James Gaffigan serves as music director of Komische Oper Berlin, where he begins his third season in 2025–26. Guest engagements this season include returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Music Academy, and Houston Grand Opera. In Europe, he makes return engagements with the NDR Elbphilharmonie, Les Arts Valencia Opera, and the Verbier Festival.

Gaffigan regularly works with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, and Metropolitan Opera, among many others. In Europe, he has appeared with the London Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Norwegian Opera and Ballet, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, and Czech Philharmonic.

Gaffigan’s previous titles include music director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, Spain; principal guest conductor of both the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Opera; chief conductor of the Lucerne Symphony; and assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in December 2006 and served as Associate Conductor from 2006 to 2009. He returns twice in June 2026 for a special concert with Yo-Yo Ma (June 1) as well as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (June 18, 20, 21).
 

Hélène Grimaud is not just a deeply passionate and committed musical artist, but also a wildlife conservationist, a human rights activist, and a writer. She has been an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2002. Her recordings have been awarded numerous accolades, including the Cannes Classical Recording of the Year, Choc du Monde de la musique, Diapason d’or, Grand Prix du disque, Record Academy Prize (Tokyo), Midem Classic Award, and Echo Klassik Award. Her contributions have been recognized by the French government, which admitted her to the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur at the rank of Chevalier.

Recent projects include For Clara, focused on the ties that bound both Robert Schumann and his protégé Brahms to the pianist-composer Clara Schumann. Concert highlights include appearances with the London Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic as part of a residency at the Luxembourg Philharmonie, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Camerata Salzburg. Grimaud was born in Aix-en-Provence, was accepted into the Paris Conservatoire at 13, and won first prize in piano performance three years later. She continued to study with György Sándor and Leon Fleisher until she gave her debut recital in Tokyo in 1987. That same year, Daniel Barenboim invited her to perform with the Orchestre de Paris. She made her San Francisco Symphony debut as a Shenson Young Artist in February 1993.