As a special promotion, we are pleased to share with you a playlist of highlights from our 2024–25 season curated by Chief Artistic Officer Phillippa Cole.

GIUSEPPE VERDI: Requiem (September 19–21)

This huge work is a loud and bombastic way to start the season! It’s very operatic in style—in fact, the four vocal soloists who premiered this piece were also the soloists Verdi booked to sing the European premiere of his opera Aïda, which gives you an indication of the grandness and scale that Verdi had in mind when writing this piece.

We sang this at my school when I was about 15 with a local amateur orchestra. Looking back now, I imagine the quality of the performance was pretty ropey, though I still remember jumping out of my skin with the thrill of the Dies irae (be warned for the bass drum!) This will for sure take the roof off Davies!

PAUL HINDEMITH: Mathis der Maler (September 27–28)

There are some composer names that seem to instantaneously make people decide that they don’t (or won’t) like their music. Hindemith is one of those names. DO NOT BE AFRAID! This piece by Hindemith is absolutely beautiful and orchestras love to play it. The lush orchestration in the piece is loosely based on history—inspired by the painter Matthias Grunewald and his famous painting, the Isenheim Altarpiece.

GEORGE GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue (October 25–26)

This work is one of the most recognizable pieces of music and probably the key orchestral piece that defined the jazz era. (Related:the Ravel Piano Concerto in G major that Hélène Grimaud will perform a few weeks later was composed shortly after this, and you can hear the influence Gershwin had on Ravel.) There is something about this piece and the musical make up of it that, however clichéd, just makes you want to smile and swing your hips! We’re also looking forward to welcoming Michelle Cann, the pianist for this iconic work, who will be making her debut with us.

THOMAS ADÈS: Three-piece Suite from Powder Her Face (November 7–9)

My very first job was working at the Almeida Theatre in London. At that time, it had a thriving contemporary opera summer festival, and in 1995, the Almeida Theatre commissioned Thomas Adès’s first opera, Powder Her Face, which is a chamber opera for four singers and 15 players. Tom has gone on to be one of our greatest living composers today with two further operas, The Tempest and The Exterminating Angel, being produced regularly. The libretto is by a great English novelist, Philip Henscher, and it feels as fresh today as it did 30 years ago. It tells the story of a British aristocrat, The Duchess of Argyll, whose rather raunchy love life was a big scandal in Britain in the 1960s. The first scene of the opera is set in a hotel, and Tom has rather wittily created three full orchestral suites from the work: “Hotel Suite,” “Luxury Suite,” and “Three-piece Suite.” The music in this particular suite is very characterful and has all the mysteriousness and the sleaziness of the story.

DAI FUJIKURA: Entwine (November 15–17)

I’m excited about the Symphony performing music by Dai Fuijkura, whose work I have long admired, but we have never performed here. He draws his sounds from a very unique sound palette, and he spent some time studying with Pierre Boulez, which I think you can really hear in his music. For me, his music has a rather ethereal quality which I find very appealing. Our conductor that week, Kazuki Yamada, will make his debut with us, and during our chats about the program we discovered that we were both fans of Dai’s music. For a long time, Kazuki had been championing his music, so it seemed a wonderful way to introduce this new voice to our audiences.  

As there is no existing recording of this work, please enjoy his piece Zawazawa & Sawasawa to a get a flavor of his music.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART:

“Venga la morte…Non temer, amato bene,” K.490 (November 21–23)

The breadth of the programming at the SF Symphony is vast and covers an array of things every year: The well-known canon, the latest compositions being composed for us, big film scores, the celebrations of Lunar New Year and Día de los Muertos, and the vast spectrum of holiday and summer programming. Sometimes I find that the soul needs a cleanse, and for me nothing presses reset like Mozart, particularly in the hands of a conductor like Bernard Labadie. In this program I particularly love the freshness and energy of the Overture from La clemenza di Tito and the precision of the concert arias which will be sung by the soprano Lucy Crowe, who will be making her debut with us.

JOHN ADAMS: After the Fall, San Francisco Symphony Commission and World Premiere (January 16–19)

I can’t tell you anything yet about John Adams’s piano concerto, as it’s still being written! But there is always something very special about a new work by John Adams and this will be no exception. We are so fortunate that John lives just over the bridge here in the Bay Area, and we’re delighted to be able to commission him and present this world premiere. Víkingur Ólafsson is a tremendous talent, and this will be his second time at Davies Symphony Hall. We also see him pair up with Yuja Wang for a piano four hands recital later in the season. For anyone wanting to listen to Víkingur in advance of his performance, I suggest checking out his Debussy/Rameau album. It got me through the pandemic!

As this is a new work, please enjoy John Adams’s piece Absolute Jest to a get a flavor of his music.

IGOR STRAVINSKY: Capriccio for piano and orchestra / CLAUDE DEBUSSY: Images pour orchestre (February 13–16)

It is always an occasion when Yuja Wang comes to town. In fact, as I write this, I’m listening to her practicing on the stage for her recital. Her musicianship, strength, and technique never fail to amaze me—she is phenomenal in all that she does. For her appearance next season, she wanted to perform all three pieces that Stravinsky wrote for piano and orchestra. We thought we would experiment with how we presented them so we’re interspersing them with the movements of Debussy’s masterful orchestral work Images pour orchestre.

OTTORINO RESPIGHI: Pines of Rome (May 2–3)

Doesn’t everyone love Italy, and specifically Rome? The architecture, the beauty, the language, the food, the endless Caravaggios in every little church on every street corner? It’s always everyone’s favorite holiday destination! Hearing this piece will instantly take you on a guided tour of the city, which Respighi paints so beautifully with his orchestration. There are two things I particularly love about this piece: The first is that it has one of the most evocative clarinet solos in all of classical music (and you can guarantee that Principal Clarinet Carey Bell's playing will be exquisite); the second is the way Respighi builds the last few minutes of the piece into a triumphant climax. It is impossible not to just see the rising of the sun, which is exactly what it’s meant to depict.

GABRIELLA SMITH: New Work, San Francisco Symphony Commission and World Premiere (June 6–8)

Anybody who heard Gabriella’s organ concerto last year will know what a unique sound world she creates. Not only is she a talented composer, but she’s a passionate environmentalist too. So many of the musicians and audience alike expressed how much they enjoyed her organ concerto and we’re thrilled to be commissioning her for this new work. Previously we had played her work Tumblebird Contrails, which was such a hit with Esa-Pekka Salonen that he programmed it for the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert in early 2024.

As this is a new work, please enjoy her piece Carrot Revolution to get a flavor of her music.