SFS Programs for February, 2026

It is almost halfway through the first month of the year, and plans are already in place for the second month in Davies Symphony Hall. There will, of course, be the usual weekly Orchestral Series performed by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), as well as recitals and chamber music. As in the past, I prefer to deal with the individual events in chronological order all taking place in Davies Symphony Hall. As in the past, each of the dates will be provided with a hyperlink to facilitate ticket purchases. Tickets may also be purchased at the Box Office, which is at the entrance to Davies on the south side of Grove Street, between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street.

Sunday, February 1, 2 p.m.: The month will begin with the first Chamber Music recital of the year. June Choi Oh will be the pianist for Arthur Foote’s Opus 23 piano quartet in C major. All the other performers will be from the string section: violinists Dan Carlson, Jane Cho, Olivia Chen, Jessie Fellows, In Sun Jang, Jeein Kim, and Kelly Leon-Pearce, violists Katarzyna Bryla, Gina Cooper, and Katie Kadarauch, cellists Sarah Chong, David Goldblatt, Anne Richardson, and Amos Yang, and Charles Chandler on bass. The other works on the program will be Luigi Boccherini’s Opus 37 string quintet in D major and the string octet in C major by George Enescu.

Sunday, February 1, 7:30 p.m.: The first recitalist of the month will be Nicola Benedetti, but it will not be the usual recital program. Rather than performing with a piano accompanist, she will be joined by guitarist Plínio Fernandes on guitar, accordionist Hanzhi Wang, and Adrian Daurov on cello. As might be guessed, most of the program will consist of arrangements of both composed works and folk music. However, Benedetti will also give solo performances of the first and last of the 24 Caprices by Niccolò Paganini, as well as his “Cantabile” in D major.

Thursday, February 5, Friday, February 6, and Saturday, February 7, 7:30 p.m.: Harry Bicket will return to Davies as the first SFS conductor of the month. He has prepared a program devoted entirely to works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This will include two symphonies, K. 338 in C major and K. 504 (“Prague”) in D major; and the program will begin with the K. 239 serenade, given the title “Serenata notturna.” The guest artists will be soprano Golda Schultz and tenor Samuel White, performing excerpts from the three operas that Mozart composed for librettos by Lorenzo Da Ponte. In “order of appearance” these will be The Marriage of Figaro (K. 492), Così fan tutte (K. 588), and Don Giovanni (K. 527).

Sunday, February 8, 7:30 p.m.: Pianist Yefim Bronfman will perform his latest recital program. The second half will be devoted entirely to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 57 sonata, best known as the “Appassionata.” The first half of the program will be a “chronological post-Beethoven journey.” The recital will begin with Robert Schumann’s Opus 18, his C major “Arabesque.” This will be followed by the third of Johannes Brahms’ piano sonatas, his Opus 5 in F minor. The journey will then conclude with Claude Debussy’s second set of Images compositions.

Thursday, February 19, Friday, February 20, and Saturday, February 21, 7:30 p.m.: For his return to Davies, Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden has prepared a program of two Beethoven symphonies. These will be presented in “chronological order.” The first half will offer Opus 36, Beethoven’s D major second symphony, which he completed in 1802. The second half will conclude the program with one of his best-known symphonies, Opus 92, the seventh, composed in the key of A major.

Wednesday, February 25, 7:30 p.m.: The next recitalist will be pianist Mao Fujita, whose program has not yet been announced.

Conductor Manfred Honeck (from the Web page for the concerts he will be conducting)

Thursday, February 26, and Friday February 27, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 1, 2 p.m.: Conductor Manfred Honeck has conceived and will present a setting of Mozart’s K. 626 Requiem as a “dramatic production.” This will include narration by Adrian Roberts. The vocal soloists will be soprano Ying Fang, mezzo Sasha Cooke, tenor David Portillo, and bass Stephano Park. The program will begin with Beethoven’s Opus 62, his “Coriolan Overture.” This will be followed by Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken I/93, the first of his “London” symphonies, composed in the key of D major.

Saturday, February 28, 5 p.m.: This will be the annual Lunar New Year concert celebrating the Year of the Horse. The program will include solo performances by clarinetist Yuhsin Galaxy Su and George Gao on erhu. Once again, the conductor will be Mei-Ann Chen.