SF Symphony Kicks Off Season, Begins Selling Tickets For May and June Performances
The San Francisco Symphony performed for a live audience on Thursday night for the first time in 14 months a group of invited guests comprised of medical professionals and representatives of cultural districts and organizations around the region. And they now have a performance schedule up for the next couple months with tickets on sale.
The Examiner brings a report from Thursday s low-key season opening, which did not include the entire orchestra just strings and percussion. The Symphony performed Sibelius’ Rakastava (The Lover) Op. 14, Lyric for Strings by George Walker, “Little Suite for Strings” Op. 1 by Carl Nielsen, Entr’acte by Caroline Shaw, and Holberg Suite by Edvard Greig. Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen led the pared down ensemble.
Joshua Kosman May 7, 2021Updated: May 11, 2021, 12:33 pm
Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the San Francisco Symphony’s first live, indoor performance at Davies Symphony Hall since the pandemic hit. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle
Priscilla Geeslin, the San Francisco Symphony’s new board president, could barely get the words out. “My heart is pounding,” she said, looking visibly flustered on the stage of Davies Symphony Hall on Thursday, May 6. “I’m so excited to be here!”
She wasn’t alone. Not a soul among the 360 or so invited guests scattered around the hall could have felt any differently.
The program of music for strings was short (75 minutes with no intermission) and relatively subdued. But in its own way, this was a celebratory bombshell.