Symphony Parnassus to Open 30th Season

Cellist Alexander Hersh (courtesy of Symphony Parnassus)

In the Better-Late-Than-Never Department I just received word that the 30th anniversary season of Symphony Parnassus will get under way this coming Sunday afternoon. Continuing to organize programs around emerging talents, the program will feature the 26-year-old cellist Alexander Hersh, who is connected to San Francisco through his grandfather, Paul Hersh, who teaches both viola and piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Cellist Hersh will perform Ernest Bloch’s “Schelomo,” which the composer described as a “Hebraic rhapsody.” The name is the Hebrew form of “Solomon;” and the music was inspired by the pessimism of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament.

“Schelomo” will be the “concerto” offering in the conventional overture-concerto-symphony concert program. The overture will be taken from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 113, the incidental music he composed for a performance of the play The Ruins of Athens by August von Kotzebue. The symphony will be Carl Nielsen’s Opus 29 (fourth), which the composer named “The Inextinguishable.” This symphony was composed in 1916 during World War I; and it includes a “battle” between two sets of timpani. Symphony Parnassus will be conducted by Music Director Stephen Paulson.

The performance of this program will begin at 2 p.m. this Sunday, November 17, in the Concert Hall of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, which is located at 50 Oak Street, between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street and a short walk from the Van Ness Muni Station. Ticket prices will be $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors, and $10 for students and those under the age of 26 (with proof of identification). Online purchases are being handled by a Brown Paper Tickets event page.