2023–24 Season
RAUSHAN’S PICK
“Scriabin’s Prometheus has a lot of colors. It’s a multidimensional kind of piece, with many voices going on simultaneously.”
Jean-Yves Thibaudet performs Prometheus: The Poem of Fire March 1–3.
San Francisco Symphony musician and Esa-Pekka Salonen portraits by Cody Pickens.
Maybe you love Mozart and Modernism, or a classic John Williams film score and the music that inspired it. You’re excited by the possibility of seeing all your favorite virtuosos back-to-back, or just want to experience something that’s never been done before. Whether an off-the-wall musical escapade or a desert-island classic, it’s all here in the San Francisco Symphony’s 2023–24 season.
As a San Francisco Symphony subscriber, you can build your perfect season. Great prices? Check.
Easy ticket exchanges? No problem! Ultimate flexibility? We’ve got you covered.
It’s easy: Choose one of our recommended packages or select any three or more concerts from our full slate of offerings in the 2023–24 season to enjoy the benefits of being a Symphony subscriber.
Ready to assemble your dream season? Look ahead to get a taste of what’s coming your way in 2023–24.
For everything happening next season, view the pull-out calendar following page 12.
Head to sfsymphony.org/2023–24 to see a complete list of available subscription options designed around concert experience, musical taste, day of the week, and more. Or, design your own perfect performance package from our complete lineup.
Welcome to being a San Francisco Symphony subscriber!
Sometimes a sound you’ve never heard before opens new musical frontiers. Or a fresh voice turns convention on its head. You’re up for an adventure, for what’s next. In programs reflecting Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen’s singular vision, the San Francisco Symphony presents a blend of concerts that can only be described as “Signature Salonen.”
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN MUSIC DIRECTOR
SALONEN CONDUCTS
AN ALPINE SYMPHONY
September 29–October 1
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
Leonidas Kavakos violin
San Francisco Symphony
WYNTON MARSALIS
Herald, Holler and Hallelujah!
PIOTR ILYICH
TCHAIKOVSKY
Violin Concerto
RICHARD STRAUSS
An Alpine Symphony
Strauss is your guide for a rigorous mountain trek complete with exquisite vistas and opulent orchestral sounds.
INTERPLAY:
PEKKA KUUSISTO
October 6–7
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
Pekka Kuusisto violin
JESPER NORDIN
Convergence [SF Symphony Commission and World Premiere]
JOHN ADAMS Naïve and Sentimental Music
Jesper Nordin meshes live performance and interactive technology with unexpected and thrilling results in a new violin concerto, while John Adams explores the polarities that exist at the heart of the creative impulse.
SALONEN: ALL SIBELIUS
March 14–16
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
Lisa Batiashvili violin
San Francisco Symphony
JEAN SIBELIUS
Finlandia
Violin Concerto Symphony No. 1
A deep dive into the passions and aspirations of a Finnish firebrand staking his—and his homeland’s—place in the musical world.
SALONEN CONDUCTS
MAHLER 3
June 28–30
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
Kelley O’Connor
mezzo-soprano
Pacific Boychoir
SF Symphony Chorus
San Francisco Symphony
GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 3
Mahler once told Sibelius, “A symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything.” The proof is in the pudding in Mahler’s wondrous Third.
San Francisco Symphony“The most important thing is the surprise, the new directions. I want to be part of that process.” —Esa-Pekka Salonen
The artistic freedom and entrepreneurial energy of California have served as a magnet for generations of artists. Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony tap into the Golden State’s innovative spirit in two programs presented as part of the California Festival: A Celebration of New Music, a two-week statewide initiative conceived by Salonen, LA Phil Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, and San Diego Symphony Music Director Rafael Payare. Bringing together organizations and ensembles from throughout the state, the festival is a windfall of some of the most compelling music of the last five years.
CALIFORNIA FESTIVAL: TO THE EDGE
November 11–12
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Carey Bell clarinet San Francisco Symphony
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN
Kínēma
JENS IBSEN
Drowned in Light [SF Symphony Commission and World Premiere]
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Symphony in Three Movements
Igor Stravinsky, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Jens Ibsen came to California for very different reasons, but each found themselves transformed by what they found here.
“For more than a century, California has been a home for musical experimentation. And it is where American composers are transforming the way music is composed, performed, and heard. Today, California—a state with the economic power of a country, the ecological diversity of a continent, and the cultural diversity of the planet— represents a powerful vision for classical music.”
CALIFORNIA FESTIVAL: FROM THE EDGE
November 17–18
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor James McVinnie organ Hillary Leben animator
SF Symphony Chorus
San Francisco Symphony
TERRY RILEY
City Lights: Aquatic Park [SF Symphony Commission and World Premiere]
GABRIELLA SMITH
Breathing Forests
IGOR STRAVINSKY (orch. STEVEN STUCKY)
Les Noces
Two works by composers who speak to the spaces and sounds of California rub shoulders with the folkinflected Russian sounds of Stravinsky’s Les Noces, featuring new animated shorts by artist Hillary Leben.
—SALONEN/DUDAMEL/PAYARERAFAEL PAYARE ESA-PEKKA SALONEN GUSTAVO DUDAMEL
You’ve sat riveted from the first fanfare of a Mahler symphony to the cathartic conclusion 90 minutes later. Or found yourself swept up in the heroic narrative of a Romantic tone poem. Dazzling orchestral colors abound and big emotions are the norm in music that paints on the broadest canvas.
HARDING CONDUCTS THE PLANETS
October 26–28
Daniel Harding conductor
Andrew Staples tenor
SF Symphony Chorus
San Francisco Symphony
RALPH VAUGHAN
WILLIAMS
On Wenlock Edge
GUSTAV HOLST
The Planets
Vaughan Williams’ plaintive English pastoralism sets the stage for Holst’s otherworldly astrological tour.
VAN ZWEDEN CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN 5
January 11–13
Jaap van Zweden conductor
San Francisco Symphony
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 5
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Symphony No. 5
Two portraits of triumph: one sturdy and unapologetic, the other with unerring dramatic instincts but an ambivalent heart.
CANELLAKIS CONDUCTS
STRAUSS & RAVEL
April 18–20
Karina Canellakis conductor
Cédric Tiberghien piano
San Francisco Symphony
RICHARD STRAUSS
Don Juan
MAURICE RAVEL
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
RICHARD STRAUSS
Death and Transfiguration
MAURICE RAVEL
La Valse
Deception, dance, denouement: Two orchestral painters unveil works that trace journeys of heart and spirit.
MORE LIKE THESE
MTT Conducts Mahler 5 (January 25–27)
Ryan Bancroft & Joshua Bell (May 16–18)
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN & YEFIM BRONFMAN
June 21–23
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
Yefim Bronfman piano
San Francisco Symphony
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Piano Concerto
ANTON BRUCKNER
Symphony No. 4, Romantic
Bruckner bends time and space in the service of a massive—and massively satisfying— symphonic construction.
Esa-Pekka Salonen & Sheku Kanneh-Mason (June 13–15)
“I feel conducting is the most natural way of music making." —Karina Canellakis
A concert is an immersive journey that starts before you set foot in the hall and continues long after the final downbeat.
Themed programs—each built around a single narrative framework—reveal the surprising ways art goes from inspiration to implementation.
Feed your curiosity through behind-the-scenes talks with performers and leading figures in arts and ideas, horizon-expanding collaborations with local organizations, and augmented lobby experiences.
INSPIRATIONS: ART/MUSIC
November 2–4
Ludovic Morlot conductor
Augustin Hadelich violin San Francisco Symphony
BETSY JOLAS Latest [SF Symphony Commission and U.S. Premiere]
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
Violin Concerto
MODEST MUSSORGSKY (arr. MAURICE RAVEL)
Pictures at an Exhibition
Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition comes full circle in a program that recognizes the piece’s origins in visual art, while also offering a framework for newly commissioned artwork based on the music.
INSPIRATIONS: LETTERS/LEGACIES
February 15–16, 18
Thomas Adès conductor
Kirill Gerstein piano San Francisco Symphony
PER NØRGÅRD Symphony No. 2
THOMAS ADÈS
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
JEAN SIBELIUS Symphony No. 4
The remarkable threads connecting three generations of composers are illuminated in their music and letters to one another.
INSPIRATIONS: FILM/CLASSICAL
April 25–27
Gustavo Gimeno conductor
Jonathan Vinocour viola San Francisco Symphony
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Funeral March from The Great Citizen, Opus 55
WILLIAM WALTON
Viola Concerto
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 3
Three of the 20th century’s leading composers show that their work in film is never far out of mind.
Acclaimed as both a composer and conductor, Thomas Adès leads a program that explores a musical origin story beginning with Jean Sibelius and continuing through Adès himself. For Adès, conducting is a natural way to explore these connections, as he shared in an interview with the Wall Street Journal: “When you’re conducting, you’re a conduit between the audience and a mysterious place where the composer’s music came from.”
Inspirations: Letters/Legacies
February 15–16, 18
SOUNDBOX: Curated by Thomas Adès
February 23–24
“If you want to hear the full range of what an orchestra can do, San Francisco is a good place to do it.”
—Principal Viola Jonathan Vinocour
Music is visceral: Sometimes the vibrations of a voice reverberate in your body or the sinewy torque of a dancer in flight makes your heart race. Or a new marriage of sound and imagery stirs something deep within. The Symphony joins with great creative minds to present enhanced theatrical conceptions designed to captivate the senses.
DARK & DIVINE: DUKE BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE
March 1–3
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet piano
Michelle DeYoung mezzo-soprano
Gerald Finley baritone
San Francisco Symphony
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN
Prometheus: The Poem of Fire
BÉLA BARTÓK
Duke Bluebeard’s Castle
Scriabin revels in multisensory psychedelia while Bartók uncovers one couple’s dark secrets with slow-burning inevitability.
ALONZO KING LINES BALLET & PETER SELLARS
June 7–9
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
Peter Sellars director
Mary Elizabeth Williams soprano
Alonzo King choreographer
Alonzo King LINES Ballet
San Francisco Symphony
MAURICE RAVEL
Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose)
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG Erwartung
Alonzo King and LINES Ballet unearth new corners of Ravel’s enchanting Mother Goose, while Peter Sellars plumbs the depths of Schoenberg’s monodrama Erwartung in a new staging featuring soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams.
Choreographer
Alonzo King calls his works “thought structures,” a term that seems to perfectly embody his inventive approach. But, as he has noted, it’s the relationship between music and movement that allows ideas to become reality: “Music is thought made audible. Dance is thought made visible. So, music and movement or sound and vibration, they are the same.”
Alonzo King LINES Ballet & Peter Sellars
June 7–9
“Each one of the pieces that Esa-Pekka and I are doing have a level of density and richness in them. You get the vibration of human life choices and the color, the blaze, the terror, and the crazy exultation of that.” —Peter SellarsALONZO KING LINES BALLET
Love at first listen can happen in many ways: a beat-up old Beethoven LP, a chance encounter with a concert broadcast on TV, or a school field trip to the symphony. Treat yourself to dream pairings designed to launch a lifelong love of classical music.
MTT & SEONG-JIN CHO
January 18–20
Michael Tilson Thomas conductor
Seong-Jin Cho piano
San Francisco Symphony
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto No. 3
PIOTR ILYICH
TCHAIKOVSKY
Symphony No. 4
It’s a heart-on-sleeve sort of affair as two effusive musical masters hit their stride in tempest-tossed works.
BLOMSTEDT CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN 7
February 2–4
Herbert Blomstedt conductor San Francisco Symphony
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Symphony No. 6
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 7
Beethoven’s Seventh offers a blueprint of symphonic possibility while Schubert’s Sixth highlights the ripening Romanticism of 19th-century Vienna.
MENDELSSOHN’S SCOTTISH SYMPHONY
May 10, 12
Marta Gardolińska conductor
Pablo Ferrández cello San Francisco Symphony
GRAŻYNA BACEWICZ
Overture
EDWARD ELGAR
Cello Concerto
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Symphony No. 3, Scottish
An awe-struck travelogue by Mendelssohn and an unrivaled cello outpouring by Elgar highlight this concert led by debuting conductor Marta Gardolińska.
MORE LIKE THESE
Esa-Pekka Salonen & Emanuel Ax (October 12–14)
MTT Conducts Beethoven 9 (October 19, 21–22)
Dudamel Conducts Brahms 2 (November 24–26)
Handel’s Messiah (December 8–9)
“When people are happy, they hum, whistle, and sing. When you're upset, it can easily change your mood. You can’t do anything without music, it’s everywhere. It’s part of the fabric of life!” —Kelly
“It’s beautiful and humbling that, after many years, you can pick up a score that you once really worked on and, right in front of you, you see an idea which is so obvious, powerful and sincere that you think, ‘how on earth didn’t I see this before.’ Our repertoire is so rich that, for both the performer and for the audience, there are discoveries to be made the rest of our lives.”
Michael Tilson Thomas
MTT Conducts Beethoven 9
October 19, 21–22
MTT & Seong-Jin Cho
January 18–20
MTT Conducts Mahler 5
January 25–27
MTT & Julia Fischer
February 23–25
Leon-Pearce, ViolinKELLY LEON-PEARCE VIOLIN
There’s a hushed moment that happens just before a luminary steps out from the wings and into the spotlight— something special is about to happen, and then it begins. The world’s most electrifying artists and ensembles converge at Davies Symphony Hall.
PIANO RECITAL WITH YUJA WANG May 15
VIOLIN RECITAL WITH RAY CHEN March 24
JOSHUA BELL & ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS April 7
PIANO RECITAL WITH YEFIM BRONFMAN April 21
Move past a curtain, enter through an unknown door, expect the unexpected. In this adventurous series, the Symphony brings extraordinary, multisensory experiences to the underground club atmosphere of the SoundBox space. Grab a craft cocktail at the bar and get cozy for these one-of-a-kind concerts.
CURATED BY MAZZ SWIFT
December 8–9
CURATED BY THOMAS ADÈS
February 23–24
CURATED BY ESA-PEKKA SALONEN
March 8–9
CURATED BY CAROL REILEY
April 5–6
Become a SoundBox Producer to enjoy perks like early admission, free drinks, and exclusive invitations to roundtable conversations with SoundBox curators and SF Symphony musicians. For more information, contact SoundBox@sfsymphony.org.
Must be 21 or older to attend.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
April 11–13
Films with live orchestra
CASINO ROYALE
Rated PG-13
February 8–9
BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY
February 10
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
Rated PG-13
April 11–13
THE WIZARD OF OZ
Rated G
May 1
STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Rated PG-13
May 2–4
GLADIATOR Rated R
May 22–23
ENCANTO Rated PG May 24–25
January 21
April 2
January 31
Shenson Spotlight Series: Ascendant artists in recital
February 21
March 6
SF Symphony musicians in chamber music
Davies Symphony Hall
November 5
December 17
January 28
April 21
May 26
June 16
Gunn Theater at Legion of Honor
October 8
December 3
January 28
June 2
Captivating performances for families
December 2, 10, and March 9
“One of the most important things I always think about is ‘First, Last, and Only.’ For some people in the audience this is the first time they’re going to hear an orchestra live and we are creating a first and lasting impression. For some, it’s the last time they will be hearing orchestral music live. That's a very special thing. And for others, it’s the only time they will hear a live orchestra. You just don’t know. But that’s the reality. Every concert is high stakes.”
Teen Night
April 6 Encanto May 24–25
SF Symphony Youth Orchestra: Showcasing the jaw-dropping artistry of next-gen talents under the baton of Wattis Foundation Music Director Daniel Stewart
November 19, March 17, May 19
Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser Resident Conductor of Engagement and Education
Music for Families
December 2
March 9
Deck the Hall
December 3
Teen Night
April 6
ALL the Feelings
Experience love at first listen based on your music preferences.
slam dunk ... a sure bet ... feeling lucky ...
MTT & Seong-Jin Cho
January 18–20
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4
A symphonic rollercoaster of emotions
Salonen Conducts An Alpine Symphony
September 29–October 1
STRAUSS An Alpine Symphony Up and down a mountain in 50 minutes
Van Zweden Conducts Beethoven 5
January 11–13
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 Beethoven wrestles fate… and wins
Alonzo King LINES Ballet & Peter Sellars
June 7–9
RAVEL Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose)
All your favorite fairy tales in one place
SoundBox:
Curated by Thomas Adès
February 23–24
Intense, beautiful, unpredictable
Dark & Divine:
Duke Bluebeard’s Castle
March 1–3
BARTÓK Duke Bluebeard’s Castle Seven chambers of terror
Joshua Bell & ASMF
April 7
MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto
The O.G. Romantic violin concerto
Ryan Bancroft & Joshua Bell
May 16–18
DEBUSSY La Mer Impressions of the sea
Carmina burana
March 23
The choral work that launched a thousand film scores
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Film with Live Orchestra
April 11–13
Two friends undertake a seemingly impossible mission
Shenson Spotlight Series:
Pianist Eric Lu
January 31
You heard it here first
Alonzo King LINES Ballet & Peter Sellars
June 7–9
SCHOENBERG Erwartung
A nightmarish whodunnit
Salonen: All Sibelius
March 14–16
SIBELIUS Finlandia
A patriotic cri de coeur
Dudamel Conducts Brahms 2
November 24–26
BRAHMS Symphony No. 2
A musical postcard from a summer holiday
Blomstedt Conducts Beethoven 7
February 2–4
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7
An Allegretto that seemingly captures it all
SF Symphony Youth Orchestra: Peter and the Wolf
December 10
PROKOFIEV Peter and the Wolf
A timeless tale (and an introduction to the orchestra)
Chamber Series at the Legion of Honor
June 2
Small groups, big sound
Gladiator Film with Live Orchestra
May 22–23
A fight to the death
MATTHEW GRIFFITH ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL AND E-FLAT CLARINET
MATTHEW’S PICK: “I’m looking forward to Béla Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle with Esa-Pekka Salonen. I saw Bluebeard in high school with the Milwaukee Symphony, which was one of my most memorable concert experiences. I’ve never had the opportunity to play it before.”
DARK & DIVINE: DUKE BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE March 1–3
ONLINE sfsymphony.org/2023-24
CALL Box Office 415.864.6000 Mon–Fri: 10am–6pm Sat: 12pm–6pm
IN-PERSON Davies Symphony Hall Box Office 201 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102
