These concerts are generously sponsored by the Athena T. Blackburn Endowed Fund for Russian Music.
Inside Music talks are supported in memory of Horacio Rodriguez.
Tchaikovsky Pathétique
March 5, 6 & 7, 2027
Overview
Calling his Pathétique Symphony “the best thing I ever composed or shall compose,” Tchaikovsky claimed that he put his “whole soul into this work.” Listen as the music twists its way through moments of touching tenderness and overwhelming passion before arriving at a deeply introspective finale. Conductor Manfred Honeck pairs Tchaikovsky’s swan song with two 20th-century works. Schulhoff’s Five Pieces is a sublime mash-up of Czech folk, Latin American dance, American jazz, and European neoclassicism. Alexi Kenney performs Berg’s urgently expressive Violin Concerto, the composer’s last completed score and probably his most famous. It functions both as an elegy for a surrogate daughter who died too soon, and as a requiem for himself.Concert Extras
An Inside Music Talk will be presented on stage one hour before each concert. Free to all ticketholders.
Program
Erwin
Schulhoff
(arr. Manfred Honeck)
Five Pieces
Five Pieces
First San Francisco Symphony Performances
Alban
Berg
Violin Concerto
Piotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 6, Pathétique
Sponsors
Alexi Kenney
San Francisco Symphony
Manfred Honeck
Conductor
Manfred Honeck is currently in his 18th season as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony. His tenure, extended through the 2027–28 season, has seen the PSO flourish both artistically and as a cultural ambassador for Pittsburgh. The orchestra’s appearances under his leadership include Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, as well as the BBC Proms, Salzburg Festival, Musikfest Berlin, and Lucerne Festival. His recordings with the PSO on the Reference Recordings label have received multiple Grammy Award nominations, including a win for Best Orchestral Performance in 2018. They recently released the album Requiem: Mozart’s Death in Words and Music, encompassing Honeck’s interpretation of Mozart’s Requiem.
Born in Austria, Honeck completed his musical training at the University of Music in Vienna. His many years of experience as a violist in the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera Orchestra have had a lasting influence on his work as a conductor, and his art of interpretation is rooted in a desire to venture deep beneath the surface of the music. He has since served as a principal conductor of the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony, music director of Norwegian National Opera, principal guest conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic and Czech Philharmonic, and chief conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony. In 2023, he was appointed honorary conductor by the Bamberg Symphony, following decades of close collaboration.
As a guest conductor, Manfred Honeck is a regular presence with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, London Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome, and has conducted all the major American orchestras. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in May 2017.
Honeck holds honorary doctorates from several American universities, was named an honorary professor by the president of Austria, and was named 2018 “artist of the year” by the International Classical Music Awards.
Born in Austria, Honeck completed his musical training at the University of Music in Vienna. His many years of experience as a violist in the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera Orchestra have had a lasting influence on his work as a conductor, and his art of interpretation is rooted in a desire to venture deep beneath the surface of the music. He has since served as a principal conductor of the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony, music director of Norwegian National Opera, principal guest conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic and Czech Philharmonic, and chief conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony. In 2023, he was appointed honorary conductor by the Bamberg Symphony, following decades of close collaboration.
As a guest conductor, Manfred Honeck is a regular presence with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, London Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome, and has conducted all the major American orchestras. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in May 2017.
Honeck holds honorary doctorates from several American universities, was named an honorary professor by the president of Austria, and was named 2018 “artist of the year” by the International Classical Music Awards.
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