything. That experience with Seiji was a key moment for me.”
Märkl also cites his work with Leonard Bernstein as a formative experience. “It was so inspiring. He taught me that to perform a work, you have to know so much about not only that work, but about the whole story around it, about the composer, about the time, about the other composers at that time, about where the story comes from.”
In his program with the San Francisco Symphony, Märkl leads Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2, with Leonidas Kavakos as soloist, and Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé.
While Daphnis et Chloé has its origins in dance, Märkl is convinced that the work is equally effective as a concert work. “It’s full of colors. Ravel was one of the two or three great masters of instrumentation for orchestra, and Daphnis displays that talent to the fullest.”
Märkl finds that Daphnis subverts the idea of Ravel as a “cool” composer. “This is very passionate, emotional music. Ravel was pushed by the story of these lovers to go to the extreme of what he can express musically. You get some colors and melodic lines and harmonies that you can’t find in his other orchestral music. It’s really fantastic!”
The conductor is looking forward to exploring Daphnis with the San Francisco Symphony, whose history with the work can be traced to the days of Pierre Monteux. “This is a very complicated work, with a lot of inner voices where you have to be really precise; you have to have a feel for this French music. That’s something I think this orchestra can do really well.”
Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 is equally rewarding for Märkl. “For me, there are two really interesting aspects of the Bartók. One is the balance—to get a good balance with the soloist, because the orchestra is sometimes quite intense. And the second is to really understand what the soloist is doing. I want to try to come as close as possible to how Kavakos sees the piece.”
Concerto appearances come together quickly, and Märkl makes a point of meeting with the soloist before the first orchestra rehearsal. “That usually goes very fast, so you have to be prepared and be very quick in trying to understand what the soloist is trying to do. I give [Kavakos] the benefit of his knowledge, and then I try to go with his interpretation.”
Afkham is also conducting a violin concerto on his San Francisco Symphony program, in this case the beloved Tchaikovsky.
“It’s a masterpiece in every aspect. We always have to respect the score, even with music that we all know so well. I take out the score and try to read it as if it’s the first time.”
Afkham looks forward to performing with violinist Sergey Khachatryan, with whom he’s worked several times. “He’s a very refined musician. There is always deep meaning in his playing; it’s not just playing notes. There’s a message that he wants to deliver, and I like that very much. I am very much looking forward to doing the Tchaikovsky with him.”
The second half of the program is Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8.
“It’s definitely one of the darkest pieces that Shostakovich ever wrote,” says Afkham, “a tragic, dramatic piece with a lot of lamenting voices. He composed it very quickly in the summer of 1943, after the Soviet victory over the German army and its horrific siege of Leningrad. There was an expectation that the symphony would celebrate that victory, but Shostakovich was haunted by the horrors of war, and Stalin’s repressive regime.” (The work received a tepid reception from Soviet officials and fell out of the repertoire for more than a decade.)
Shostakovich’s work presents many challenges for a conductor, Afkham says. “It’s such a huge work, a world in itself. It’s my job to transmit the energy, the colors, the atmosphere of the score to the musicians, and through them to the audience, to move their hearts and minds.”
For Afkham, the meaning behind Shostakovich’s work goes deeper than any single performance. “The question is, why are we performing this work; what should it remind us of in our times? This is the important thing; this is the challenge.”
Märkl shares a similar commitment to revealing the greater truths contained within the music. “There are so many layers of experience and knowledge you have to get to really know a work—layers of music, history, and esthetics. Bernstein showed me how universal music is.”
Steve Holt is an arts reporter and Contributing Writer to the San Francisco Symphony program book.
