Summer Classics
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
July 16 & 17, 2026
Overview
Nicolas Ellis conducts a Shakespeare-inspired program featuring Mendelssohn’s magical music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Tchaikovsky’s impassioned Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy-Overture. Violinist Geneva Lewis contrasts Vaughan Williams’s tranquil The Lark Ascending with the fiery Carmen Fantasy, a perfect match for a summer night.Part of SUMMER WITH THE SYMPHONY.
Concert Extras
When you’re at Davies Symphony Hall, cool off with refreshing lemonade (with or without alcohol) and summer-perfect dessert specials at the lobby bar. Stop by our summer photo station in the lobby and snap a pic with your friends!
Lobby Exhibit: Michael Tilson Thomas—A Maestro for San Francisco. Head to Davies Symphony Hall’s First Tier lobby for a photo exhibit exploring Michael Tilson Thomas’s transformative tenure with the San Francisco Symphony. On display through August 1.
Lobby Exhibit: Michael Tilson Thomas—A Maestro for San Francisco. Head to Davies Symphony Hall’s First Tier lobby for a photo exhibit exploring Michael Tilson Thomas’s transformative tenure with the San Francisco Symphony. On display through August 1.
Program
Richard Wagner
(arr. Zumpe)Forest Murmurs from Siegfried
Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Lark AscendingFranz Waxman
(ed. Heifetz)Carmen Fantasy
Felix Mendelssohn
Music from A Midsummer Night’s DreamPiotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy-Overture
Geneva Lewis
SF Symphony
Nicolas Ellis
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Conductor
Nicolas Ellis is music director of Orchestre National de Bretagne, principal guest conductor of Les Violons du Roy, and artistic director of Orchestre de l’Agora, which he founded in Montreal in 2013.
This season, Ellis debuted with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, the Orchestra of Opéra National de Lorraine, Baltimore Symphony, and Seattle Symphony. He returned for subscription concerts with the Vancouver Symphony and Sydney Symphony.
Highlights of previous seasons include performances with the Tampere Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. In the opera field, he has appeared with Opéra de Montréal, Opéra de Québec, Graz Opera, and Opéra de Rennes. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut with this program.
This season, Ellis debuted with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, the Orchestra of Opéra National de Lorraine, Baltimore Symphony, and Seattle Symphony. He returned for subscription concerts with the Vancouver Symphony and Sydney Symphony.
Highlights of previous seasons include performances with the Tampere Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. In the opera field, he has appeared with Opéra de Montréal, Opéra de Québec, Graz Opera, and Opéra de Rennes. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut with this program.
Geneva Lewis
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Violin
American and New Zealander Geneva Lewis was a BBC New Generation Artist and the recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She was also the grand prize winner of the 2020 Concert Artists Guild Competition and the winner of the Kronberg Academy’s Prince of Hesse Prize.
In 2023, Lewis made her BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She has also collaborated with the BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Auckland Philharmonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orquestra Filarmonica de Minas Gerais, Atlanta Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and Vancouver Symphony. This season included performances with Kremerata Baltica, Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Utah Symphony, and Santa Rosa Symphony, among others. She makes her San Francisco Symphony debut with this performance.
Lewis received her artist diploma from New England Conservatory and went on to the Professional Studies Program at the Kronberg Academy. She currently performs on a composite violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, ca. 1776, generously on loan from a charitable trust.
In 2023, Lewis made her BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She has also collaborated with the BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Auckland Philharmonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orquestra Filarmonica de Minas Gerais, Atlanta Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and Vancouver Symphony. This season included performances with Kremerata Baltica, Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Utah Symphony, and Santa Rosa Symphony, among others. She makes her San Francisco Symphony debut with this performance.
Lewis received her artist diploma from New England Conservatory and went on to the Professional Studies Program at the Kronberg Academy. She currently performs on a composite violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, ca. 1776, generously on loan from a charitable trust.
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