SFS in March: All the Options in Davies

Events taking place in Davies Symphony Hall next month will include the Great Performers Series, the Youth Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) Orchestral Series Concerts, and the Chamber Series. That will make for a busy month! As in the past, these events will be presented in chronological order to facilitate planning.

Sunday, March 2, 7:30 p.m.: Yuja Wang and Vikingur Ólafsson will present a duo piano recital. The program will include one of the great four-hand favorites, Franz Schubert’s D. 940 fantasia in F minor. They will also perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 45 “Symphonic Dances,” composed for large orchestra but arranged for two pianos by the composer himself. The remainder of the program will be more “adventurous.” It will include Conlon Nancarrow’s sixth “Study,” which he created for hand-punched player piano roll, given an arrangement for pianists by Thomas Adès. The other composers contributing to the program will be John Cage, Luciano Berio, Arvo Pärt, and John Adams.

Sunday, March 9, 2 p.m.: The SFS Youth Orchestra will present works by contemporary composers Gabriela Lena Frank and Arturo Márquez. On the more traditional side, the program will begin with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 385 (“Haffner”) symphony in D major. The program will also include a suite of instrumental music from Richard Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier.

Thursday, March 13, 2 p.m., Friday March 14, and Saturday March 15, 7:30 p.m.:  The first Orchestral Series concert of the month will be conducted by Elim Chan. The entire program will present music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The first half will be devoted to excerpts from his score for the ballet Swan Lake. The second half will consist entirely of his sixth symphony, often known as “Pathétique.”

Sunday, March 16, 2 p.m: The next Chamber Music recital will present compositions from either end of the nineteenth century. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Mozart’s K. 493 piano quartet in E-flat major.. The first half of the program will conclude with coupling Gustav Mahler’s piano quartet in A minor with Dmitri Shostakovich’s set of five pieces for two violins and piano. The program will begin with “Pelagic Poem,” a highly imaginative duo by Jeremiah Siochi, scored for harp and percussion and performed by Katherine Siochi and Jacob Nissly, respectively.

Sunday, March 23, 7:30 p.m.: The Great Performers Series will present the return of the Israel Philharmonic. Appropriately, the program will begin with music by an Israeli composer, Tzvi Avni, represented by his short composition “Prayer.” That spirit of prayer will be followed by Max Bruch’s composition for cello and orchestra that was inspired by the “Kol Nidrei” chant, sung at services for Yom Kippur. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 64 (fifth) symphony in E minor.

Conductor Juraj Valčuha (photograph by Jhane Hoang, courtesy of SFS)

Thursday, March 27, and Saturday, March 29, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 30, 2 p.m.: Juraj Valčuha will return to the SFS podium. His concerto soloist will be Gil Shaham, performing Johannes Brahms’ Opus 77 concerto in D major. Once again, the second half of the program will present a major symphonic offering, this time by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Opus 93 (tenth) symphony in E minor.