Announcing the California Festival: A Celebration of New Music A Two-Week Statewide Festival Celebrating the Most Innovative and Compelling Music Composed Around the World in the Last Five Years

Music Directors of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony Join Forces to Conceive of Sweeping Program 

November 3–19, 2023

MUSIC DIRECTOR ESA-PEKKA SALONEN LEADS THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY IN FOUR PROGRAMS HIGHLIGHTING THE PIANO AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL, FEBRUARY 17–MARCH 2, 2023

February 17–19 pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard performs Béla Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on a program with Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin and selections from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet

February 20 Lang Lang joins the Orchestra for one evening, performing Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto on a program with Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5

February 23, 25 & 26 pianist Conor Hanick makes his San Francisco Symphony debut as soloist in the world premiere of Samuel Adams’ No Such Spring, on a program with Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6

March 1 & 2 features Gabriella Smith’s Tumblebird Contrails, Salonen’s Nyx, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist Yuja Wang

These four programs—along with Nico Muhly’s SoundBox program, Codes, featuring Yuja Wang and Esa-Pekka Salonen—precede Salonen and the Orchestra’s March 9–17 European residencies tour, featuring performances at the Philharmonie de Paris in France; the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany; and the Philharmonie Luxembourg 

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY PRESENTS LUNAR NEW YEAR: YEAR OF THE RABBIT, FEBRUARY 5, 2023 AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL

Earl Lee leads the Orchestra in a program highlighting works by Asian composers including An-Lun Huang, Huang Ruo, Tyzen Hsiao, and Zhou Tian

Renowned soprano Sumi Jo joins Lee and the Orchestra for works by Du-Nam Cho, Huang Tzu, Hong-ryeol Lee, and Geung-Su Lim 

HERBERT BLOMSTEDT CONDUCTS THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, FEBRUARY 9–10 AND 12, AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL

The program includes Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 and the San Francisco Symphony premiere of Jan Václav Voříšek’s Symphony in D major  

EDWIN OUTWATER CONDUCTS THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY PREMIERE OF GABRIEL KAHANE’S EMERGENCY SHELTER INTAKE FORM, A SONG CYCLE EXPLORING INEQUALITY THROUGH THE LENS OF HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS, FEBRUARY 2 & 3 AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL

emergency shelter intake form features mezzo-soprano Alicia Hall Moran; vocalists Gabriel Kahane, Kristen Toedtman, and Holcombe Waller as the Chorus of Inconvenient Statistics; and a chorus made up of community members from Community Music Center and Skywatchers

The program opens with George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F featuring soloist Conrad Tao in his SF Symphony Orchestral Series Debut 

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY COLLABORATIVE PARTNER CLAIRE CHASE PERFORMS MARCOS BALTER’S PAN FOR SOLO FLUTE, LIVE ELECTRONICS, AND MASS COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, FEBRUARY 24 IN SYMPHONY’S SOUNDBOX SPACE 

The program opens with Balter’s Alone for flute and wine glasses 

Tickets are $40 and available for purchase now at sfsymphony.org/pan 

MUSIC DIRECTOR LAUREATE MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS CONDUCTS THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY IN TWO CONCERT PROGRAMS AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL, JANUARY 26–28 AND MARCH 30–APRIL 1, 2023

January 26–28 concerts include Claude Debussy’s Prélude à L’Après-midi d’un faune, Olivier Messiaen’s Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine, Claude Debussy’s Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra, and Heitor Villa-Lobos' Chôros No. 10, featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, ondes Martenot player Cynthia Millar, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus

March 30–April 1 concerts feature Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 6 

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY COLLABORATIVE PARTNER AND COMPOSER NICHOLAS BRITELL WILL BE JOINED BY ACCLAIMED DIRECTOR BARRY JENKINS AS CO-CURATOR TO SOUNDBOX PERFORMANCES, APRIL 14–15

Performances will feature Britell and Jenkins discussing the films on which they’ve collaborated (including If Beale Street Could Talk and Moonlight) together with performances of Britell’s music by members of the San Francisco Symphony

Tickets are $200 and are on sale now at sfsymphony.org/soundbox  

GUEST CONDUCTORS ELIM CHAN AND ROBIN TICCIATI MAKE THEIR SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAL SERIES DEBUTS IN TWO PROGRAMS, JANUARY 12–22, 2023, AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL 

January 12–14 Elim Chan conducts the world premiere of a new work by Elizabeth Ogonek, Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with violinist James Ehnes, and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 

January 20–22 Robin Ticciati conducts the San Francisco Symphony premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Violin Concerto, featuring violinist Alina Ibragimova, and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 featuring soprano Ying Fang  

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY’S SHENSON SPOTLIGHT SERIES HIGHLIGHTS ASCENDANT ARTISTS THROUGH FOUR DEBUT RECITALS AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL, JANUARY–MAY 2023
 

January 18, cellist Sterling Elliott is joined by pianist Elliot Wuu for a program of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012 and Felix Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata No. 2 in D major

January 31, violinist Johan Dalene and pianist Giorgi Gigashvili perform Edvard Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 3, Arvo Pärt’s Fratres, and Maurice Ravel’s Violin Sonata in G major 

March 22, pianist Alexander Malofeev presents a solo recital performing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor, Opus 27, no.2, Moonlight; Mieczysław Weinberg’s Piano Sonata No. 4; and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata No. 2

May 10, violinist Bomsori is joined by pianist Julia Okruashvili for a program including Henryk Wieniawski’s Polonaise de concert, Opus 4; Claude Debussy’s Sonata in G minor; Karol Szymanowski’s Nocturne and Tarantella, Opus 28;  Selections from Jean Sibelius’s Six Pieces for Violin and Piano, Opus 79; and Henryk Wieniawski’s Fantasia on Themes from Gounod’s Faust, Opus 20

THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY’S 2022–23 MUSIC FOR FAMILIES SERIES KICKS OFF DECEMBER 3 WITH “AUDIOBOOK! MUSIC INSPIRED BY STORIES” CONDUCTED BY RESIDENT CONDUCTOR OF ENGAGEMENT AND EDUCATION DANIEL BARTHOLOMEW-POYSER 

The series continues with “Discovering Beethoven’s Fifth” with Daniel Stewart and the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra on March 18 and “MADSADGLAD” with Barthlomew-Poyser on May 6; Teen Night returns for the second season, February 11 

THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA CELEBRATES ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2022-23 SEASON  

Wattis Foundation Music Director Daniel Stewart conducts the ensemble in five concerts throughout the season, culminating in celebratory 40th Anniversary Concert on May 21 

November 20 season-opening concert includes José González Granero’s Matsuri Overture, Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade 

Other 2022-23 SFSYO performances include the ensemble’s annual Peter and the Wolf performance, this year with narrator W. Kamau Bell (December 11); a Music for Families program, “Discovering Beethoven’s Fifth,” (March 18); and a performance of works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto featuring SFSYO Concerto Competition winner Eunseo Oh (March 8)