Honeck Leads the SF Symphony in Strauss, Jr. & Schumann

February 22, 23 & 24, 2019

Overview

Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck returns to the SF Symphony to lead a program of ballroom elegance and intoxicating Romanticism. Hear a bevy of spirited works by the Viennese “King of the Waltz” Johann Strauss Jr., as well as the sumptuous Overture to his operetta Die Fledermaus. Also on the program: Schumann’s enchanting Piano Concerto, performed by acclaimed German pianist Lars Vogt; The Dragonfly (a polka-mazurka by Strauss, Jr.'s brother Josef); and Von Suppé‘s glittering Overture to Poet and Peasant.

Complimentary shuttle service will not be available for this concert. We apologize for this interruption.

Concert Extras

Inside Music: an informative talk by Laura Stanfield Prichard, begins one hour prior to concerts. Free to ticketholders; doors open 15 minutes before. Learn More.

Off-The-Podium: a post-concert Q & A opportunity for the audience to ask questions of Lars Vogt on February 22 and 23. There will not be a post-concert Q&A following the Sunday matinee on February 24, 2019.

Post-Concert: Lars Vogt February 23-24 will sign CD's following the concert in the Orchestra lobby.

At a Glance

SUPPÉ Overture to Poet and Peasant 1846 | 9 mins

JOSEPH STRAUSS The Dragonfly, Polka Mazurka, Opus 2014 1866 | 5 mins

J. STRAUSS, Jr.

Overture to Die Fledermaus 1874 | 9 mins

Furioso Polka, Opus 260 1861 | 2 mins

Voices of Spring Waltz, Opus 410 1883 | 7 mins

On the Hunt, Quick Polka, Opus 373 1875 | 2 mins

In Krapfen’s Woods, French Polka, Opus 336 1869 | 4 mins

Thunder and Lightning, Quick Polka, Opus 324 1868 | 3 mins

Franz von Suppé is credited with establishing the genre of Viennese operetta, as distinct from contemporaneous French operettas by Offenbach and others. Although Suppé was an esteemed conductor at Vienna’s leading opera houses and many of his operettas were hits, he never reached quite the height of Johann Strauss, Jr. The eldest son of renowned composer and band leader Johann Strauss, Strauss, Jr. struck it big at nineteen when he made his first public appearance conducting his own ensemble in his own music. He went on to compose almost 500 pieces of dance music (earning the well-deserved nickname “The Waltz King”) as well as numerous operettas. His most enduring work is Die Fledermaus, which charmed audiences with its story of extramarital flirtation, spousal disguise, and clever revenge, all of which is washed down with a stream of laughter and a river of champagne. Strauss, Jr.’s younger brother Josef Strauss did not at first seem pointed toward music, becoming, among other things, an accomplished visual artist and landscape architect. Eventually he too was drawn to the family business, emerging as a bandleader and dance composer, particularly adept with waltzes and polkas.

SCHUMANN Piano Concerto in A minor 1845 | 31 mins

What makes for a great piano concerto? In 1839 Schumann wrote: “[W]e must await the genius who will show us in a newer and more brilliant way how orchestra and piano may be combined, how the soloist, dominant at the keyboard, may unfold the wealth of his instrument and his art, while the orchestra, no longer a mere spectator, may interweave its manifold facets into the scene.” That much-awaited genius would end up being Schumann himself. In 1841, he composed a one-movement Concert Phantasie for Piano and Orchestra. It didn’t make a huge splash, yet was also too good to abandon. Four years later Schumann went back and revised it into the first movement of his Piano Concerto in A minor. Now one of his most popular pieces, listeners will be struck by how much the piano and the orchestra interact.

Steven Ziegler is Managing Editor and Jeanette Yu is Editorial Director of the San Francisco Symphony.

Artists

Manfred Honeck

Conductor

San Francisco Symphony

Lars Vogt

Piano

Program

Robert Schumann

Piano Concerto

von Suppé

Overture to Poet and Peasant

Johann Strauss II

Overture to Die Fledermaus

J. Strauss

The Dragonfly, Polka Mazurka

Johann Strauss II

Furioso Polka

Johann Strauss II

Voices of Spring Waltz

Johann Strauss II

In Krapfen's Woods, French Polka

Johann Strauss II

Thunder and Lightning, Quick Polka

Johann Strauss II

On the Hunt, Quick Polka

Honeck Leads the SF Symphony in Strauss, Jr. & Schumann

Piano

Lars Vogt

Born in Düren, Germany in 1970, pianist Lars Vogt first came to attention when he won second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2001.

Mr. Vogt was appointed Music Director of Royal Northern Sinfonia at Sage Gateshead in 2015. With the orchestra he has performed concerts in Amsterdam, Vienna, Budapest, Istanbul, and Tokyo, and made regular visits to the La Roque d'Antheron International Piano Festival and Festival de Musique de Menton in France, and the Rheingau Festival in Germany. In 2017 they performed a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle in Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul. The cycle was also recorded for the Ondine label.

In the 2018-19 season season Mr. Vogt makes conducting debuts with the Singapore and New Zealand symphonies, Warsaw Philharmonic, and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Previous conducting collaborations include appearances with the Cologne and Zurich chamber orchestras, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Hannover Opera Orchestra, Frankfurt Museumsorchester, and Sydney Symphony. Engagements as a pianist this season include concerts with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw and with the Saint Louis and Baltimore symphonies. He returns to North America in spring 2019 for a tour with Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff with appearances at Carnegie Hall, and in Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Vancouver. He also performs recitals in London, Salzburg, Barcelona, and Beijing.

Mr. Vogt's recordings for the Ondine label include solo discs of works by Schubert and Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and chamber music releases such as Brahms, Mozart, and Schumann sonatas with Christian Tetzlaff, and a Grammy-nominated disc of Brahms piano trios with Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff. Previously Mr. Vogt recorded more than ten discs on the EMI label, including Hindemith’s Kammermusik No. 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic, and concertos of Schumann, Grieg, and Beethoven with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He has also recorded a charming recording of Larcher, Schumann, and Bartók works for children for the CAvi label; Mozart’s concertos with Mozarteumorchester Salzburg for Oehms Classics; and solo Liszt and Schumann for Berlin Classics.

In 2005 Mr. Vogt established the educational program Rhapsody in School which brings his colleagues to schools across Germany and Austria, connecting children with world-class musicians. In 2013 he was appointed professor of piano at the Hannover Conservatory of Music, succeeding Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, his former teacher and close friend. Mr. Vogt lives in Berlin with his wife, the violinist Anna Reszniak, and his family.

(February 2019)

Honeck Leads the SF Symphony in Strauss, Jr. & Schumann

Overview

Concert Extras

At a Glance

Sponsors

Honeck Leads the SF Symphony in Strauss, Jr. & Schumann

Honeck Leads the SF Symphony in Strauss, Jr. & Schumann