Season Updates from San Francisco Symphony

Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

S.F. Symphony has announced some additions and updates to the 2025-26 season. As I had expected, the additions are mostly holiday concerts and pop-oriented programs. The exception is the annual chorus concert, which will certainly be worth hearing.

Here are the additions:

• Celebrating Hardly Strictly Bluegrass: Lyle Lovett and His Acoustic Group with the SF Symphony — Sep 13
• The Decemberists with the SF Symphony — Oct 10
• Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton — Nov 13–14
• HOLIDAYS: Christmas with the Count Basie Orchestra — Dec 3
• HOLIDAYS: The Holiday—Film with Live Orchestra — Dec 10–11
• HOLIDAYS: Frozen—Film with Live Orchestra — Dec 13
• HOLIDAYS: A Charlie Brown Christmas—LIVE! — Dec 21–22
• Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY — Mar 17
• San Francisco Symphony Chorus Concert — May 31

The balance of the updates are after the break, but I see that once again I will be querying the orthography of a work to be performed: Jennifer Higdon's oft-performed orchestral work in memory of her brother is properly blue cathedral, not Blue Cathedral. (Previously: the correct orthography for Esa-Pekka Salonen's work for clarinet and orchestra.)

From the SFS press release:

Around the World Through Dance (October 11) 

On October 11, San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra Wattis Foundation Music Director Radu Paponiu leads the SF Symphony in Around the World Through Dance, a Music for Families concert. The program includes works by Isaac Albéniz, Béla Bartók, Amy Marcy Beach, Leonard Bernstein, Johannes Brahms, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Antonín Dvořák, and Johann Strauss II. 

Gautier Capuçon: Gaïa (November 16) 

On November 16 as part of the Great Performers Series, cellist Gautier Capuçon performs Gaïa, a recital of 17 world-premiere works, commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony and composed for him by an all-star lineup of contemporary composers, including Bryce Dessner, Joe Hisaishi, Missy Mazzoli, Gabriela Montero, Nico Muhly, Max Richter, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, and more. The recital will also feature a new work by composer and cellist Quenton Xavier Blache, who Capuçon anonymously selected for a new commission from a pool of applicants under the umbrella of the 2023 Emerging Black Composers Project. Capuçon brings this program to the stage mere days after the release of his album Gaïa, which is dedicated to and inspired by the Earth. He says, “This unique album brings together 17 pieces by 16 composers from different cultures, worlds, and musical genres. Each piece gives its own voice to the cello, immersing us in the power and depth of nature and the Earth, the source of life.” Gaïa will be released by Erato Records and available on all streaming platforms on November 7. 

An Evening with Nicola Benedetti (February 1) 

On February 1, accordionist Hanzhi Wang and cellist Adrian Daurov join Nicola Benedetti for An Evening with Nicola Benedetti. Also featuring guitarist Plínio Fernandes, the concert combines solo performances and storytelling, with Nicola sharing a selection of romantic, virtuosic, Celtic, and folk-inspired works. 

Bicket conducts All-Mozart (February 5–7) 

On February 5–7, tenor Samuel White joins conductor Harry Bicket and soprano Golda Schultz for the first San Francisco Symphony performances of “Don Ottavio, son morta!…Or sai chi l’onore.” The all-Mozart program also features Serenade No. 6; “Giunse alfin il momento...Deh vieni, non tardar,” from The Marriage of Figaro; “Temerari…Come scoglio,” from Così fan tutte; Symphony No. 34; and Symphony No. 38. 

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra 2025–26 programs 

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) and Wattis Foundation Music Director Radu Paponiu perform four concerts during the 2025–26 season. The season-opening program on November 23 features Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari, Johannes Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture, and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, as well as 2025 SFSYO Concerto Competition winner Aaron Ma performing Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. The season continues on December 14 with the annual holiday performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, featuring a guest narrator to be announced. On March 8, Paponiu conducts Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia, Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral, and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, and the SFSYO closes the season on May 17 with Dylan Hall’s Scherzo for Orchestra, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. 

Comprised of more than 100 musicians ranging in age from 12 to 21 and representing communities from throughout the Bay Area, the SFSYO is recognized internationally as one of the finest youth orchestras in the world. The Youth Orchestra provides a tuition-free orchestral experience of preprofessional caliber to talented young Bay Area musicians, with weekly rehearsals led by Paponiu. SFSYO members benefit from weekly coaching with San Francisco Symphony musicians and have the opportunity to work with world-renowned artists and conductors performing with the San Francisco Symphony. Learn more about the SFSYO.  

San Francisco Symphony Chamber Series 2025–26 programs 

Programmed and performed by Symphony musicians, the San Francisco Symphony’s 2025–26 Chamber Music Series presents six performances throughout the season at Davies Symphony Hall. The 2025–26 Legion of Honor Chamber Series also returns with four concerts featuring SF Symphony Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik, former Symphony cellist Peter Wyrick, and guest pianist and harpsichordist Anton Nel. 

The acclaimed Legion of Honor Chamber Series was launched in 2002 when the Fine Arts Museums honored Alexander Barantschik with an exclusive loan of a legendary Guarnerius del Gesù violin. The “David” Guarnerius del Gesu violin dates to 1742 and was once owned by the virtuoso Ferdinand David. It was bequeathed to the Fine Arts Museums by famed violinist Jascha Heifetz upon his death in 1987, with the stipulation that it be “played on special occasions by worthy performers.” Barantschik performs on this violin at all chamber concerts. This season marks 23 years of San Francisco Symphony’s partnership with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.