MTT to Return to SFS with Two Concert Programs

SFS Music Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas (photograph by Brandon Patoc, courtesy of SFS)

Next month Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) will return to Davies Symphony Hall in his new capacity as Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS). He has prepared two programs, which will be performed over the course of two successive weeks. He has included his own music in the program for the first week, and the second week will feature two premiere performances.

The MTT composition will be “Notturno,” scored for flute and orchestra. The soloist will be Demarre McGill, Principal Flute of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, making his debut at an SFS subscription concert. MTT has described “Notturno” as “a virtuoso piece evoking the lyrical world of Italian music.” He elaborates on that description as follows:

Its shape recalls concert arias, “études de concert,” and salon pieces—creations of a bygone world that I still hold in great esteem.…The piece has a subtext. It’s about the role music plays in the life of a musician and the role we musicians play in life.

“Notturno” will be framed by music from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, respectively. The program will begin with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 605 set of three German dances, the last of which was given the title “Schlittenfahrt” (sleigh ride) and includes both sleigh bells and a post horn in its instrumentation. For the second half of the program, MTT will revisit his SFS Media recording of the four symphonies of Robert Schumann, performing the Opus 38 (first) symphony in B-flat major, known as the “spring” symphony.

This concert will be given three performances, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, November 12, and Saturday, November 13, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 14. A single Web page has been created with hyperlinks for purchasing tickets for each of those dates. There will be an Inside Music talk given by Scott Foglesong one hour prior to each concert. Doors will open fifteen minutes before the talk begins. Ticket prices range from $20 to $135 and may also be purchased by calling the SFS Box Office at 415-864-6000 or by visiting the Box Office at the main entrance to Davies on the north side of Grove Street, between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street.

The second week will feature the world premiere performance of a trombone concerto composed by Timothy Higgins, SFS Principal Trombone. This will be preceded by the SFS premiere performance of William Grant Still’s “Patterns.” The second half of the program will present the music that Aaron Copland composed for “Appalachian Spring,” a dance choreographed by Martha Graham, first performed at the Library of Congress on October 30, 1944.

This concert will be given three performances, all at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 18, Friday, November 19, and Saturday, November 20. A single Web page has been created with hyperlinks for purchasing tickets for each of those dates. There will be an Inside Music talk given by Peter Grunberg one hour prior to each concert. Doors will open fifteen minutes before the talk begins.

These performances will be preceded by the next Katherine Hanrahan Open Rehearsal of the season. This special behind-the-scenes experience begins at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 18, with coffee and complimentary doughnuts, followed by a half-hour introductory talk by Grunberg 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 Premier Orchestra section, Rear Boxes and Side Boxes, and the Loge. Tickets may be purchased online through a separate event page.