Emanuel Ax Jonathan Biss Herbert Blomstedt Yefim Bronfman Laura Claycomb Sasha Cooke Charles Dutoit Karina Gauvin Susan Graham Pablo Heras-Casado Lang Lang Susanna Mälkki Zubin Mehta Edwin Outwater Itzhak Perlman András Schiff Christian Tetzlaff Michael Tilson Thomas Daniil Trifonov Yuja Wang Pinchas Zukerman SAN FRANCISCO 15 SYMPHONY16 Join Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony for the 2015-16 Season. JEROME SIMAS, CLARINET SYMPHONY The San Francisco Symphony salutes its major partners SECOND CENTURY PARTNERS OFFICIAL PARTNER Inaugural Partner Official Airline AMOS YANG, CELLO MAJOR PARTNERS MEDIA PARTNERS PUBLIC FUNDING INDIVIDUAL GIVING Radio Home of the San Francisco Symphony SAN KUM MO KIM, VIOLIN / ADAM SMYLA, VIOLA FRANCISCO 2015-16 SYMPHONYSeason • Single ticket prices may rise—prices for subscribers SUBSCRIBE stay the same all season. TODAY. • Purchase additional tickets at a discounted subscriber price. See pages 36-37 for a list of Amazing Add-Ons. SECURE THE BEST SEATS AT THE BEST PRICE • Get access to concerts before the general public. AND ENJOY SPECIAL • Enjoy a free seat upgrade. PERKS. • Exchange tickets easily if your plans change. • Pay half now, and half later. • Access to the online Subscriber Secret Store: get deals and discounts at Bay Area restaurants and merchants. SUBSCRIBE (415) 864-6000 sfsymphony.org 3 MASTERPIECE SYMPHONIES Experience the awe-inspiring power of SEP 30–OCT 3 the Symphony in full force, performing TCHAIKOVSKY’S PATHÉTIQUE SYMPHONY some of the most celebrated, dramatic, OCT 15–18 and triumphant symphonies ever PROKOFIEV’S SYMPHONY NO. 5 written. This is the music that has OCT 22–24 helped define what it means to be a SIBELIUS’S SYMPHONY NO. 5 classical masterpiece. NOV 4–6 SAINT-SAËNS’S ORGAN SYMPHONY NOV 8 BEETHOVEN’S EROICA SYMPHONY JAN 14–16 DVOŘÁK’S NEW WORLD SYMPHONY 4 Listen to music excerpts at sfsymphony.org WANG AX TRPČESKI PIRES HOUGH GRAND OCT 22–24 SIMON TRPČESKI Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 PIANISTS JAN 14–16 EMANUEL AX Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto The Symphony showcases the commanding JAN 28–31 artistry of some of the world’s best pianists. STEPHEN HOUGH Hear internationally acclaimed guest artists Saint-Saëns’s Egyptian Concerto perform the finest works for piano and orchestra FEB 21 with sweeping power and formidable technique. YUJA WANG Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 Subscribe now and add on FEB 25–27 LANG LANG MARIA JOÃO PIRES OCT 13 Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 SUBSCRIBE (415) 864-6000 sfsymphony.org 5 Presentation made under license from Buena Vista Concerts, a division of ABC Inc. © All rights reserved. TIM BURTON’S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS Great American cinema and thrilling live music make an FILM SERIES unforgettable combination. The Symphony’s unique Film Series brings favorite movies to MOVIES WITH the big screen, for you to watch while the Orchestra performs LIVE ORCHESTRA the score live. Disney in Concert: Tim Burton’s THE NIGHTMARE IT’S A VERTIGO E.T. BEFORE WONDERFUL THE EXTRA- CHRISTMAS LIFE TERRESTRIAL featuring the music The great American holiday Alfred Hitchcock’s famous Don’t miss Steven of Danny Elfman classic, complete with a psychological thriller boasts Spielberg’s cinematic Tim Burton’s fantastical tale heart-warming score by a gripping soundtrack by masterpiece E.T. of Jack Skellington’s journey Dimitri Tiomkin, is one of Bernard Herrmann, The Extra-Terrestrial with from Halloween Town to the most critically acclaimed following a San Francisco John Williams’s Academy Christmas Town and back films ever made, and cited detective (James Stewart) Award-winning score features a delightfully by director Frank Capra as through a web of deceit and performed live to picture, twisted score by Danny his personal favorite among despair. and experience the magic Elfman. all his films. once more! 6 Listen to music excerpts at sfsymphony.org Presentation made under license from Buena Vista Concerts, a division of ABC Inc. © All rights reserved. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL ™ & © Universal Studios IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE FILM A PACKAGE FILM B PACKAGE Four Friday concerts with films Four Saturday concerts with films Nov 27 8pm Nov 28 8pm The Nightmare Before Christmas The Nightmare Before Christmas Dec 11 8pm Dec 12 8pm It’s a Wonderful Life It’s a Wonderful Life Film Series Sponsor Feb 12 8pm Feb 13 8pm Vertigo Vertigo Mar 25 7:30pm Mar 26 7:30pm March 25 and 26 supported by E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial SUBSCRIBE (415) 864-6000 sfsymphony.org 7 DENÈVE CONDUCTS BAVOUZET PERFORMS HOUGH PERFORMS GUILLAUME CONNESSON BIZET, RAVEL, AND MORE SAINT-SAËNS THE FRENCH CONNECTION Internationally renowned NOV 4–6 conductors and guest artists BIZET, RAVEL, AND MORE Conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier and pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet join the Symphony to perform an all-French program, with music by Bizet, Ravel, and more. celebrate the monumental JAN 28–31 influence of France EUROPEAN EXOTICISM throughout musical history, Stephen Hough performs Saint-Saëns’s exotic Egyptian Piano showcasing iconic works by Concerto, a French take on the music of Egypt, Java, and Spain. great French composers as FEB 18–20 well as exceptional DENÈVE CONDUCTS CONNESSON contemporary works. Stéphane Denève leads Une lueur dans l’âge sombre (A Glimmer in an Age of Darkness), a riveting showpiece by Guillaume Connesson, “the most gifted, demanded, and versatile composer of his generation in France today.” (La Terrasse) MAR 17–19 DUTOIT CONDUCTS BERLIOZ Charles Dutoit conducts Berlioz’s epic Requiem, a blockbuster event assembling the mighty forces of the Symphony, Chorus, and tenor Paul Groves. 8 Listen to music excerpts at sfsymphony.org DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL CLASSICAL SERIES The beautiful Davies Symphony Hall, home of the San Francisco Symphony, hosts more than 200 concerts throughout the season, and offers in-house dining and drinks, unique shopping, and more. Browse the following subscription packages and turn to page 15 for concert details. WED C WEDNESDAY C PACKAGE WED D WEDNESDAY D PACKAGE Six concerts at 8pm Six concerts at 8pm Sep 30 T chaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 Ted Hearne’s Oct 7 A ndrás Schiff performs Mozart and Schubert Dispatches | DuParc’s Selected Songs | Barber’s Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 | Haydn’s Mass in D Knoxville: Summer of 1915 | Tchaikovsky’s minor, Lord Nelson | Schubert: Selected Lieder Symphony No. 6, Pathétique Oct 28 T chaikovsky and Prokofiev Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Nov 4 C elebrating the French: Bizet, Ravel, and more Kijé Suite | Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1 | Bizet’s Selections, Suite from L’Arlésienne | Ravel’s Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 3 Piano Concerto in D major for the Left Hand | Mar 30 M TT conducts Copland Copland’s Orchestral Saint-Saëns’s Symphony No. 3, Organ Variations | Copland’s Inscape | Copland’s Piano Mar 2 B lomstedt conducts: All-Mozart Mozart’s Concerto | Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 Symphony No. 35, Haffner | Mozart’s Violin Apr 20 B eethoven’s Symphony No. 2 Rameau’s Suite from Concerto No. 1 | Mozart’s Symphony No. 41, Jupiter Pygmalion | Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D | Biber’s Apr 6 M TT conducts Mahler’s The Song of the Earth Battalia | Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 Schubert’s Symphony in B minor, Unfinished | May 25 Bernstein’s On the Town: A Semi-Staged Event Mahler’s The Song of the Earth Jun 29 MTT conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Apr 27 S hostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 Bartók’s Dance Resurrection Suite | Mason Bates’s SFS commission | Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin | Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 Jun 8 Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem | Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 | Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 WEDNESDAY Z COMBO PACKAGE Twelve concerts at 8pm Buy all 12 concerts and get a complimentary concert ticket. Combine Wed C + D. SUBSCRIBE (415) 864-6000 sfsymphony.org 9 DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL CLASSICAL SERIES Browse subscription packages here. Turn to page 15 for concert details in date order. THU A THURSDAY A PACKAGE THU B THURSDAY B PACKAGE Six concerts at 8pm Six concerts at 8pm Nov 5 C elebrating the French: Bizet, Ravel, and more Oct 15 Russian Masterpieces featuring violinist Bizet’s Selections, Suite from L’Arlésienne | Ravel’s Christian Tetzlaff Mussorgsky/Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto in D major for the Left Hand | Dawn on the Moscow River from Khovanshchina | Saint-Saëns’s Symphony No. 3, Organ Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 | Prokofiev’s Jan 21 Brilliant Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 8 Symphony No. 5 Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 | Pfitzner’s Three Nov 19 M TT conducts Schumann and Strauss R. Strauss’s Preludes from Palestrina | Beethoven’s Symphony Serenade | R. Strauss’s Brentano Lieder | Schumann’s No. 4 Symphony No. 1, Spring Mar 10 R achmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody Ravel’s Feb 11 P inchas Zukerman plays Mozart Elgar’s Serenade Mother Goose | Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a for Strings | Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 | Mozart’s Theme of Paganini | Fauré’s Suite from Pelléas et Haffner Serenade Mélisande | Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite Mar 17 Berlioz’s Requiem Apr 28 S hostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 Bartók’s Dance Jun 2 A shkenazy conducts Shostakovich and Elgar Suite | Mason Bates’s SFS commission | Ravel’s Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 | Elgar’s Le Tombeau de Couperin | Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 2 Symphony No. 9 Jun 23 M TT conducts Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 C.P.E. May 19 M TT and Susan Graham present Brahms Bach’s Symphony No. 1 | Jorg Widmann’s Piano Brahms’s Variations of a Theme by Haydn | Brahms’s Concerto, Trauermarsch | Brahms’s Symphony No.