Wednesday, April 26, 2023

SFS: Guest Conductors in May, 2023

Following up on the current month, May will be another month of three guest conductors taking the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) podium for subscription concerts in Davies Symphony Hall. The first two of them, Thomas Wilkins and Rafael Payare, will be making their respective debuts in the Orchestral Series. The third, Philippe Jordan, who is currently Music Director of the Vienna State Opera, will be returning for the first time since October of 2007.

Wilkins is currently Principal Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. The featured soloist for his program will be saxophonist Branford Marsalis, who will serve as soloist in two works receiving their first SFS performances. The first of these will be “Hot-Sonate” by Erwin Schulhoff, which will be followed by John Williams’ “Escapades.” The program will begin with three dance episodes extracted from Leonard Bernstein’s score for the musical On the Town. The final selection will be “Harlem,” composed by Duke Ellington. This was commissioned by Arturo Toscanini, who had planned a large suite with each movement providing a “portrait” of a particular area of New York City.

This program will be given three performances. The first will begin at 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 4, followed by 7:30 p.m. concerts on Friday, May 5, and Saturday, May 6. Ticket prices range from $20 to $135. 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 Box Office in Davies Symphony Hall, 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. The Box Office is also open only for tickets to the evening performances two hours before the concert begins.

Payare is Music Director of both the San Diego Symphony and the Montreal Symphony. His soloist will be Hilary Hahn in a performance of Johannes Brahms’ Opus 77 violin concerto in D major. [update 4/9, 5:15 p.m.: Due to illness, Hahn will be unable to perform. She will be replaced by pianist Bruce Liu, who will be making his debut in the SFS Orchestra Series. His concerto selection will be Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 37 (third) piano concerto in C minor.] The “overture” for this concert will be “Darker America,” a tone poem about Black Americans’ journey from sorrow to triumph, composed by William Grant Still. The “symphony” portion of the program will be taken by Richard Strauss’ episodic tone poem “Ein Heldenleben” (a hero’s life).

This program will be given three performances, all beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, Friday, May 12, and Saturday, May 13. Ticket prices range from $20 to $165. 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 Box Office in Davies Symphony Hall, 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. The Box Office is also open only for tickets to the evening’s performance two hours before the concert begins.

This program will also be given a Katherine Hanrahan Open Rehearsal on Thursday, May 11. This special behind-the-scenes experience begins at 8:30 a.m. with coffee and complimentary doughnuts, followed by a half-hour introductory talk 9 a.m. The rehearsal itself begins at 10 a.m.; and, of course, the music to be rehearsed will be entirely at the conductor’s discretion. General admission is $30 with $40 for reserved seats in the Premiere Orchestra section, the Side and Rear Boxes, and the Loge. Tickets may be purchased online through a separate event page.

War Requiem “mosaic” showing the SFS Chorus (left), Jordan and Holloway (above right), and Bostridge and Paterson (below right) (from the event page for the concert, courtesy of SFS)

Jordan’s program will be devoted entirely to Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. The score calls for a full orchestra for settings of the Latin Requiem text, which is sung by a full chorus and a soprano. That vocalist will be Jennifer Holloway, making her Orchestral Series debut. The choral parts will be sung by both the SFS Chorus and the Ragazzi Boys Chorus, whose Director is Kent Jue. The Requiem text is interleaved with the poetry of Wilfred Owen, whose texts are sung by tenor and baritone soloists. Those vocalists will be, respectively, Ian Bostridge and Iain Paterson, both also making Orchestral Series debuts. [updated 5/13, 9:05 a.m.: Paterson has regretfully withdrawn from this program due to visa difficulties. He will be replaced by baritone Brian Mulligan, who made his SFS debut in January of 2017. He has also made numerous appearances with the San Francisco Opera.]

This program will also be given three performances, all beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 18, Friday, May 19, and Saturday, May 20. Ticket prices range from $35 to $165. (Terrace seating will not be available due to the choral resources.) 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 Box Office in Davies Symphony Hall, 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. The Box Office is also open only for tickets to the evening’s performance two hours before the concert begins.

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