Music’s Biggest Stars

Michael Tilson Thomas

Oct 30-Nov 1 MTT: Mahler 1

Nov 5-8 MTT: Beethoven’s Missa solemnis

Jan 21-23 MTT: Emanuel Ax Plays Mozart

Jan 27-30 MTT: Yuja Plays Rach Piano Concerto 2

Live Film with the San Francisco Symphony

Kid-Friendly Shows

Spotlights

• The Classics

  Experience the heart-pounding power and exhilarating emotion of the San Francisco Symphony performing the most beloved masterworks in classical music.

  
  

  
  

  
  

   

  
  

  Buchbinder Performs the Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos:

  • Nos. 1 & 5, Oct 23 
  • Nos. 2, 3, & 4 Oct 24-25

  
  

  Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Nov 20–22 

  Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique Apr 8–10

  Beethoven 5 & Julia Fischer May 20–22

  Ludovic Morlot Conducts Debussy's
  La Mer May 27–29 

• On The Cutting Edge

  Explore the unique, the provocative, the electrifying, and 
the profound in a collection of fresh music experiences by top 
21st-century creators.

  
  
  Behzad Ranjbaran: Violin Concerto Apr 29–May 1

  John Corigliano: Saxophone Concerto Jan 14–16

  Bryce Dessner: Violin Concerto Jun 17–20  

• You Laughed, You Cried, 
You Ate Popcorn To This

  From Saturday morning cartoons to Netflix to Oscar-winning films, this is the music you’ve heard before—but you haven’t heard it like this.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Sibelius: Symphony No. 1  (Inspiration for the main title theme to The Godfather) Oct 2–3 

  Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5  (Pose, The Iron Lady, The King’s Speech, Dead Poets Society)  Oct 23 & 25  

  Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, Pathétique (The Aviator, Vox Lux, Animaniacs)  Nov 20–22 

  Handel: Messiah (Oscar Mayer jingle, Dumb and Dumber, 
Bridget Jones’s Diary)  Dec 11–12  

  Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (The Simpsons, Doctor Who, 
The Walking Dead, Mozart in the Jungle)  May 20–22  

   

  
  

   

• Fantasies & Psychedelics

  Immerse yourself in the sensuous sounds, dazzling colors, 
and beguiling beauty of some of the most evocative scores in 
all classical music.

  
  

  
  
  Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé Mar 5–7 

  Sofia Guibaidulina: Fairytale Poem Apr 8–10

  Sarasate/Bizet: Carmen Fantasy Jun 3–5
  
  Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherezade Jun 3–5 

• Music for All Time

  Throughout history and never more than today, music has given voice to the human spirit. Experience music old and new that clearly speaks to us now.

  
  

  
  

  The Fight for Equality: Julia Wolfe & Florence Price Nov 12 & 14

  Give Me Shelter: Gabriel Kahane’s emergency shelter intake form  Feb 4 & 6

  Philippe Jordan Conducts Britten’s War Requiem  May 13–15

  Salonen: Make Art, Not War Jun 17-20  

• Major Metal

  Have a blast of San Francisco Symphony brass with iconic works that bring the instruments’ big, bold, beautiful sound front and center.

  
  

  
  

  Mahler: Symphony No. 1 Oct 30–Nov 1

  Wynton Marsalis: Selections from Blues Symphony Jan 14–16

  Bruckner: Symphony No. 9, Unfinished Jan 21–23

  Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15 Jan 27–30

• Celebrating Asia

  The San Francisco Symphony draws inspiration from the music of Asia with works celebrating rich Asian traditions past and present.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Lunar New Year: Celebrating Asia
  
  
Texu Kim: Bounce!!, Younghi Pagh-Paan: NIM
, Harrison: Concerto for Pipa and String Orchestra, Takashi Yoshimatsu: The Age of Birds, 
Zhou Long: The Rhyme of Taigu Feb 11 & 13

  Fang Man: New Work 
Mar 11–13

  Unsuk Chin: Frontispiece for Orchestra May 20–22 

• Opera Stars at the SF Symphony

  The world’s most most renowned opera singers join the 
San Francisco Symphony to bring epic masterworks to life.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  R. Strauss: Four Last Songs (Renée Fleming) 
Jun 10, 12, & 13

  R. Strauss: Elektra (Christine Goerke, Emily Magee, 
Anna Larsson, Alan Oke, Peixin Chen)  
Mar 18, 20, & 22 

  Bartók: Duke Bluebeard’s Castle 
(Michelle DeYoung, Gerald Finley)  Oct 8–11  
  Weill: Die sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins) 
(Nora Fischer)  Jun 24–26   

Festivals