SFS: 2024–25 Great Performers Series

The program dates planned by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) for its 2024–25 Great Performers Series are now available, although not all of the selections to be performed have been finalized. As usual, these performances will take place in Davies Symphony Hall. There will be ten programs in the series, which (for those who like to count) is two more than last season. This season there will be only three solo recitals, with a variety of imaginative combinations in the remaining seven. All programs will begin at 7:30 p.m. on the following dates, whose hyperlinks lead to the Web pages for ticket purchases:

Sunday, October 27: The first solo recital will be by pianist Emanuel Ax. He has structured his program around music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Robert Schumann. The first half of the program will be devoted to Beethoven’s two Opus 27 sonatas (although they were published separately). The first of these, given the title “Quasi una Fantasia,” will be followed by John Corigliano’s “Fantasia on an Ostinato.” The second (“Moonlight”) sonata needs no introduction! Schumann will be represented by two consecutive opus numbers. His Opus 18 “Arabeske” will be followed by the larger-scale Opus 17 “Fantasia.” Both of these were composed in the key of C major.

Sunday, November 10: The title of this program is Itzhak Perlman & Friends. The “friends” joining Perlman will be two pianists, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Emanuel Ax, and the members of the Juilliard String Quartet. As of this writing, which pianist will be performing which selections has not yet been finalized. One of the pianists will contribute to Ernest Chausson’s Opus 21, his Concert for Violin, Piano and String Quartet in D major. At the beginning of the program, Perlman will partner with one of the Juilliard violinists (not yet specified) in the fifth of the six Opus 3 sonatas for two violins by Jean-Marie Leclair. This will be followed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 493 (second) piano quartet. If I had to make an “educated guess,” I would assert that Thibaudet will perform Chausson, and Ax will contribute to the Mozart selection.

Sunday, February 9: Pianist Seong-Jin Cho will present the second solo recital, and he will perform the complete solo piano works of Maurice Ravel.

Wednesday, February 26: The Academy of St Martin in the Fields will return to Davies. As during their last visit, they will be led by violinist Joshua Bell, who will also be one of the two soloists in a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1043 D minor concerto for two violins. This will be followed by Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken I/29 symphony in E major. The second half of the program will be devoted to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Opus 35 symphonic suite entitled Scheherazade, with each movement based on pictures from One Thousand and One Nights.

Sunday, March 2: This will be pianist Yuja Wang’s next visit to Davies. On this occasion, however, she will share the stage with pianist Víkingur Ólafsson. The event page does not yet provide the specifics for who will be playing what. However, their duo performances will involve both four hands on one keyboard (as in Franz Schubert’s D. 940 fantasia in F minor) and two pianos, which will be necessary for the selection by György Ligeti, “In zart fliessender Bewegung.”

Sunday, March 23: The next ensemble to visit Davies will be the Israel Philharmonic with conductor Lahav Shani. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 64, his fifth symphony in E minor. The first half of the program will be the “Jewish portion,” beginning with “Prayer” by Israeli composer Tzvi Avni. This will be followed by Max Bruch’s “Kol Nidrei” with solo cellist Haran Meltzer. The first half will conclude with Leonard Bernstein’s “Halil.”

Sunday, April 6: The next solo recital will be presented by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. She will be accompanied at the piano by Lambert Orkis. The first half of the program will couple two First Viennese School composers. Mozart’s K. 376 sonata in F major will be followed by Schubert’s D. 934, which he called a “Fantasy” in the key of C major. The second half of the program will begin with Clara Schumann’s Opus 22, the set of three “Romances” composed for the violin-piano duo. The evening will then conclude with Ottorino Respighi’s B minor violin sonata.

Sunday, April 20: The next solo piano recital will be presented by Evgeny Kissin. He will begin with the third of Beethoven’s Opus 10 set of sonatas, composed in the key of D major. He will then turn to a set of four works by Frédéric Chopin, three nocturnes (Opus 10, Number 3 in D major, Opus 15, Number 3 in G minor, and Opus 55, Number 2 in E-flat major) and the Opus 40, Number 1 polonaise in A major. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Dmitri Shostakovich. Following the second piano sonata in B minor, Kissin will present a series of selections from Opus 87, the composer’s “nod to Bach” with a cycle of 24 preludes and fugues.

Tuesday, May 20: This program will present another pair of pianists, one of whom will again by Thibaudet. This time he will perform with Michael Feinstein, and they will be accompanied by SFS. The selections for this performance have not yet been finalized.

Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason (photograph by James Hole, courtesy of SFS)

Sunday, June 1: Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason will present a program with accompaniment at the piano by his sister Isata. They will perform a new work (presumably still “in progress”) by composer Natalie Klouda. This piece will “rub shoulders” with more familiar duo sonatas by Gabriel Fauré, Francis Poulenc, and Felix Mendelssohn.