Guide

The San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas open the 2010-11 season on Tuesday, September 7 with their 99th Season Opening Gala concert, featuring soprano Jessye Norman performing Copland’s In the Beginning with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and songs by Duke Ellington, including “Come Sunday,” “Heaven,” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” “Sophisticated Lady,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing”).

The gala program also includes Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, and Suite No. 2 from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé.

Other highlights of MTT’s sixteenth season as Music Director include:

• MTT leads the Orchestra in three weeks of concerts highlighting SFS musicians as featured soloists. From September 22-25, English horn player Russ deLuna and Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye are soloists in Aaron Copland’s Quiet City. Also on the program is Lou Harrison’s Parade, written for and dedicated to Michael Tilson Thomas, and Copland’s Organ Symphony with Paul Jacobs.

The week of September 29, MTT and the Orchestra perform an all-French program, including the first SF Symphony performances of Debussy’s Fantasie for Piano and Orchestra. Principal Clarinet Carey Bell is the soloist in Debussy’s Première Rapsodie for Clarinet.

The Orchestra also performs Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole and scenes from Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette. The music of Latin American composers and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 highlight the week of October 7. Led by MTT, Principal Bassoon Stephen Paulson is featured soloist with the Orchestra in the first SFS performances of Villa-Lobos’ Ciranda das sete notas. These are also the Orchestra’s first performances of Revueltas’ Sensemayá. Edgar Varèse’s Amériques (revised version) completes the program.

• Principal Viola Jonathan Vinocour and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are featured in Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel, for viola, celesta, percussion, soprano, alto and choir, which the Orchestra will perform under MTT the week of February 23. The Orchestra and Chorus also perform Mozart’s Requiem in D minor for the first time during the regular season since 1991.

• Michael Tilson Thomas leads the Orchestra the week of December 8 in Project San Francisco concerts. Project San Francisco composer John Adams’ Harmonielehre, Henry Cowell’s Synchrony, and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 (featuring Gil Shaham) are on the program. For more on Project San Francisco, see p. 2.

• Beginning May 5, MTT conducts the Orchestra in three all-Mahler programs featuring Symphonies No. 9, 2, and 6. Soprano Karina Gauvin and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke are the soloists, and the SF Symphony Chorus also performs in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection.

• Pianist Yuja Wang, the featured Project San Francisco artist for 2010-11, joins the Orchestra and MTT to perform Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 2 June 16-19.

• Tilson Thomas conducts the Orchestra in their first performances together of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis June 23-26. The soloists are soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus, tenor Gregory Kunde, and bass Ain Anger, with the SF Symphony Chorus.

• In November, MTT leads two concert weeks featuring the music of Brahms, Strauss, Schubert, and Berg. Beginning November 17, MTT conducts Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben and Four Last Songs (Vier letzte Lieder), with soprano Elza van den Heever.

Schubert’s Music from Rosamunde opens the program. The week of November 24, Thanksgiving week, Yefim Bronfman joins the Orchestra for performances of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, and the Orchestra performs his Academic Festival Overture. The first SFS performances of Berg’s Three Pieces from Lyric Suite complete the program.

• Mezzo-soprano Anne Sophie von Otter joins the Orchestra beginning March 3 for selected songs by Grieg and Nielsen. MTT and the Orchestra also perform Hindemith’s Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass together for the first time.

• Other major works of the standard repertoire MTT will conduct include Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, the subject of the Symphony’s Keeping Score television series pilot, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7, and Brahms’ Serenade No. 1.

BEETHOVEN FOCUS

The San Francisco Symphony offers an in-depth exploration this season of the music of Beethoven, presenting and performing a wide selection of the composer’s symphonies, concertos, and chamber music.

Michael Tilson Thomas leads the Orchestra and SF Symphony Chorus in their first performances together of Missa solemnis in June, with soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus, tenor Gregory Kunde, and bass Ain Anger.

In October, the Orchestra also performs Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 under MTT’s baton.

Visiting conductor Marek Janowski conducts two all-Beethoven weeks, in January and February, including the composer’s Symphonies No. 1, 2 and 4; the Triple Concerto with violinist Chee-Yun, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and pianist Jeremy Denk; and his Piano Concerto No. 3, with Juho Pohjonen in his San Francisco Symphony debut.

The Orchestra also performs the Leonore Overture No. 3 under Janowski.

In April, conductor Peter Oundjian leads Jonathan Biss and the Orchestra in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor. With the Dresden Staatskapelle in October, pianist Rudolf Buchbinder performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4.

The Mutter-Bashmet-Harrell Trio, with violinist Anne Sophie Mutter, violist Yuri Bashmet, and cellist Lynn Harrell, in November performs an all-Beethoven program, including the String Trio in C minor, the Serenade in D major for Violin, Viola and Cello, and the String Trio in E-flat major.

The Orchestra also performs Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in Europe this season, in Lucerne in September 2010 and in Vienna, Paris, and Prague in May 2011.

2010-11 GUEST CONDUCTORS

The San Francisco Symphony welcomes several of today’s most distinguished and accomplished conductors to its podium as guests with the Orchestra. Among them:

• John Adams [see John Adams: Project San Francisco, first part].

• October 21-24 the SFS welcomes back the Music Director of Los Angeles Opera and the Ravinia Festival James Conlon, to conduct Wagner’s Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and three works by Dvořák: Carnival Overture, In Nature’s Realm, and the Othello Overture. Joshua Bell will join Conlon and the SFS to perform Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 at these concerts.

• Canadian conductor and Music Director of the Toronto Symphony, Peter Oundjian returns to the SFS April 28-30 to lead the Orchestra in its first performances of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Christopher Rouse’s The Infernal Machine.

Jonathan Biss will be soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 rounds out the concert program.

• 32-year-old Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado makes his SFS debut October 28-30, leading the Orchestra in its first performances of both György Kurtág’s Grabstein für Stephan and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 12, The Year 1917.

Alice Sara Ott makes her debut with the Orchestra to perform Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The Orchestra also performs Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave Overture during these concerts.

• Acclaimed for his interpretations of Beethoven, Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin Marek Janowski leads the Orchestra in two all-Beethoven programs. January 20-23 he conducts the Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and his Piano Concerto No. 3, featuring the SFS debut of Juho Pohjonen.

Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 is also on the program. Janowski returns February 2-5 with Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 1 and 2 and his Triple Concerto in C major, featuring Chee-Yun on violin, Alisa Weilerstein on cello and pianist Jeremy Denk.

• November 11-13 Jeffrey Kahane leads the Orchestra and vocalist Rufus Wainwright in the world premiere of Wainwright’s SFS-commissioned work Five Shakespeare Sonnets. Kahane is currently the Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

Renowned as both a pianist and a conductor, Kahane will perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major in these concerts.
The Orchestra will also perform Kurt Weill’s Symphony No. 2 for the first time.

• Conductor Carlos Kalmar makes his SFS debut November 3-5, leading the Orchestra in Orff’s Carmina burana featuring soprano Joélle Harvey, tenor Nicholas Phan, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.

Also performing are the Crowden School Chorus and the Pacific Boychoir. Kalmar will also lead the Orchestra in its first performances of Schnittke’s Moz-Art á la Haydn.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 97 completes the program. The Uruguayan-born Austrian is the Music Director of the Oregon Symphony and of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago.

• Ukrainian-born conductor Kirill Karabits makes his SFS debut January 6-9 at age 34, leading the Orchestra in Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor featuring Hélène Grimaud and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances.
The Orchestra will also perform Valentin Silvestrov’s Elegie for the first time.

• Dutch conductor Ton Koopman returns to Davies Symphony Hall for the first time since 1996, when, as part of the Symphony’s Great Performers Series, he led the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, which he founded in 1979.

He makes his debut with the SFS February 9-12 leading performances of Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 featuring Mario Brunello, Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, and the first SFS performances of C.P.E. Bach’s Symphony in G major.

• Kurt Masur returns to the SFS podium March 10-12 to lead an all-Mendelssohn performance of the composer’s Symphony No. 4 and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Soloists include soprano Susannah Biller and narrator Itay Tiran, both making their SFS debuts, as well as the San Francisco Girls Chorus.

• January 13-15 Yan Pascal Tortelier conducts the SFS in Mussorgsky’s Prelude to Khovanschina, and Prokofiev’s Scenes from Romeo and Juliet.

Vadim Gluzman joins the Orchestra in these concerts for its first performances of Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto.

Tortelier is Principal Conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra.

• Charles Dutoit returns to the SFS April 14-17 to lead the Orchestra in Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Henri Dutilleux’s Tout un monde lointain, featuring cellist Gautier Capuçon.

Swiss conductor Dutoit is the Chief Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Principal Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

• April 7-9 Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä directs the Orchestra in Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 2, A London Symphony, and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor featuring SFS Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik.
Vänskä is the Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra.

• David Robertson returns to the SFS podium January 26-28 for a program that features the world premiere of Avner Dorman’s SFS commission Uriah.
Also at these concerts, Leonidas Kavakos performs Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and the Orchestra performs his Symphony No. 1 and Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

• Russian-American conductor Semyon Bychkov returns to the SFS October 14-17 to lead performances of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin and British composer Sir William Walton’s Symphony No. 1.

Pianist Kirill Gerstein performs Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini at these concerts.

• Bernard Labadie leads the SFS in all-Mozart concerts February 17-19.

These performances will include Symphonies Nos. 25 and 33 and the first SFS performances of Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 5 and 8 featuring David Grielsammer, who makes his SFS debut in these concerts.

Israeli pianist and conductor Greilsammer won the Young Musician of the Year prize at the French Music Awards in 2008, and followed it by performing the complete Mozart Sonatas in a one-day marathon in Paris.

Labadie founded and is Music Director of the chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy and the choir La Chapelle de Québec.

2009-10 GUEST SOLOISTS

The San Francisco Symphony’s 2010-11 season features 15 guest soloists making their SFS debuts, including pianists David Greilsammer, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Alice Sara Ott, and Juho Pohjonen; violinist Arabella Steinbacher; cellist Mario Brunello; sopranos Susannah Biller, Ingela Bohlin, and Karina Gauvin; mezzo-soprano Abigail Nims; bass Ain Anger; bass-baritones Jonathan Lemalu and Shenyang; vocalist Rufus Wainwright; and narrator Itay Tiran.

The 31 guest artists returning to perform with the SFS during the 2010-11 season include: pianists Jonathan Biss, Yefim Bronfman, Jeremy Denk, Kirill Gerstein, Hélène Grimaud, Yundi Li, and Yuja Wang; violinists Joshua Bell, Vadim Gluzman, Leonidas Kavakos, Gil Shaham, and Chee-Yun; cellists Gautier Capuçon and Alisa Weilerstein; organist Paul Jacobs; sopranos Christine Brewer, Joélle Harvey, Elza van den Heever, Jessye Norman, Jessica Rivera, and Dawn Upshaw; mezzo-sopranos Sasha Cooke, Michelle DeYoung, Katarina Karnéus, Kelley O’Connor, and Anne Sofie von Otter; and countertenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, and Steven Rickards; and tenors Gregory Kunde and Nicholas Phan.

2010-11 SFS CONDUCTORS AND MUSICIANS

SFS Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt leads the Orchestra for two weeks in March 2011, in Dvořák’s New World Symphony and with soloist Arabella Steinbacher in her SFS debut in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 March 24-26.

From March 30 through April 2 Yundi Li joins Blomstedt and the Orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The Orchestra also performs Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in these concerts.

March 16-20 SFS Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin leads the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus in Bach’s Mass in B minor featuring soprano Ingela Bohlin, mezzo-sopranos Abigail Nims and Kelley O’Connor, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Shenyang. Bohlin, the Orchestra, Chorus, and soloists perform the same program March 17 at the University of California-Davis’ Mondavi Center.

A number of San Francisco Symphony musicians will be featured soloists when MTT conducts in the 2010-11 season.

From September 22-25, English horn player Russ deLuna and Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye solo in Copland’s Quiet City. SFS Principal Clarinet Carey Bell will be featured in Debussy’s Première Rapsodie for Clarinet September 29-October 3, and Principal Bassoon Stephen Paulson is soloist in the first SFS performances of Villa-Lobos’ Ciranda das sete notas October 7-9. SFS Principal Viola Jonathan Vinocour will be featured in Feldman’s Rothko Chapel when MTT conducts the Orchestra’s first performances of the work February 23-26. SFS Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik will perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor with guest conductor Osmo Vänskä leading the Orchestra April 7-9.

SFS musicians will also appear in the 2010-11 Chamber Music Series, with six Sunday matinee concerts in Davies Symphony Hall and four at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra Music Director Donato Cabrera leads the Youth Orchestra in six concerts, including three concerts of diverse orchestral repertoire in Davies Symphony Hall, and three December concerts of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, two at Davies Symphony Hall and one at Flint Center in Cupertino.

THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY CHORUS

The San Francisco Symphony Chorus, in its fourth season under SFS Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin, performs in seven SFS concert weeks and one special choral concert.

Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the Chorus in three programs, with repertoire including Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis.

Michael Tilson Thomas also leads the group in Copland’s In the Beginning at the Opening Gala. Guest conductor Carlos Kalmar leads the ensemble in Orff’s Carmina burana, John Adams leads the group in his El Niño, and Ragnar Bohlin conducts the Chorus in Bach’s Mass in B minor. Bohlin will also conduct the spring chorus concert in May, with repertoire to be announced.

EUROPEAN TOURS

The San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas perform two European tours during the 2010-11 season, with residencies at some of Europe’s most prestigious festivals and in music capitals around the Continent. In September 2010, the Orchestra returns to the acclaimed Lucerne Festival for a three-concert residency.

These Orchestra concerts with MTT cap its three-year Lucerne Festival residency and include performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5; Berlioz’ Les Nuits d’été (with soprano Susan Graham) and Roman Carnival Overture; Copland’s Organ Symphony, featuring organist Paul Jacobs; Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales and Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2; Berg’s Violin Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff; and the Overture to Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer.

The Orchestra’s Lucerne Festival residency began in 2006 with three concerts and continued with three more in September 2007, including performances of Mahler’s Symphonies No. 7 and 8.

The SFS also performs two concerts in Italy. In Milan, Susan Graham joins MTT and the Orchestra for Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été, and the Orchestra performs his Roman Carnival Overture, as well as Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales and Daphnis et Chloé, Suite 2.

In Turin, MTT leads the Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 and Wagner’s Overture to Der fliegende Holländer.

In May 2011, the Orchestra and MTT return to Europe for three weeks, their longest tour of the Continent since 2003.

The primary musical focus is the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. MTT and the Orchestra perform 15 concerts in nine cities, beginning May 19 in Prague. A historic highlight of the tour is a rare four-concert engagement in Vienna’s Konzerthaus, with Tilson Thomas leading the Orchestra in performances of Mahler’s Symphonies No. 2, 6, and 9.

Violinist Christian Tetzlaff once again performs on tour with the Orchestra, in the violin concertos of Berg and Mendelssohn. The Orchestra performs two concerts each at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional de Musica, and Smetana Hall in Prague.

MTT and the Orchestra also perform in Brussels; Luxembourg; Essen, Germany; Barcelona; and Lisbon. In addition to the Mahler symphonies, and the Berg and Mendelssohn violin concertos, tour repertoire includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Henry Cowell’s Synchrony.

For its performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, the Orchestra is joined by some of Europe’s outstanding choral groups. In Vienna, the Orchestra is accompanied by the Wiener Singakademie chorus, and in Paris, by the Choeur de Radio France. The Gulbenkian Choir performs with the Orchestra in Lisbon. The Orféon Donostiarra performs in Madrid, and the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno performs with the Orchestra in Prague.

2010-11 GREAT PERFORMERS SERIES AND SPECIAL CONCERTS

The San Francisco Symphony’s 2010-11 season offers a twelve-concert Great Performers Series and several special concerts with some of the world’s most lauded and accomplished musicians, orchestras and conductors.

The series begins on October 24 with the Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra and pianist Rudolf Buchbinder in a concert featuring music by Beethoven and Brahms.

In November, the SFS presents pianist Murray Perahia in recital. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, violist Yuri Bashmet, and cellist Lynn Harrell perform an all-Beethoven recital as the Mutter-Bashmet-Harrell Trio in November.

In January, pianist Lang Lang returns to Davies Symphony Hall to perform in recital. Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky and pianist Ivari Ilja are featured in a recital in February.

Later that month, conductor Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra visit San Francisco to perform two concerts featuring music by Beethoven, Haydn, Mahler, and Webern. Pianist Yefim Bronfman performs a recital with music by Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Chopin in March.

Later that month, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and conductor Yuri Temirkanov perform two concerts of works by Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich, and Brahms. Cellist Alisa Weilerstein joins the ensemble for one performance and pianist Nikolai Lugansky for the other.

In April, conductor Josep Pons leads The National Orchestra of Spain and pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque in a concert featuring music by Falla, Joan Albert Amargós, Stravinsky, and Ravel. The Great Performers Series concludes on June 21 with a recital featuring pianist Yuja Wang.

Violinist Itzhak Perlman performs a recital in January. In addition, the San Francisco Symphony presents several special concerts, including a Halloween night screening of the 1920 silent classic film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with organist Dennis James providing haunting accompaniment; a celebration of Mexican music and culture at the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Family Concert in November, conducted by SFS Assistant Conductor Donato Cabrera; and the annual Chinese New Year Concert & Celebration in January.

The SFS also presents several holiday concerts, including the Colors of Christmas pop/R&B concerts with guest vocalists and the Orchestra, and the return of the New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball. Complete details of the Orchestra’s holiday concerts will be announced at a later date.

2010-11 SOUTH BAY CLASSICAL SERIES

The San Francisco Symphony continues its performances for patrons in the South Bay during the 2010-11 season, with a five-concert subscription series at the Flint Center in Cupertino. The acclaimed SFS Youth Orchestra will also perform its annual holiday concert Peter and the Wolf at the Flint Center in December.

Conductor Semyon Bychkov, the SFS, and pianist Kirill Gerstein open the South Bay Classical Series on October 14 with a program of Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and Walton. Other conductors featured in the series include David Robertson and Osmo Vänskä, and the SF Symphony debut of Ton Koopman.

Violinist Leonidas Kavakos, cellist Mario Brunello, and SFS Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik also appear. The SFS has performed at Cupertino’s Flint Center since 1971.

SACRAMENTO AREA PERFORMANCES

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony perform two concerts at the Mondavi Center at University of California, Davis this season.

The first concert is an all-French program on September 30, featuring pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger as soloist in Debussy’s Fantasie for Piano and Orchestra, and SF Symphony Principal Clarinet Carey Bell in the composer’s Première Rapsodie for Clarinet.

Also on the program are Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole and selected scenes from Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette. The Orchestra and the SF Symphony Chorus return March 17 to perform Bach’s Mass in B minor under the baton of conductor Ragnar Bohlin, Chorus Director.

Soloists include soprano Ingela Bohlin, mezzo-sopranos Abigail Nims and Kelley O’Connor, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Shenyang.

The San Francisco Symphony had the honor of performing the inaugural concert at the Mondavi Center when it opened in 2002, in a program of Strauss, Bartók, Wagner, and Michael Tilson Thomas’ Urban Legend, and has performed there four times since.

2010-11 SUNDAY ORGAN SERIES

The San Francisco Symphony continues its Sunday Organ Series during the 2010-11 season, featuring the mighty Ruffatti organ in Davies Symphony Hall. The three-concert series features organists Olivier Latry in November, Paul Jacobs in January, and Jane Parker-Smith in April.

The Ruffatti organ is the largest concert-hall organ in North America and was handcrafted in Padua, Italy.

This customized concert pipe organ boasts 8,264 pipes ranging in size from a ballpoint pen to over 32 feet tall, with a façade measuring 1600 square feet.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO), led by Wattis Foundation Music Director Donato Cabrera, celebrates its 30th anniversary season in 2010-11. The Youth Orchestra, beginning its second season with Cabrera on the podium, performs three Sunday matinee concerts on October 31, March 13, and a 30th anniversary concert on May 22. The Youth Orchestra will also perform its annual Peter and the Wolf holiday concerts in Davies Symphony Hall and at the Flint Center in Cupertino. Members of the SFSYO range between the ages of 12 and 20. The Orchestra is internationally acclaimed as one of the world’s finest ensembles of young musicians.

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

Praised by The New York Times as “a music education powerhouse” and by The Wall Street Journal as “the industry standard,” the San Francisco Symphony’s education programs offer a vital cultural resource in the Bay Area.

Committed to serving its community in meaningful and lasting ways, the SFS reaches thousands of people of all ages throughout Northern California with its educational and community programs, touching a broad economic and cultural cross-section of the population.

The Adventures in Music program, which serves as a national model for music education, provides in-school music experiences to every child in grades 1-5 in San Francisco’s public elementary schools, as well as a special concert by the Orchestra in Davies Symphony Hall. The SFS Youth Orchestra, celebrating its 30th season in 2010-11, has achieved an international reputation for excellence.

Music for Families features the San Francisco Symphony in a series of weekend matinee concerts specially designed for children and their families to learn about music together.

Concerts for Kids makes live orchestral music available to more than 35,000 children each year throughout Northern California. Other programs such as the Instrument Training and Support Program and the web sites SFSKids.com and KeepingScore.org reach young instrumentalists, students of all ages, teachers, and adults, providing access to and engagement with music of the highest quality.

COMMUNITY CONCERTS

The San Francisco Symphony performs a number of free concerts for music lovers in neighborhoods around the Bay Area. On September 24, the Orchestra performs a free noontime concert at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco, and, in the summer of 2011, performs free concerts in Dolores Park and Stern Grove. The annual All-San Francisco concert for more than 100 community organizations returns in September, and the SFS presents its annual Community Deck the Hall Concert in December.

MUSIC FOR ALL BUDGETS

The San Francisco Symphony is committed to offering a wide array of affordable options for people to enjoy orchestral music. Seats for select Orchestra concerts are available starting at $15.

Music for Families, four kid-friendly concerts designed for families to enjoy music together, offers subscribers four-concert packages for as little as $60, or $15 each, with half-price tickets for children 17 and under.

Other affordable choices include San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra concert ticket packages starting at $36 for three concerts, or $12 each.

Sunday Organ concerts start at $20, or $60 for the three-concert package.

Also, $20 rush tickets are available at the box office for selected concerts, with information available prior to concerts on the rush hotline at 415-503-5577.

Six-concert student subscriptions start as low as $90.

Groups of 10 or more receive a 20% discount for most performances, through 415-503-5311 or sfsymphony.org/groups.

The Symphony also offers an extended payment plan for subscribers, so buyers can order now, pay half the total upon ordering, and pay the balance by May 14, 2010.

TICKET INFORMATION

Subscription series tickets for the San Francisco Symphony’s 2010-11 season go on sale to renewing subscribers and the general public starting today, Monday, March 1, at 10 a.m.

Ticket information is available through the San Francisco Symphony web site at www.sfsymphony.org, through the SFS Patron Services Office at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

Subscribers have advance ordering privileges for the Opening Gala, special events, and for additional single tickets for concerts. Subscriber benefits also include ticket-price savings, ticket-exchange privileges, seat upgrades, and priority for single-ticket purchases.

Single tickets go on sale to non-subscribers on Monday, July 19 at 10 a.m. through the San Francisco Symphony web site at www.sfsymphony.org, through the SFS Patron Services Office at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

Further highlights of the season and a full list of programs can be found in the “Season at a Glance” and the 2010-11 Season Calendar documents that accompany this release. All programs are subject to change; additional concert, program, and artist information will be announced at a later date. For further press information, please contact the SFS Communications Department at (415) 503-5474, email publicrelations@sfsymphony.org, or visit the SFS Press Room online at www.sfsymphony.org/press.

Chevron is the Presenting Sponsor of the San Francisco Symphony’s Great Performers Series.
William Hill Estate Winery is the Official Wine of the San Francisco Symphony.

ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Founded in 1911, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) celebrates its Centennial Season in 2011-12 and is widely considered to be among the country’s most artistically adventurous and innovative arts institutions.

Under Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, the SFS performs and presents more than 220 concerts annually for an audience of nearly 600,000 in its home of Davies Symphony Hall, in other Bay Area venues, and through an active national and international touring program.

The Orchestra reaches millions more around the world with its music through its Keeping Score multimedia projects, television and radio broadcasts, websites, and recordings.

Tilson Thomas assumed his post as the SFS’ eleventh Music Director in September 1995. Together, he and the San Francisco Symphony have formed a musical partnership hailed as one of the most inspiring and successful in the country.

His fifteen seasons as Music Director have been praised by critics for outstanding musicianship, innovative programming, highlighting the works of American composers, and bringing new audiences to classical music.

In 1996, Tilson Thomas led the Orchestra on the first of their thirteen national tours together, and they have continued an ambitious yearly touring schedule that has taken them to Europe, Asia and throughout the United States. Recent touring highlights include a 2006 Asian tour that included the Orchestra’s first appearances in mainland China, and a three-week 2007 European tour that featured two televised appearances at the BBC Proms in London and concerts at several other major European festivals.

In September 2008, MTT and the Orchestra opened Carnegie Hall’s 2008-09 season with a gala tribute to Leonard Bernstein that was filmed and broadcast nationally on PBS’ Great Performances.

The DVD of the performance, A Celebration of Leonard Bernstein: Carnegie Hall Opening Night 2008, was released in October 2008 on the Orchestra’s own SFS Media label and is available nationally and internationally through online and retail outlets.

Since 2001, Tilson Thomas and the Orchestra have recorded all nine of Mahler’s symphonies and the Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony, as well as the composer’s works for voices, chorus, and orchestra for SFS Media.

In January 2010, their lauded recording of Mahler’s sweeping Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand and Adagio from Symphony No. 10 won three Grammy Awards, for Best Classical Album, Best Choral Performance, and Best Engineered Classical Recording.

The San Francisco Symphony has also recorded scenes from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, a collection of Stravinsky ballets, a Gershwin collection, and Charles Ives: An American Journey, among others.

In addition to fourteen Grammy Awards, the SFS has won some of the world’s most prestigious recording awards, including Japan’s Record Academy Award and France’s Grand Prix du Disque.

In fall 2006, Tilson Thomas and the SFS launched the national Keeping Score PBS television series and multimedia project. Keeping Score is the San Francisco Symphony’s national program designed to make classical music more accessible to people of all ages and musical backgrounds.

The project is anchored by a national PBS television series which debuted in 2006, and includes an innovative website to explore and learn about music; a national radio series, The MTT Files; documentary and live performance DVDs; and an education program for K-12 schools to further teaching through the arts by integrating classical music into core subjects. To date, more than six million people have seen the Keeping Score television series, and the radio series has been broadcast on almost 100 stations nationally.

The second series of Keeping Score television programs, with episodes on composers Hector Berlioz, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Charles Ives, debuted on PBS in fall 2009. Season Three, which focuses on the life and music of Gustav Mahler, is scheduled to air in spring 2011. A new national Keeping Score radio series also airs at that time.

The San Francisco Symphony provides the most extensive education and community programs offered by any American orchestra today.

In 1988, the Symphony established Adventures in Music (AIM), a free, comprehensive music education program that introduces every first- through fifth-grade child in the San Francisco Unified School District to music from around the world.

The SFS also offers opportunities to hear and learn about great music through its programs Concerts for Kids, Music for Families, the internationally-acclaimed SFS Youth Orchestra, an instrument training program for middle and high school students, and annual free community concerts around the Bay Area.

2010-11 SEASON MAJOR INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS

The San Francisco Symphony is grateful for the support of its generous partners:

Centennial Partners
Centennial Partners have committed major, multi-year funding in recognition of the Orchestra’s upcoming 100th anniversary, which will be celebrated in the 2011-2012 season.
Chevron
Presenting Sponsor of the Great Performers Series
Wells Fargo

Corporate Partners
American Airlines
AT&T
Bank of America
Franklin Templeton Investments
Jones Day
McKesson
PG&E Corporation
Sustainability Partner of the San Francisco Symphony
The Westin St. Francis
William Hill Estate Winery
Official Wine of the San Francisco Symphony

Public Funders
Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund
National Endowment for the Arts

PRESS CONTACTS:

Oliver Theil
San Francisco Symphony
415.503.5426
otheil@sfsymphony.org

Louisa Spier
San Francisco Symphony
415.503.5406
lspier@sfsymphony.org

Angela Duryea
Shuman Associates
212-315-1300
aduryea@shumanassociates.net