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If you would like assistance purchasing tickets for patrons with disabilities, please call the box office at 415-864-6000.
THESE CONCERTS ARE GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY JEROME GUILLEN & JEREMY GALLAHER.
THE MASON BATES PIANO CONCERTO CO-COMMISSION AND ITS SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY PREMIERE PERFORMANCES WERE MADE POSSIBLE IN PART THROUGH THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF
JOSEPH AND
BETTE HIRSCH.
THIS PROJECT IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.
THURSDAY MATINEE CONCERTS ARE ENDOWED BY A GIFT IN MEMORY OF RHODA GOLDMAN.
Event Description
When Mason Bates composed his Piano Concerto, he repeated a simple mantra to himself: Let the soloist shine. Bates could not have chosen a better partner for this SF Symphony Co-Commission and West Coast Premiere than the astoundingly dexterous pianist Daniil Trifonov. Led by Ruth Reinhardt in her SF Symphony debut, the program also includes Lotta Wennäkoski’s Om fotspår och ljus (Of Footprints and Light)—Helsinki Variations and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 5, a work beloved for its natural warmth, singing melodies, and beautiful pastoral scenes.
For more information, including full program notes, visit the San Francisco Symphony’s digital program book platform at sfsymphony.encoreplus.app or text “SFS Concert” to 55741.
At A Glance
Bay Area composer Mason Bates also harkens back to older music in his Piano Concerto, written for Daniil Trifonov and co-commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony. The first two movements evoke the Renaissance and Romantic eras, while the finale is thoroughly contemporary, “alight with mercurial humor and lopsided grooves.”
Antonín Dvořák’s Fifth Symphony is actually a relatively early work, composed just before the breakthrough successes of his Sixth and Seventh symphonies. He wrote it after winning an Austrian State Stipendium—intended to assist young, poor, gifted musicians—and devoting himself full time to composing. An early commentator spoke of its “rustling woods, the song of birds, the fragrance of fields, and the strong breath of nature rejoicing.”
—After notes by Benjamin Pesetsky and James M. Keller
