Name: Seong-jin Cho Piano Recital
Start: 2025-02-09T19:30:00
Location: Davies Symphony Hall

The San Francisco Symphony kicks off 2025 with a series of captivating performances, featuring a blend of orchestral, choral, and chamber music. From the lyricism of Barber's Violin Concerto to the spellbinding choral works of Orff, alongside family-friendly shows and a nod to cultural traditions with the Lunar New Year celebration, this season promises diverse and enriching musical experiences. Join us as we explore the artistry and creativity behind each event, showcasing renowned musicians and compositions that bridge the past and present.

A Symphony of Sounds: January Highlights at the San Francisco Symphony

The San Francisco Symphony is set to dazzle audiences with an array of breathtaking performances at the Davies Symphony Hall. With an impressive lineup that includes the eloquent Herbert Blomstedt, the dynamic Yuja Wang, and the commanding Joshua Bell, this season promises an unforgettable experience for music lovers. From the haunting symphonies of Schubert to the rhythmic revelry of Stravinsky and Debussy, each event offers a unique journey through the rich tapestry of orchestral and recital performances. Join us as we explore the highlights of these musical marvels.

A Symphony of Sound: Unveiling San Francisco's Upcoming Musical Masterpieces

Seong-Jin Cho

San Francisco Symphony

Ever subtle, ever ambivalent, Tchaikovsky juggles joy and tragedy in his Fourth Symphony, led here by guest conductor Dima Slobodeniouk. Tchaikovsky’s so-called “Fate” motif reminds us that we cannot live in the beautiful world of our dreams. “This is fate,” he explained, “that fatal force which hangs above your head like the sword of Damocles, and unwaveringly, constantly poisons the soul.” If fate is the soul’s poison, the Fourth’s shining finale is the antidote. Rarely programmed but undeniably compelling, Jacques Ibert’s Flute Concerto is among the most challenging pieces in the repertoire. The concerto is an electrifying assemblage of unlikely influences, ranging from Mozart to Stravinsky. SF Symphony Principal Flute Yubeen Kim takes on Ibert’s uncategorizable tour de force.

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony

Davies Symphony Hall

At 97, San Francisco Symphony Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt maintains a rigorous concert schedule that belies his age. He conducts Mahler’s massive Ninth Symphony, a 90-minute marathon of emotional catharsis and technical derring-do. It was the last symphony that Mahler completed, and death was on his mind. At its core, and in spite of its tragic touches, the Ninth Symphony offers solace, the salvation of sunshine, a passing cloud, a child’s laughter.

Blomstedt Conducts Mahler 9

Just how American is the New World Symphony? Although many listeners swear that they hear snatches of such classic folk tunes as “Turkey in the Straw,” “Three Blind Mice,” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” Dvořák later claimed that the Ninth’s title was meant only to describe “impressions and greetings from the New World.” Kicking things off with a commissioned premiere by Tyler Taylor—the 2024 winner of the Emerging Black Composers Project—Romanian conductor Cristian Măcelaru leads the San Francisco Symphony in a rousing and profound program that also boasts Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto, No. 1, spotlighting Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski. The piano tumbles recklessly, sings ardently, mimics, mocks, and pounds until the meter-juggling finale drives home the happy ending.

Măcelaru Conducts Dvořák’s New World

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.

Ravel & Music of the Americas

Yo-Yo Ma takes the stage with conductor James Gaffigan and the San Francisco Symphony for one night only. Written in the aftermath of World War I, Elgar’s Cello Concerto is an urgent elegy, a late-life affirmation of Englishness. Also heard on the program is Mozart’s final symphony, the majestic Jupiter.

Yo-Yo Ma with the San Francisco Symphony

Today’s Stars, Tomorrow’s Legends: Catch ascendant soloists in their Davies Symphony Hall recital debuts.

Njioma Grevious

The Chinese-born New Zealand conductor Tianyi Lu makes her San Francisco Symphony debut with Rimsky-Korsakov’s cinematic orchestral showpiece Scheherazade, paired with the first Symphony performances of Iranian-American composer Iman Habibi’s Zhiân, dedicated to “the brave people of Iran, in the hope of better days ahead.” Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s side job as a film composer likely saved his life. In 1938, the Jewish former prodigy fled Vienna for Hollywood; five years later, he became a US citizen. His violin concerto, performed here by María Dueñas, was written for his neighbor, none other than Jascha Heifetz, who helped ensure that the violin writing was perfectly pitched between lyricism and virtuosity.

Scheherazade

Beethoven wanted his Ninth Symphony—led here by James Gaffigan—to enact a journey of transformation, exploring themes of struggle and salvation, community and compassion. Although he wasn’t religious in the conventional sense, he found spiritual sustenance in his art. Even in our hyperpolarized times, Beethoven’s Ninth feels like a unifying force across the globe, a cultural common good. For its creator, who drafted, revised, and perfected his final symphony over more than 30 years, its meaning was urgent, immediate, vital: In those decades he saw the humanist ideals of the French Revolution trampled by repressive regimes.

Gaffigan Conducts Beethoven 9

Conductor Stéphane Denève joins the San Francisco Symphony for an extraordinary program featuring two powerhouses of the French symphonic organ tradition, performed by Olivier Latry. Poulenc’s Organ Concerto was inspired by the intricate organ fantasies of Buxtehude, Bach, and other Baroque composers. “This is not the happy-go-lucky Poulenc,” he confessed in a letter, “but a Poulenc en route to the cloister—a 15th-century Poulenc, if you like.” Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony has been a hit with audiences since 1886, when the composer led the Royal Philharmonic Society in its world premiere. His writing for the organ—quietly shaded at first, commanding later—is the perfect showcase for Davies Symphony Hall’s magnificent Ruffatti Organ.

Denève Conducts Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony

Settle in as the world’s most electrifying artists and ensembles converge at Davies Symphony Hall. In this recital, Seong-Jin Cho takes on the complete piano solo works of Maurice Ravel in a single evening—an astounding feat.

Seong-jin Cho Piano Recital

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