Change of SFS Programming for Next Week

As was announced earlier this week, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) was scheduled to return to the podium of the San Francisco Symphony next week. This was to be a program of three of Claude Debussy’s best compositions, all of which would be recorded live for future release on an SFS Media recording. Unfortunately, MTT became ill after this week’s performances with the New World Symphony at Carnegie Hall in New York. The other work scheduled for next week was György Ligeti’s only piano concerto with Pierre-Laurent Aimard as piano soloists.

Conductor James Gaffigan (from the event page for next week’s concert on the SFS Web site)

At next week’s concerts James Gaffigan will return to conduct SFS. The program will still conclude with Debussy’s “La Mer.” However, it will now begin with the “Bacchanale” music from Camille Saint-Saëns Opus 47 opera Samson et Dalila. This will be followed by the Ligeti concerto, and the intermission will be followed by “Something for the Dark” by Sarah Kirkland Snider. This will be a West Coast premiere performance (which means that it will also be a premiere performance by SFS). Also, the SFS Chorus will no longer participate.

The basic “nuts and bolts” have not changed. The concert will still be given three performances, all at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 9, Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11. There will be an Inside Music talk given by Peter Grunberg that will begin one hour before the performance. Doors to the Davies lobbies open fifteen minutes before the talk begins. Ticket prices range from $35 to $170. 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 Davies Box Office, whose entrance is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. In addition, KDFC’s Rik Malone’s podcast about “La mer” can be found on the event page along with sound clips from previous SFS performances of both that set of three “symphonic sketches.” Flash must be enabled for both streamed content and online ticket purchases. The Box Office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and two hours prior to Sunday performances.