Salonen to Lead First Four SFS Season Programs

Following the events that will kick off the 2022–23 Season of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct the first four subscription programs. The first of these will be given only a single performance, since it will take place the evening after the Opening Night Gala. Each of the remaining programs will be given three performances in Davies Symphony Hall.

In the past the first subscription program tends to share at least some of the Gala programming. However, since the Gala will be devoted entirely to William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, that will not be the case this season. More significantly, the program will feature violinist Randall Goosby’s first performance with SFS, following up on his first recital appearance in Davies this past April. On this month’s occasion he will serve as soloist in the SFS premiere of Florence Price’s second violin concerto. The program will begin with the overture to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 486, his one-act comic Singspiel entitled “Der Schauspieldirektor” (the impresario). The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Richard Strauss’ tone poem “Also sprach Zarathustra” (thus spoke Zarathustra).

This program will be performed on Saturday, September 24, at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices range from $20 to $165. They may be purchased by calling the SFS Box Office at 415-864-6000 or by visiting the Web page for online purchase.

The first multiple-performance concert will be devoted almost entirely to Gustav Mahler’s second symphony in C minor, familiarly known as the “Resurrection Symphony.” The performance will include the resources of the SFS Chorus and two vocal soloists, soprano Golda Schultz, also making her first appearance with SFS, and mezzo Michelle DeYoung. The program will begin with the world premiere performance of Trevor Weston’s “Push.”

This program will be given three performances, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 29, and Saturday, October 1, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 2. Ticket prices will range from $35 to $165 and may be purchased through both a single Web page and by calling the SFS Box Office at 415-864-6000. The free pre-concert event will be a Q&A session with Weston moderated by Philippa Cole, taking place one hour prior to the beginning of the performance. Doors open fifteen minutes before the talk begins.

Schultz will return the following week, this time as the soloist in a performance of Jean Sibelius’ tone poem “Luonnotar.” The title is the name of one of the characters in the Finnish epic poem Kalevala, who is both the Spirit of Nature and the Mother of the Seas. This composition will be preceded by the United States premiere of “Sun Poem,” composed by Daniel Kidane on an SFS co-commission. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to the complete score that Igor Stravinsky composed for the one-act ballet created by Michel Fokine, “The Firebird.”

This program will also be given three performances, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 7, and Saturday, October 8, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 9. Ticket prices will range from $20 to $165 and may be purchased through both a single Web page and by calling the SFS Box Office at 415-864-6000. The free pre-concert event will again be a Q&A session with composer Kidane, taking place one hour prior to the beginning of the performance. Doors open fifteen minutes before the talk begins.

For the last of this set of subscription programs, the visiting soloist will be pianist Yuja Wang. She will give the world premiere performance of Magnus Lindberg’s third piano concerto, composed on an SFS commission. The program will begin with Carl Nielsen’s Opus 17 “Helios Overture.” The second half of the program will present Béla Bartók’s five-movement concerto for orchestra.

This program will be given three performances, all at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 13,  Friday, October 14, and Saturday, October 15. Ticket prices will range from $40 to $209 and may be purchased through both a single Web page and by calling the SFS Box Office at 415-864-6000. Doors open at 6:45 p.m.