The guest conductor for the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) subscription concerts in Davies Symphony Hall for the first full week in December will be Esa-Pekka Salonen, former Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and currently Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, as well as Artistic Advisor to both the Philharmonia and the Baltic Sea Festival. Salonen will also be the featured composer on this program, which will present his violin concerto with soloist Leila Josefowicz, for whom it was composed. Josefowicz last performed with the SFS in 2009 to present Thomas Adès’ violin concerto “Concentric Paths;” and last season she was a recitalist for San Francisco Performances.
Salonen’s program will also feature a second major soloist, soprano Christine Brewer, who last appeared in Davies this past June in the season-ending concert of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 123 Missa solemnis. Salonen will conduct her in a concert performance of “Brünnhilde’s Immolation,” the final scene from the concluding opera of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle, Götterdämmerung (twilight of the Gods). Brewer’s performance will be preceded by three orchestral excerpts from this opera, the representation of dawn that takes place between the two scenes of the prologue, the interlude between the prologue and the first act representing Siegfried’s journey down the Rhine from the rock where he discovered Brünnhilde to Gunther’s royal palace, and the funeral music for Siegfried from the third act.
Finally, Salonen will honor his Finnish descent by beginning his concert with the Opus 49 tone poem by his fellow Finn, Jean Sibelius, entitled “Pohjola’s Daughter.”
There will be three performances of this concert in Davies Symphony Hall. These will take place at 8 PM on Thursday, December 8, Friday, December 9, and Saturday, December 10. Following this last concert, both Salonen and Josefowicz will participate in an informal Q&A with ticketholders as part of the SFS Off the Podium series of events. There will also be an open rehearsal at 10 AM on Thursday, December 8. The Inside Music Talk will be given by John Palmer one hour prior to each concert, free to all ticket holders. In addition a free podcast about the concert program will be available for download from the Podcast page shortly before the first performance. Ticket prices range from $15 to $145 and may be purchased through the event page for this concert on the Symphony Web site. Admission to the open rehearsal is $22 for general seating and $39 for reserved seating, and it has its own event page for buying tickets. Tickets may also be purchased at the Davies Box Office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street or by calling 415-864-6000.
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