Updates for First SFS Subscription Concerts in June

Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong

When the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) brochure with the “final” schedule was released, the conductor for the first round of subscription concerts in June had not yet been announced. That information is now available on the event page for those concerts. They will be led by American conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong, who will be making his SFS debut. He currently serves and Music Director and Conductor of the Eugene Symphony and Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony.

All additional information in the brochure has also been updated. The concerto soloist was originally announced as Nikolai Luganski playing the Grieg piano concerto. He will be replaced by French pianist David Fray performing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 491 concerto in C minor, one of the only two piano concertos that Mozart composed in a minor key. According to my records, Fray last visited Davies as soloist for Christoph Eschenbach, who conducted his performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 19 (second) piano concerto in B-flat major.

The rest of the program as listed in the brochure has also been changed. The concerto will be preceded by Mozart’s K. 367, ballet music composed for this K. 366 opera Idomeneo. The intermission will be followed by Giuseppe Verdi’s overture for his opera I vespri siciliani (the Sicilian vespers) and conclude with Edward Elgar’s Opus 50 concert overture “In the South,” also known by its subtitle “Alassio.”

This concert will still be given three performances, all at 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, Friday, June 7, and Saturday, June 8. There will be an Inside Music talk given by Laura Stanfield Prichard that will begin one hour before the performance. Doors to the Davies lobbies open fifteen minutes before the talk begins. Ticket prices range from $20 to $156. 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. Flash must be enabled for 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.