Wednesday, August 06, 2025

Just a Reminder


Photo by Lisa Hirsch

The San Francisco Symphony, which bills itself as one of the most innovative orchestras in the world, came up with this for its opening gala:

Jaap van Zweden conductor

Yuja Wang piano

San Francisco Symphony 


JOHN ADAMS Short Ride in a Fast Machine  


PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1  


OTTORINO RESPIGHI Pines of Rome  


Because there's nothing that says "innovative" like performing Pines of Rome for the third time since 2022.


Furthermore, here's a list of the composers they're performing in 2025-26 and the number of works by each. 


Ellington1
Bach, JS4
Berlioz1
Bartok1
Beethoven5
Berg1
Brahms1
Bruch1
Bruckner1
Debussy1
Dutilleux1
Dvorak4
Gershwin2
Ginastera1
Grieg1
Handel1
Haydn1
Hindemith1
Holst1
Ibert1
Korngold1
Mahler2
Mozart8
Prokofiev3
Poulenc1
Rachmaninoff1
Ravel2
Respighi1
Rimsky-Korsakov1
Saint-Saens3
Shostakovich2
Sibelius1
Tchaikovsky4
Turina1
Vaughan Williams1
Vivaldi1
Wagner, R.1
Weber, von1
Strozzi1
Simon, C1
Taylor1
Lopez1
Habibi1
Adams, JC1
Connesson1
Higgins1
Mustonen1
Macens1
Tarkiainen1

Key: light green background is dead men, one of whom, Ellington, is Black. Pink background is dead women. Dark green is living men, several of whom are men of color. Blue is living women.

Of the 49 composers above, 46 are men. Eight of the men are alive; the other 38 are dead. There are works by three women, of whom one has been dead for a few hundred years, while the other two are alive. Two of the deceased men are American (Ellington, Gershwin) and several of the deceased spent a significant amount of time in the U.S. (Bartok, Korngold, Rachmaninoff, and Hindemith, of whom the first three died in the United States). 

There's nothing that says "innovative" like a season with 53 works by dead white men and 12 works by everybody else. I'm reminded of the season that had four works by MTT and 1 by a living woman, or maybe it was 2 by living women.

I'm sure we can expect an onslaught of Bernstein, Copland, and other dead American men in 2026-27. Maybe SFS will take a look at the NY Phil's Project 19 and pick up a few works by living women commissioned by that orchestra.


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