San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911,[1] is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (founded in 1981) and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus (1972) are part of the organization. Michael Tilson Thomas became the orchestra's music director in 1995,[2] and concluded his tenure in 2020 when Esa-Pekka Salonen took over the position.[3]
San Francisco Symphony
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$_$_$DEEZ_NUTS#0__call_to_action.textDEEZ_NUTS$_$_$Among the orchestra's awards and honors are an Emmy Award and 15 Grammy Awards in the past 26 years.
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Recordings[edit]
The orchestra has a long history of recordings, most notably those made with Pierre Monteux for RCA Victor, Herbert Blomstedt for Decca, and Michael Tilson Thomas for RCA Victor and the Orchestra's own label, SFS Media.
The first recording, of Auber's overture to Fra Diavolo, was made on January 19, 1925. The early recordings, for the Victor Talking Machine Company, included music by Auber and Richard Wagner, conducted by Alfred Hertz. Hertz also conducted the orchestra's first electrical recordings for Victor in mid 1925. These recordings were produced by Victor's Oakland plant, which had opened in 1924. The 1927 recordings were made on the stage of San Francisco's Columbia Theater, now known as the American Conservatory Theater. In 1928, the orchestra made a series of recordings at Oakland's Scottish Rite Temple on Madison Avenue near Lake Merritt, now the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California. One early complete set was of the ballet music from Le Cid by Jules Massenet. During the 1925–30 recordings, Hertz conducted music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Léo Delibes, Alexander Glazunov, Charles Gounod, Fritz Kreisler, Franz Liszt, Alexandre Luigini, Felix Mendelssohn, Moritz Moszkowski, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Franz Schubert and Carl Maria von Weber. All of these recordings were issued only on 78 rpm discs and are prized by collectors, although restored versions are now available from France's Pristine Audio.
Monteux's recordings were made for RCA Victor in the War Memorial Opera House from 1941 to 1952, at first piping the microphone feed from San Francisco to Los Angeles and then in the later 1940s on magnetic tape; there was also a stereo session for RCA Victor with Monteux in January 1960. Monteux's first released album with the orchestra was of the Symphony in D Minor by César Franck (the first recorded was Maurice Ravel's La Valse); his last was of Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner and Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss. Some of the recordings have been re-released on LPs and compact discs, as well as internationally via the Pierre Monteux Edition from RCA. A substantial selection of Monteux's live broadcasts on The Standard Hour have been released by the Music & Arts label.
Enrique Jordá made several stereo recordings for RCA in 1957 and 1958, and an album for CRI in 1962. Jorda's recording of Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto, with pianist Alexander Brailowsky was in the catalogue for many years. The recording of Manuel de Falla's "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" with pianist Arthur Rubinstein has remained available.
Commercial recordings resumed in June 1972 with Seiji Ozawa for Deutsche Grammophon in the Flint Center at De Anza College in Cupertino, California. In May 1975 Ozawa recorded Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E-flat and Dvořák's Carnival Overture and Symphony No. 9 in E Minor for Philips. For Deutsche Grammophon, Ozawa and the orchestra recorded William Russo's "Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony Orchestra" with the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band, and Bernstein's Orchestral Dances from West Side Story. These recordings featured solo performances from hornist David Krehbiel, concertmaster Stuart Canin, trumpeter Don Reinberg, and violist Detlev Olshausen. Recordings of the SFS under the direction of Edo de Waart, including digital recordings made in Davies Symphony Hall, were released by Philips and Nonesuch. One of de Waart's sets of digital recordings was devoted to the four piano concertos of Sergei Rachmaninoff, featuring pianist Zoltán Kocsis. A number of works by American composer John Adams were premiered and recorded by the SFS under de Waart's leadership, and Harmonium was also released with Adams conducting.
Soon after the arrival of Herbert Blomstedt, the SFS signed contracts with the British label Decca resulting in 29 CDs released in the U.S. under the London label. Several of the recordings won international awards. Among their recording projects were the complete symphonies of Nielsen and Sibelius, choral works of Brahms, and orchestral works of Richard Strauss and Hindemith. The recordings helped to build the orchestra's worldwide reputation as one of the best in the United States.
In 1999, the Symphony hit a new commercial high on the album S&M with heavy metal band Metallica. The album reached number two on the Billboard 200, selling 2.5 million units and earning platinum status five times over. The track "No Leaf Clover" was number one on the Mainstream Rock Charts, 18 on Modern Rock Charts and 74 on the Billboard Hot 100. The version of "The Call of Ktulu" featured on the album won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
The orchestra returned to RCA Victor when Michael Tilson Thomas became music director. Its first recording of the new contract was extended excerpts from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. There were special tributes to three American composers, Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, and George Gershwin, on the occasion of what would have been his 100th birthday. With the RCA label decision to cease from producing new classical recordings, the SFS created its own label, SFS Media, and continued producing its Mahler recording cycle, which was completed in the Fall of 2010.
Recorded live in concert and engineered at Davies Symphony Hall, the audio recordings are released on hybrid SACD and in high-quality digital formats. SFS Media has garnered eight Grammy awards,[18] the most current for its recording of John Adams’ Harmonielehre and Short Ride in a Fast Machine and seven for its recordings of MTT and the SFS performing all nine of Gustav Mahler's symphonies, the Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony, and his songs for voice, chorus and orchestra. With a slate of new recordings and releases of music by Harrison, Cowell, Varèse, Beethoven, Ives, and Copland, the Orchestra's recordings continue to reflect the artistic identity of the San Francisco Symphony's programming.
In 2014, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony released a live recording on the SFS Media label of the first-ever concert performances of Leonard Bernstein’s complete score for the musical West Side Story featuring a Broadway cast including Cheyenne Jackson (Tony), Alexandra Silber (Maria), and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. The two-disc set includes a 100-page booklet featuring a new interview with MTT, notes from Rita Moreno and Jamie Bernstein, as well as a West Side Story historical timeline, archival photographs, complete lyrics, and rehearsal and performance photos from the June 2013 live performances at Davies Symphony Hall. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Musical Theater Album.
In November 2014 on their SFS Media label, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony released Masterpieces in Miniature, a collection of short orchestral works by Mahler, Debussy, Schubert, Dvořák, Sibelius, Ives, and featuring Pianist Yuja Wang in Litolff’s Scherzo from Concerto symphonique No. 4. The recording was released in conjunction with the celebration of MTT's 20th season as music director of the SF Symphony. In May 2015, MTT and the SFS released a live recording of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture, followed by another release in August 2015 – a live audio recording of Absolute Jest and Grand Pianola Music by John Adams. The album contains the first-ever recording of Absolute Jest, originally commissioned by the SF Symphony and premiered in 2012 during the orchestra's American Mavericks festival.
In November 2015, SFS Media released "Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 & Mass in C." In March 2016, it released its album of music by Mason Bates, "Works for Orchestra", which includes the first recordings of the SF Symphony-commissioned The B-Sides and Liquid Interface, plus the first CD release of Alternative Energy. In October of the same year, the label released "Debussy: Images, Jeux & La plus que lente", which was subsequently nominated for a 2018 Grammy award in the category of Best Orchestral Performance. In 2017, SFS Media released two albums: "Berg: Three Pieces for Orchestra", the label's first digital-only album, and "Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1–4".
Radio broadcasts and tours[edit]
The San Francisco Symphony was the first to feature symphonic radio broadcasts in 1926, and in 2003 the Symphony was heard in syndicated radio broadcasts on over 300 radio stations. There were regular live, stereo broadcasts for many years on KKHI in San Francisco featuring music directors Josef Krips and Seiji Ozawa, including the first live transatlantic stereo satellite broadcast in 1973, originating in Paris.
The orchestra makes regular tours of the United States, Europe and Asia. Its first tour was from March 16 – May 10, 1947, when Pierre Monteux conducted the musicians in 57 concerts in 53 American cities. Josef Krips led them on a Japanese tour in 1968, in which they gave 12 concerts in 7 cities. The May 15 – June 17, 1973, tour saw then-music director Seiji Ozawa and Niklaus Wyss conduct the orchestra in 30 concerts in 19 cities in Europe and the Soviet Union. They returned to Japan from June 4–19, 1975, with Ozawa and Wyss and played 12 concerts in 11 cities. Edo de Waart and David Ramadanoff led an American tour from October 20 – November 2, 1980, giving 10 concerts in 7 cities. There was another American tour from October 27 – November 12, 1983, again led by Edo de Waart, with 13 concerts in 11 cities.
The San Francisco Symphony has toured regularly with current music director Michael Tilson Thomas, most recently a highly successful East Coast tour in April 2016 which included performances in Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. In November 2016, the San Francisco Symphony, together with Michael Tilson Thomas, embarked on its fourth tour of Asia with performances in Seoul, South Korea; Tainan, Taiwan; Taipei, Taiwan; Shanghai, China; Beijing, China; Osaka, Japan; and Tokyo, Japan.[16]
In 2006, the San Francisco Symphony launched Keeping Score – MTT on Music, a series of projects comprising audio-visual performances for DVD and broadcast on PBS's Great Performances, multimedia websites, and educational programs for schools.
Guests[edit]
Throughout its history the San Francisco Symphony has had numerous great conductors, instrumentalists and singers as guests. Many famous composers have also led the Orchestra over the years. In 1915, Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) conducted the Orchestra at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition held that year in San Francisco's Marina District. In 1928, Maurice Ravel conducted some of his music including La Valse and Rapsodie espagnole. In 1937, George Gershwin (1898–1937) conducted a suite from his opera Porgy and Bess, then was soloist in his Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue with Pierre Monteux conducting. Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) was a regular guest conductor, appearing periodically from 1937 until 1967. Aaron Copland (1900–1990) conducted the Orchestra in 1966. Other composers who have led the Orchestra include Ernst von Dohnányi in 1927, Ottorino Respighi in 1929, Arnold Schoenberg in 1945, Darius Milhaud in 1949, Manuel Rosenthal in 1950, Leon Kirchner in 1960, Jean Martinon in 1970, and Howard Hanson. John Adams, composer-in-residence from 1979 to 1985, also frequently conducts his own works with the Orchestra.
Besides visiting composers, some legendary conductors have led the Orchestra, including Artur Rodziński, Walter Damrosch, Sir Thomas Beecham, John Barbirolli, Andre Kostelanetz, Lorin Maazel, Leonard Bernstein, Guido Cantelli, Victor de Sabata, Dmitri Mitropoulos, Erich Leinsdorf, George Szell, Charles Münch, Paul Paray, Rafael Kubelík, Daniel Barenboim, István Kertész, Karl Richter, Antal Doráti, Leonard Slatkin, Andrew Davis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Simon Rattle, Kurt Masur, Neeme Järvi, Kiril Kondrashin, Eugene Ormandy, Georg Solti, Alex Shkurko, Michael Kamen, Christopher Hogwood and Bruno Walter.
Some of the many soloists who have appeared with the orchestra include violinists Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, Yehudi Menuhin, Midori, Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, and Efrem Zimbalist; pianists Vladimir Horowitz, Horacio Gutierrez, Vladimir de Pachmann, Peter Serkin, Rudolf Serkin, Ruth Slenzynska, Patricia Benkman, Ozan Marsh, Yuja Wang, and André Watts; and organists Alexander Frey and Paul Jacobs.
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Pops Orchestra[edit]
When the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1911, its first music director, Henry Hadley, began the tradition of "pops" concerts, devoted to lighter classics and special arrangements of music from operettas, musicals, and popular tunes. With the completion of the Civic Auditorium in 1915, most of the "pops" concerts were held in that 10,000-seat auditorium. Eventually, municipal taxes helped to keep ticket prices very affordable.
Arthur Fiedler of the Boston Pops Orchestra was invited by music director Pierre Monteux to lead the Pops Orchestra, which Fiedler did from 1951 to 1978.[22] Besides the regular concerts in the Civic Auditorium, Fiedler led annual performances at Sigmund Stern Grove, as well as occasional performances at Stanford University's Frost Amphitheater and Oakland's Paramount Theatre.
While the SF Symphony does not have a specific pops orchestra today, they present pops genre programming periodically throughout the year, particularly in the summer months, with most concerts occurring at Davies Symphony Hall. They also present an annual concert of July 4 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre.
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Official website
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