Open Rehearsal
Gaffigan Conducts Beethoven 9
June 18, 2026
Artists
Conductor
Jessica Faselt
Soprano
Kelley O’Connor
Mezzo-soprano
Thomas Cooley
Tenor
Peixin Chen
Bass
San Francisco Symphony
Director, San Francisco Symphony Chorus
Program
Ludwig van
Beethoven
Symphony No. 9
Sponsors
Lead support for the San Francisco Symphony Chorus this season is provided through a visionary gift from an anonymous donor.
These concerts are generously sponsored by the Athena T. Blackburn Endowed Fund for Russian Music.
Open rehearsals are endowed by a bequest from The Estate of Katharine Hanrahan.
These concerts are generously sponsored by the Athena T. Blackburn Endowed Fund for Russian Music.
Open rehearsals are endowed by a bequest from The Estate of Katharine Hanrahan.
Thomas Cooley, tenor
Jenny Wong, SF Symphony Chorus Director
James Gaffigan
Conductor
American conductor James Gaffigan is general music director of Berlin Comic Opera and music director of the Queen Sofía Palace of the Arts in Valencia, Spain. As an orchestral conductor, he regularly works with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, and Metropolitan Opera. In Europe, he has appeared with the London Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Staatskapelle, Czech Philharmonic, Bavarian State Opera, and Vienna State Opera.
Gaffigan’s previous titles include 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, served as Associate Conductor from 2006–09, and returns for three programs next season. He was first prize winner of the 2004 Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition.
Gaffigan’s previous titles include 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, served as Associate Conductor from 2006–09, and returns for three programs next season. He was first prize winner of the 2004 Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition.
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.
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.
