Bloch Sacred Service with the SF Symphony and Chorus
May 22, 2027
Overview
During his tenure as director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Swiss-born composer Ernest Bloch wrote his Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service) for a reform synagogue in the city, Congregation Emanu-El. Bloch set most of the text in Hebrew and scored the work lavishly, for a large chorus and orchestra, with soloists. Although he originally intended Avodath Hakodesh as a “great Jewish oratorio,” the deeply spiritual work gestures toward the universal, transcending all theological constraints. Conductor Teddy Abrams and cantor Arik Luck of Congregation Emanu-El join the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus to perform this moving masterpiece for the first time.Presented in partnership with Congregation Emanu-El
Artists
Conductor
Arik Luck
Cantor
Jenny Wong, Chorus Director
San Francisco Symphony
Program
Ernest
Bloch
Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service)
First San Francisco Symphony Performance
Sponsors
Support for the San Francisco Symphony Chorus is provided through the San Francisco Symphony Chorus Endowment Fund, generously established by Peter G. Neumann.
Teddy Abrams
Arik Luck
Jenny Wong
Teddy Abrams
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Conductor
Teddy Abrams, a Grammy Award winner and Musical America’s 2022 conductor of the year, has been the galvanizing force behind the Louisville Orchestra’s artistic renewal since his appointment as music director in September 2014. His Kentucky achievements include the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps, a residency initiative for composers; the In Harmony Tour, a community-building project funded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky; and collaborations with artists including Chris Thile, Jim James, Jack Harlow, Storm Large, and Jecorey “1200” Arthur, with whom Abrams founded the Louisville Orchestra Rap School.
Beyond Louisville, Abrams has conducted leading orchestras in Europe and North America, including the San Francisco Symphony, with whom he debuted as a conductor in 2012. In 2023, Abrams premiered his own composition Mammoth with the Louisville Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave, and in 2024 his piano concerto for Yuja Wang won a Grammy Award. He began a new role as artistic and executive director of the Ojai Music Festival in September 2026.
Abrams first came to the attention of Michael Tilson Thomas when he wrote him a letter at age nine. MTT became a mentor, and they worked together regularly in the years following. Abrams was a conducting fellow at the New World Symphony and he has also been a champion of MTT’s compositions.
Beyond Louisville, Abrams has conducted leading orchestras in Europe and North America, including the San Francisco Symphony, with whom he debuted as a conductor in 2012. In 2023, Abrams premiered his own composition Mammoth with the Louisville Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave, and in 2024 his piano concerto for Yuja Wang won a Grammy Award. He began a new role as artistic and executive director of the Ojai Music Festival in September 2026.
Abrams first came to the attention of Michael Tilson Thomas when he wrote him a letter at age nine. MTT became a mentor, and they worked together regularly in the years following. Abrams was a conducting fellow at the New World Symphony and he has also been a champion of MTT’s compositions.
San Francisco Symphony Chorus
Jenny Wong, Chorus Director
JENNY WONG
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.
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY CHORUS
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 professionals 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).
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.
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY CHORUS
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 professionals 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).
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