SFS Announces 2024–25 Season

Yesterday afternoon the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) released its announcement of plans for the next season, which will began, as usual, this coming September. As many readers probably know by now, Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen will terminate his position as Music Director at the conclusion of that season in June of 2025. However, he will maintain an ongoing partnership with SFS through regular guest conducting appearances and collaborations.

When I wrote about plans for the new season about a year ago, I apologized that “it is still too early for program specifics for the new season to appear on the online Calendar.” I am happy to report that this is not the case this year. I am not sure if all events are now online, but it looks like there is a thorough account for this coming September! That means that readers probably have access to most of the details associated with the performances that will begin the new season.

Salonen will serve as conductor for twelve of the programs in the new season. This will include a somewhat surprising break with tradition. The very first performances will take place one week before the traditional Opening Gala. The Orchestral Series will begin with performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem setting on September 19–21. This will be the first SFS performance since 2011, and the soloists will be soprano Leah Hawkins, mezzo Karen Cargill, tenor Mario Chang, and bass Eric Owens. This will be followed by the Opening Gala on September 25. Lang Lang will be the soloist in a performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Opus 22, his second piano concerto in G minor. He will also join his wife, Gina Alice, in that composer’s suite The Carnival of the Animals. Salonen will lead the ensemble in selections from Sergei Prokofiev’s score for the ballet Romeo and Juliet. Specifics for the All San Francisco Concert will be announced later this year.

The remaining programs that Salonen will conduct are grouped into three segments of consecutive weeks. The first of these will follow the initial round of programs as follows:

• September 27–28: Pianist Alexandre Tharaud will perform the world premiere of a piano concerto by Nico Muhly composed on an SFS commission. The composer drew his inspiration from Baroque practices, and the remaining selections of the program will be similarly retrospective. Paul Hindemith’s “Ragtime (Well-Tempered)” is based on a theme by (you guessed it!) Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach will also be represented by his BWV 537 organ fantasia and fugue in C minor, arranged for (very?) full orchestra by Edward Elgar. The remaining selections will be Paul Hindemith’s symphony “Mathis der Maler,” given its title after the composer’s opera of the same name.
• October 4–6: Violinist Sayaka Shoji will make her Orchestral Series debut. She will perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opus 77 in A minor, the first of his two violin concertos. This will be coupled with Johannes Brahms’ Opus 98 in E minor, his fourth symphony.
• October 18–20: The concerto soloist will be Rainer Eudeikis. Readers probably know that he holds the Philip S. Boon Chair of Principal Cello. The music he will perform will be the cello concerto that Salonen originally wrote for Yo-Yo Ma. The program will begin with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 68 (“Pastoral”) symphony in F major, his Opus 68. The program will conclude with Claude Debussy’s “La mer,” which the composer described as “three symphonic sketches for orchestra.”

The second round will consist of three programs organized around the music of Igor Stravinsky. In this case, however, those programs will not be consecutive. Specific dates and content are as follows:

• February 13–16: Pianist Yuja Wang will be the soloist in performances of three Stravinsky works for piano and orchestra, each of which has its own unique aesthetic stance. The titles of the selections are “Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments,” “Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra,” and “Movements for Piano and Orchestra.” (Stravinsky was very specific in the wording of his titles. It is also worth noting, as a “fun fact,” that Stravinsky’s friend, the choreographer George Balanchine, created choreography for both the “Capriccio” and “Movements.”) These pieces will be interleaved with the three compositions in Claude Debussy’s Images pour orchestre collection.
• February 21–23: It would be difficult to overlook “The Rite of Spring” in a series of programs of Stravinsky’s music. So it has been scheduled for the second of the three concerts! It will be coupled with Sergei Prokofiev’s Opus 18 (second) piano concerto in G minor, which was composed one year prior to “The Rite.” The soloist will be Daniil Trifonov. The remaining work on the program will be a new (not yet titled) composition by Xavier Muzik, winner of the 2023 Emerging Black Composers Project Michael Morgan Prize.
• May 23–25: The last of the programs will present what is usually taken to be Stravinsky’s first major achievement, his score for the one-act ballet “The Firebird,” which will be played in its entirety. The concerto soloist will be Isabelle Faust playing Alban Berg’s concerto. The program will begin with the first performances of Magnus Lindberg’s “Chorale.”

That last program will also mark the first of the four weeks that will conclude Salonen’s tenure. The remaining three programs are as follows:

• May 29–June 1: Violinist Hilary Hahn will be the soloist in an all-Beethoven program. Her selection will (of course) be Beethoven’s Opus 61 concerto in D major. This will be coupled with that composer’s Opus 60 (fourth) symphony in B-flat major. As one might guess, both of these pieces were composed in the same year, 1806.
• June 6–8: The program will feature the world premiere of a new work by composer Gabriella Smith. Some readers may recall that her “Tumblebird Contrails” was conducted by Salonen at the Nobel Prize Concert, which took place this past December. He conducted the SFS performance a little over a year ago. The program will also present two Richard Strauss tone poems, “Don Juan” and “Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks.” The symphony selection with be Jean Sibelius’ single-movement Opus 105, his seventh in C major.
• June 12–14: The “farewell” concert will be familiar to many (most?) SFS concert-goers. The program will consist entirely of Gustav Mahler’s second (“Resurrection”) symphony in C minor, scored for full chorus and orchestra. There will also be two vocal soloists; but, as of this writing, only one has been announced. The mezzo part will be taken by Sasha Cooke.

It is worth noting that Salonen will be adding three world premieres to the SFS repertoire: Muhly’s concerto in September, the Emerging Black Composers project winner in February, and Smith’s latest addition to the SFS repertoire in June. In addition, David Robertson will lead SFS in the world premiere of a new piano concerto by John Adams as part of the January 16–19 performances. Then, during the May 15–17 performances, Dalia Stasevska will conduct a new cello concerto by Anna Thorvaldsdottir with soloist Johannes Moser.

The roster of the other composers is an impressive one. There will be four debut performances (listed in alphabetical order) as follows:

• Nicholas Collon (November 7–9)
• Mark Elder (January 24–25)
• Stephen Stubbs (December 6–7)
• Kazuki Yamada (November 15–17)

As might be expected, Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt is schedule to return. He will be in the alphabetical list of returning conductors as follows:

• Marin Alsop (April 10–12)
• Herbert Blomstedt (January 30–February 1)
• Elim Chan (March 13–15)
• James Gaffigan (January 9–11)
• Giancarlo Guerrero (May 2–3)
• Paavo Järvi (February 6–9)
• Bernard Labadie (November 21–23)
• David Robertson (January 16–19)
• Dalia Stasevska (May 15–17)
• Robin Ticciati (February 28–March 2)
• Juraj Valčuha (March 27–30)
• Thomas Wilkins (October 25–26)

As usual, there will be other performances in Davies to which SFS does not contribute; and they will be announced in subsequent articles.