SFS in February: Three Programs; Two Conductors

SFS Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt (from the SFS Web site)

Next month the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) will present only three concert programs. However, the month will see the return of Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt to lead two of them, while the third will mark the SFS debut of conductor Andrew Boreyko, currently Music Director of the Orchestra National de Belgique. He will lead the final concert in the series prepared to celebrate the centennial of the birth of Leonard Bernstein. Thus, February will have much to offer the serious listeners in the SFS audience.

Both of the programs that Blomstedt has prepared for this season’s visit will focus on the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. The first half of the first program will be devoted entirely to Beethoven’s Opus 73 (fifth) piano concerto in E-flat major, generally known as the “Emperor” concerto. The soloist will be Garrick Ohlsson. In the second half Blomstedt will offer the first SFS performances of the second symphony in G minor (Opus 34) by the Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar.

This concert will be given three performances, all at 8 p.m. on Thursday, February 8, Friday, February 9, and Saturday, February 10. Ticket prices range from $39 to $139. They may be purchased online through the event page for this program on the SFS Web site, by calling 415-864-6000, or by visiting the Box Office in Davies Symphony Hall, whose entrance is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. In addition, there is a free podcast about the Beethoven concerto, hosted by KDFC’s Rik Malone, which can be played on that event page, along with sound clips from previous SFS performances of that concerto. In order to listen to these audio files, Flash must be enabled. Finally, the Inside Music talk will be given by Alexandra Amati-Camperi, beginning at 7 p.m. Doors will open at 6:45 p.m. The Box Office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday.

In addition, these performances will be preceded by a Katherine Hanrahan Open Rehearsal. This special behind-the-scenes experience begins at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 8, with coffee and complimentary doughnuts, followed by a half-hour introductory talk by Amati-Camperi at 9 a.m. The rehearsal itself begins at 10 a.m.; and, of course, the pieces rehearsed are at the conductor’s discretion. General admission is $30 with $40 for reserved seats in the Premiere Orchestra section, the Side and Rear Boxes, and the Loge. Tickets may be purchased online through a separate event page.

The featured Beethoven selection on Blomstedt’s second program will be the Opus 55 (third) symphony in E-flat major (“Eroica”). This will be played during the second half of the program. The first half will be devoted entirely to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 550 symphony in G minor.

This concert will also be given three performances, at 2 p.m. on Thursday, February 15, and at 8 p.m. on Friday, February 16, and Saturday, February 17. Ticket prices range from $35 to $169. They may be purchased online through the event page for this program on the SFS Web site, by calling 415-864-6000, or by visiting the Box Office in Davies Symphony Hall, whose entrance is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. In addition, there is a free podcast about the Beethoven symphony, hosted by KDFC’s Rik Malone, which can be played on that event page, as well as sound clips from previous SFS performances of both of the symphonies. In order to listen to these audio files, Flash must be enabled. Finally, the Inside Music talk will be given by Scott Foglesong, beginning one hour before the performance starts. Doors will open fifteen minutes before the talk begins.

The first half of the program that Boreyko has prepared for his SFS debut will be devoted entirely to Bernstein. The featured work will be the five-movement “Serenade after Plato’s ‘Symposium,’” composed in 1954. Bernstein scored this piece for solo violin, strings, harp, and percussion; and Vadim Gluzman will return to Davies to perform the violin solo part. The serenade will be preceded by the orchestral divertimento that Bernstein composed in 1980. The second half of the program will consist entirely of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opus 47 (fifth) symphony in D minor. However, it is worth noting that this symphony figured significantly in Bernstein’s career, since he conducted a performance by the New York Philharmonic that took place during a visit to the Soviet Union when the Cold War was at its coldest.

This concert will be given three performances, all at 8 p.m. on Thursday, February 22, Friday, February 23, and Saturday, February 24. Ticket prices range from $15 to $159. They may be purchased online through the event page for this program on the SFS Web site, by calling 415-864-6000, or by visiting the Box Office in Davies Symphony Hall, whose entrance is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. In addition, prior to the performances themselves, the Program Note Podcasts Web page will have a free podcast about the Shostakovich symphony hosted by KDFC’s Rik Malone; and the event page will have sound clips from previous SFS performances of that symphony. Flash must be enabled to listen to both the podcast and the sound clips. Finally, the Inside Music talk will be given by John Palmer, beginning at 7 p.m. Doors will open at 6:45 p.m.