Edwin Outwater Conducts the SF Symphony
July 02 & 04, 2021
Overview
The San Francisco Symphony returns for its annual summer performance at Stern Grove Festival, with Edwin Outwater conducting a special Fourth of July concert featuring pianist Aaron Diehl.
Program
John
Williams
Olympic Fanfare and Theme
Morton
Gould
Pavanne from American Symphonette No. 2
Jennifer
Higdon
Cathedrals, from All Things Majestic
Aaron
Copland
Saturday Night Waltz and Hoedown, from Rodeo
Quinn
Mason
Reflection on a Memorial
Carlos
Simon
The Block
George
Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue
John Philip
Sousa
The Stars and Stripes Forever
Return to sfsymphony.org/summervip to purchase additional concerts.
For assistance purchasing multiple concerts, please contact Patron Services at 415.864.6000.
Presented in partnership with
Edwin Outwater
Conductor
Edwin Outwater regularly works with the world’s top orchestras, institutions, and artists to reinvent the concert experience. His ability to cross genres has led to collaborations with Metallica, Wynton Marsalis, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma. He is music director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and music director laureate of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Recent appearances include the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and the New World Symphony, as well as the Royal Philharmonic. He also served as a producer and musical advisor for the National Symphony Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary Concert at the Kennedy Center. In December 2022, he premiered A Christmas Gaiety at the Royal Albert Hall with Peaches Christ and the BBC Concert Orchestra, and returned in 2023.
Outwater has held a long association with San Francisco Symphony. He was appointed Resident Conductor and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra by Michael Tilson Thomas in 2001 and they have been friends and colleagues since.
Recent appearances include the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and the New World Symphony, as well as the Royal Philharmonic. He also served as a producer and musical advisor for the National Symphony Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary Concert at the Kennedy Center. In December 2022, he premiered A Christmas Gaiety at the Royal Albert Hall with Peaches Christ and the BBC Concert Orchestra, and returned in 2023.
Outwater has held a long association with San Francisco Symphony. He was appointed Resident Conductor and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra by Michael Tilson Thomas in 2001 and they have been friends and colleagues since.
Aaron Diehl
![]()
Piano
Since his debut release on Mack Avenue Records in 2013, pianist and composer AARON DIEHL has mystified listeners with his layered artistry. His expression transforms the piano into an orchestral vessel in the spirit of beloved predecessors Ahmad Jamal, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum, and Jelly Roll Morton.
Born in Columbus, OH, Mr. Diehl flourished among family members supportive of his artistic inclinations. His grandfather, pianist and trombonist Arthur Baskerville, inspired him to pursue music. In 2003, he traveled to New York; following his success as a finalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2002 Essentially Ellington competition and a subsequent European tour with Wynton Marsalis, he began studying with Kenny Barron, Eric Reed, and Oxana Yablonskaya, earning a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School.
Mr. Diehl has appeared at the Barbican, Elbphilharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris, Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Village Vanguard, and Ronnie Scott’s. Jazz festival appearances include performances at Detroit, Newport, Atlanta and Monterey, for which he received the 2014 festival commission. Orchestral performances include engagements with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2021. He has also collaborated with some of the music’s most fascinating and enduring figures including Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Buster Williams, Branford Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, and Philip Glass. Recent highlights have included appearing in the New York premiere of Glass’s complete Etudes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and collaborating with flamenco guitarist Dani De Morón in Flamenco Meets Jazz.
Born in Columbus, OH, Mr. Diehl flourished among family members supportive of his artistic inclinations. His grandfather, pianist and trombonist Arthur Baskerville, inspired him to pursue music. In 2003, he traveled to New York; following his success as a finalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2002 Essentially Ellington competition and a subsequent European tour with Wynton Marsalis, he began studying with Kenny Barron, Eric Reed, and Oxana Yablonskaya, earning a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School.
Mr. Diehl has appeared at the Barbican, Elbphilharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris, Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Village Vanguard, and Ronnie Scott’s. Jazz festival appearances include performances at Detroit, Newport, Atlanta and Monterey, for which he received the 2014 festival commission. Orchestral performances include engagements with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2021. He has also collaborated with some of the music’s most fascinating and enduring figures including Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Buster Williams, Branford Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, and Philip Glass. Recent highlights have included appearing in the New York premiere of Glass’s complete Etudes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and collaborating with flamenco guitarist Dani De Morón in Flamenco Meets Jazz.
©2025 San Francisco Symphony | Privacy Statement & Terms and Conditions
