Gardner Conducts The Planets
January 15, 16 & 17, 2026
Overview
Violinist Randall Goosby returns to the San Francisco Symphony for an Edward Gardner–led program featuring Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto. Although Bruch lived to be 82 and produced an impressive catalogue of music, he never wrote anything as enduringly popular as his First Violin Concerto. It was an immediate hit, interspersing Hungarian-spiced licks with plenty of crowd-pleasing passagework. Gustav Holst had many esoteric interests, including astrology. The seven movements of The Planets, his best-known composition, range from the brutal rhythms and spooky effects of “Mars, the Bringer of War” to the dissonance and tolling bells of “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age,” and the closer, “Neptune, the Mystic,” which calls to mind an Impressionist painting of outer space.Concert Extras
A preconcert talk will be presented from the stage one hour before the concert. Free to all ticketholders.
Artists
Edward Gardner
Conductor
Randall Goosby
Violin
San Francisco Symphony Chorus
Director, San Francisco Symphony Chorus
San Francisco Symphony
Program
Ralph Vaughan
Williams
Overture from The Wasps
First SF Symphony Performances
Max
Bruch
Violin Concerto No. 1
Gustav
Holst
The Planets
Sponsors
Lead support for the San Francisco Symphony Chorus this season is provided through a visionary gift from an anonymous donor.
Randall Goosby, violin
San Francisco Symphony
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.
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