SFS Conductor Debuts in 2025–26

The number of conductors that will be leading San Francisco Symphony (SFS) subscription performances during the 2025–26 season is relatively modest. To be more specific, there will be seven of them! (“For the record,” as the say, only two of the names are familiar to me through either recordings or past performances that I have attended.) All of them involve concerts accounted for in previous articles. As a result, I shall review these debut performances according to previous categories as follows:

Alexi Kenney (2019 photograph, © Grittani Creative)

Four of the conductors will lead programs that include works by living composers as follows:

1. November 20–22: Violinist Alexi Kenney will return, this time serving as leader in the Baroque program that will begin with the first SFS performances of Olli Mustonen’s second nonet for strings.
2. January 22–24: Finnish conductor John Storgårds will lead the program that includes “The Rapids of Life” by Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen.
3. May 29–30: Peruvian conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya will lead the United States premiere performance of Jimmy Lopez’ trombone concerto “Shift” with SFS Principal Trombone Timothy Higgins as soloist.
4. June 12–14: Chinese-born Tianyi Lu, now living in New Zealand 3ill lead the first SFS performance of Imam Habibi’s “Zhiân.”

The month of October will see two conductor debuts, each presenting a returning violinist:

1. October 16–18: German conductor Jun Märkl will lead Leonidas Kavakos’ performance of Béla Bartók’s second  violin concerto.
2. October 24–26: David Afkham, also German, will lead a performance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto with Sergey Khachatryuan as soloist.

That leaves only one remaining debut, which will be that of Italian conductor Daniele Rustioni; his soloists will be cellist Daniel Müller-Schott performing Antonín Dvořák’s cello concerto.