SFS: 2 Subscription Concerts Before Cal Festival

Following up on the last of the first three San Francisco Symphony (SFS) subscription programs led by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen this week, SFS will host two guest conductors before Salonen returns for the two-week California Festival. Both conductors have previously visited the podium in Davies Symphony Hall. Each of the programs will feature a visiting soloist, and the soloist for the first week will be making his Orchestral Series debut. Specifics are as follows with hyperlinks to the Web pages for ticket purchases:

Thursday, October 26, Friday, October 27, and Saturday, October 28, 7:30 p.m.: Elim Chan, Chief Conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, will lead of a program of works by two major British composers of the twentieth century. The first of these will be Benjamin Britten with tenor Andrew Staples making his debut in a performance of the Opus 18 song cycle Les Illuminations. The intermission will be followed by Gustav Holst’s suite The Planets with the SFS Chorus contributing to the final movement.

These performances will be preceded by the next Katherine Hanrahan Open Rehearsal of the season. As usual, this special behind-the-scenes experience will precede the first performance. It will begin at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, October 26, with coffee and complimentary doughnuts, followed by a half-hour introductory talk at 9 a.m., which will be delivered by Laura Prichard. The rehearsal itself begins at 10 a.m.; and, of course, the pieces rehearsed are at the conductor’s discretion.

Thursday, November 2, Friday, November 3, and Saturday, November 4, 7:30 p.m.: The conductor will be Ludovic Morlot, Music Director of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. This will be a variation on the usual overture-concerto-symphony format. The “overture” will be the United States premiere performance of Betsy Jolas’ “Latest,” composed on an SFS commission. Violinist Augustin Hadelich will then return as soloist for a performance of Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 53 violin concerto in A minor. The intermission will be followed by Maurice Ravel’s arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s best known piano composition, the Pictures at an Exhibition suite.