JOSHUA BELL PLAYS SIBELIUS
Overview
Two perennial favorites by Jean Sibelius headline this program led by Dalia Stasevska in her SF Symphony debut. First, Joshua Bell performs Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, one of the greatest showpieces of all time, written by a composer whose first love was the violin. Then, journey through the sun-drenched opening, icy Nordic winds, and defiant national pride of Sibelius’ Second Symphony. The program opens with Anna Meredith’s boldly maximalist Nautilus, which grabs listeners and doesn’t let them look away.
Program
[San Francisco Symphony Premiere]
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 2
DALIA STASEVSKA’S APPEARANCE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE SHENSON YOUNG ARTIST FUND.
The performances of Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 are made possible by the Mr. and Mrs. George J. Otto Sibelius Fund.
Joshua Bell’s appearance is supported by the Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for Guest Artists.
Conductor
Last summer, she released her debut feature album, Dalia’s Mixtape, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, featuring genre-bending composers such as Anna Meredith, Caroline Shaw, Andrea Tarrodi, Noriko Koide, Judith Weir, and Julius Eastman. With the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, she also released two albums on BIS.
Stasevska studied violin and composition at the Tampere Conservatory and went on to study violin, viola, and conducting at the Sibelius Academy. In December 2018, she conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic at the Nobel Prize Ceremony. In 2023, she was named one of The New York Times “Breakout Stars” and received BBC Music Magazine’s Personality of the Year Award. She was previously awarded the Alfred Kordelin Prize and the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Conductor Award. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named her to the Order of Princess Olga, Third Class, and since 2022, she has actively supported Ukraine by raising donations and delivering supplies.
Violin
With a career spanning almost four decades, Grammy Award–winning violinist Joshua Bell has performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world, and continues to maintain engagements as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, conductor, and music director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
Mr. Bell’s highlights this season include an international tour of his newly-commissioned project, The Elements, featuring works by living composers. The work receives its premiere with the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Hong Kong Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and Seattle Symphony. Last summer he released his new album on Sony Classical, Butterfly Lovers. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 1991 as a Shenson Young Artist.
Mr. Bell has been nominated for six Grammy Awards, was named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America, deemed a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, received the Avery Fisher Prize, and was named an Indiana Living Legend. He has performed for three American presidents and the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. He also participated in Barack Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities’ mission to Cuba on an Emmy-nominated PBS Live from Lincoln Center special, “Joshua Bell: Seasons of Cuba,” celebrating renewed cultural diplomacy between Cuba and the United States.
©2025 San Francisco Symphony | Privacy Statement & Terms and Conditions
