SFS Concerts to Resume with Eschenbach

Conductor Christoph Eschenbach (photograph by Luca Piva, courtesy of SFS)

Next month the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) will resume its subscription concerts with a program led by visiting conductor Christoph Eschenbach. According to my records, I have not encountered Eschenbach on the podium in Davies Symphony Hall since April of 2013, back when I was writing for Examiner.com. That turned out of be quite an offering. The soloist was baritone Matthias Goerne performing two solo scenes from operas by Richard Wagner, the extended monologue, which introduced the Dutchman in the first act of Der fliegende Holländer (the flying Dutchman), and the conclusion of Die Walküre (the Valkyrie), best known as “Wotan’s Farewell.” The intermission was then followed by Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 95 (“From the New World”) in E minor.

For next month’s program, Eschenbach’s soloist will be pianist Jan Lisiecki, performing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 58 (fourth) concerto in G major. The symphony offering will be Johannes Brahms’ Opus 68 (first) symphony in C minor. The overture for this program will be an SFS premiere, the ensemble’s first performance of an overture in C major by Fanny Mendelssohn. Readers may recall that Lisiecki launched the San Francisco Performances Piano Series for this season this past October with a program consisting entirely of music by Frédéric Chopin structured around with twelve Opus 10 études.

There will be three performances of this program, at 2 p.m. on Thursday, January 13, and at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 14, and Saturday, January 15, respectively. Ticket prices range from $20 to $125, and a single event page has been created for online purchase for all three concerts. They may also be purchased 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. 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.