SFS to Give First Concert Before Gala (again)

Garrick Ohlsson at the keyboard (from the SFS Web page for his performance)

As was the case in 2024, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) will give its first Orchestral Series performance about a week prior to the so-called “Season-Opening Festivities,” which begin with the Opening Gala. The title of this first program will be Garrick Ohlsson Plays Brahms; but, to be fair, that will account only for the second half of the program. This will be devoted entirely to Johannes Brahms’ Opus 15, his first piano concerto, composed in the key of D minor. For those that do not already know, Brahms was born on May 7, 1833; and he completed his Opus 15 in 1858, which would be towards the end of his first quarter-century. Ohlsson’s last visit to Davies was in March of 2025.

Conductor David Afkham chose to structure this program around the familiar “Schumann-Brahms axis.” The other side of that axis, so to speak, will be the conclusion of the first half of the program, which will present Robert Schumann’s Opus 120 (fourth) symphony, which was also composed in the key of D minor. The “overture” for this program will be much closer to the “immediate present,” Unsuk Chin’s “subito con forza” (lack of capitals being a factor in the title).

The program will be given two performances, both beginning at 7:30 p.m., on Friday, September 18, and Saturday, September 19. The two hyperlinks may be used to take advantage of purchasing tickets online. As always, tickets may also be acquired 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.