Kicking off with Market Street, 1920s, a thrilling new work by Principal Trombone Timothy Higgins, Spanish conductor Gustavo Gimeno returns to lead the San Francisco Symphony in a real dopamine hit of a program. Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony invites us to feel good, or at least better. The main theme, a musical representation of fate, remains deliciously elusive, but the overall structure follows the same model—minor to major, dark to light, sorrow to celebration—that Beethoven famously established in his own Fifth Symphony. Influenced by Schumann and Norwegian folk music, Grieg’s Piano Concerto makes us feel at home, happy and contented, while coaxing us toward new sonic adventures. The complex but catchy finale is Grieg’s delightfully demonic take on the halling, a traditional rural folk dance, which he turns into an infectious Nordic hoedown.

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Gimeno Conducts Tchaikovsky 5

Davies Symphony Hall

The Festival’s 40th Season opens with a fanfare written by the composer Timothy Higgins especially for this occasion! Then soprano Meechot Marrero returns to Sun Valley to sing a few of her favorite arias–fans may remember her passionate performance in the Festival’s gala concert, Carmina Burana, in 2022. The concert closes with Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony. Prokofiev himself gave it the nickname, as he intended to write a symphony in the classical style, while “absorbing things from what was new in music.” It’s a delightful, sunny piece, and one of the most-performed works of the 20th century.

Opening Night with Meechot Marrero

Sun Valley Pavilion

Experience each turn of phrase—every sigh, every look, every joy—within the intimate realm of chamber music. It’s personal—music curated and performed by small ensembles of San Francisco Symphony musicians.

Chamber Series: Davies Symphony Hall

Peruvian conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya leads the San Francisco Symphony in a globe-hopping, toe-tapping program that’s bursting with rhythm and color. Among the highlights is Shift, a new trombone concerto by Lima native Jimmy López—performed by SF Symphony Principal Trombone Timothy Higgins—inspired by “the behavior of waves as observed through the Doppler effect.” The Spanish composer Joaquín Turina wrote his most famous work, Danzas fantásticas, in 1919, inspired by the novel La orgía by José Más. Printed on the score at the start of each dance are quotations from the novel, which convey the ecstatic splendor of Turina’s music. Born in the French Pyrenees to a Basque mother reared in Madrid, Maurice Ravel embraced a cross-cultural style. Rapsodie espagnole boasts Spanish-inflected castanets and tambourine, shadowy low winds, muted brass, and blazing instrumental colors.

Timothy Higgins

Events

Upcoming events

29 - 30 May, 2026

Ravel & Music of the Americas · San Francisco Symphony

Past events

3 - 5 Oct, 2025

Gimeno Conducts Tchaikovsky 5 · San Francisco Symphony

Jul 29, 2024

Opening Night with Meechot Marrero · Sun Valley Music Festival

About

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