Verdi Requiem and Gordon Getty
June 20 & 22, 2025
Concert Extras
Exhibit: Composing the World. Head to Davies Symphony Hall’s First Tier lobby for an immersive exhibit exploring how composers Gabriella Smith and Xavier Muzik turn inspiration into sound. On display through June 26.
Artists
James Gaffigan
Conductor
Rachel Willis-Sørensen
Soprano
Jamie Barton
Mezzo-soprano
Mario Chang
Tenor
Morris Robinson
Bass
Director, San Francisco Symphony Chorus
San Francisco Symphony
Program
Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart
Ave verum corpus, K.618
Gordon
Getty
Intermezzo from Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Gordon
Getty
Saint Christopher
Gordon
Getty
The Old Man in the Snow
Giuseppe
Verdi
Requiem
Sponsors
Lead support for the San Francisco Symphony Chorus this season is provided through a visionary gift from an anonymous donor.
The June 20 concert is generously sponsored by Moira Conzelman in memory of her husband Bruce Conzelman.
The June 20 concert is generously sponsored by Moira Conzelman in memory of her husband Bruce Conzelman.
James Gaffigan, conductor
Jenny Wong, Director, SF Symphony Chorus
Rachel Willis-Sørensen, soprano
San Francisco Symphony Chorus
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Mario Chang, tenor
Morris Robinson, bass
Jenny Wong
Director, San Francisco Symphony Chorus
A native of Hong Kong, Jenny Wong is Chorus Director of the San Francisco Symphony and associate artistic director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Her conducting engagements have included the Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series, Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony and Pops, the Industry, Long Beach Opera, Phoenix Chorale, and Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. In 2021, Wong was one of nine national recipients of Opera America’s inaugural Opera Grants for Women Stage Directors and Conductors.
As Chorus Director, Wong has worked with SF Symphony Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and Music Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas, as well as numerous guest conductors. She has also prepared choruses for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony, working with conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Susanna Mälkki, Jonathan Cohen, and Osmo Vänskä, among many others. Wong led the SF Symphony Chorus for the Deutsche Grammophon recording of Kaija Sariaaho’s Adriana Mater, which won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording, and helped prepare the Los Angeles Master Chorale for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, which won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. Together with Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Wong was also awarded the 2022 American Prize in Choral Performance in the Professional Division.
As Chorus Director, Wong has worked with SF Symphony Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and Music Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas, as well as numerous guest conductors. She has also prepared choruses for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony, working with conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Susanna Mälkki, Jonathan Cohen, and Osmo Vänskä, among many others. Wong led the SF Symphony Chorus for the Deutsche Grammophon recording of Kaija Sariaaho’s Adriana Mater, which won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording, and helped prepare the Los Angeles Master Chorale for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, which won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. Together with Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Wong was also awarded the 2022 American Prize in Choral Performance in the Professional Division.
San Francisco Symphony Chorus
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The San Francisco Symphony Chorus was established in 1973 at the request of Seiji Ozawa, then the Symphony’s Music Director. The Chorus, numbering 32 professional and more than 120 volunteer members, now performs more than 26 concerts each season. Louis Magor served as the Chorus’s director during its first decade. In 1982 Margaret Hillis assumed the ensemble’s leadership, and the following year Vance George was named Chorus Director, serving through 2005–06. Ragnar Bohlin concluded his tenure as Chorus Director in 2021, a post he had held since 2007. Jenny Wong was named Chorus Director in September 2023.
The Chorus can be heard on many acclaimed San Francisco Symphony recordings and has received Grammy Awards for Best Performance of a Choral Work (for Orff’s Carmina burana, Brahms’s German Requiem, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8) and Best Classical Album (for a Stravinsky collection and for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 and Symphony No. 8).
To view a San Francisco Symphony Chorus roster, click here.
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