ROBIN TICCIATI CONDUCTS MAHLER 4

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Artists

Robin Ticciati

Conductor

Alina Ibragimova

Violin

Ying Fang

Soprano

San Francisco Symphony

program

Violin Concerto
[San Francisco Symphony Premiere]

Jörg Widmann

Symphony No. 4

Gustav Mahler

All sound clips are from San Francisco Symphony performances and are used with permission of the SFS Players Committee.

performances

Davies Symphony Hall

Fri, Jan 20, 2023 at 7:30PM

Davies Symphony Hall

Sat, Jan 21, 2023 at 7:30PM

Davies Symphony Hall

Sun, Jan 22, 2023 at 2:00PM

If you would like assistance purchasing tickets for patrons with disabilities, please call the box office at 415-864-6000.

These performances of Jörg Widmann’s Violin Concerto are supported by the Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for New Works of Music.

Ying Fang’s appearance is supported by the Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for Guest Artists.

Event Description

Opening with jingling bells and a rustic melody, Gustav Mahler’s Fourth Symphony dances towards its glowing finale, heard here with debuting conductor Robin Ticciati and soprano Ying Fang. Violinist Alina Ibragimova makes her SF Symphony debut in Jörg Widmann’s contemporary Violin Concerto, where soloist and orchestra contend with each other until finally settling their differences in a harrowing conclusion.

At A Glance

Jörg Widmann often evokes connections with earlier German and Austrian composers. True to form, his Violin Concerto sounds as if it is sprung from Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto (1935), a modern monument it eerily resembles in its bridging between tonality and atonality, its voluptuous harmonies, its opulent orchestration, and its constantly transforming melodies.

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 is perhaps his brightest and leanest symphony, opening with sleighbells and ending with a tremendous song called Das himmlische Leben (Life in Heaven). Still, Death makes an appearance in the second movement, playing a devilish folksong on the fiddle.