San Francisco Symphony Tickets

Details of San Francisco Symphony and the Ticket Luck value

San Francisco Symphony
Based in San Francisco, California, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) is one of the top most orchestras in the country. The present music director is Michael Tilson Thomas, who has been at that post since September 2005.

The orchestra has been a vital part of life and culture for the people of San Francisco. Conductor composer Henry Hadley led the first concerts of the Symphony. He led the Seattle Symphony Orchestra from 1909 to 1911.

At the beginning of the first season, there were only sixty musicians in the orchestra. Music by Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, and Liszt were some musicians whose music was included in the first concert. In the 1911-1912 season, there were thirteen concerts, out of which five were pop concerts.

All through it history, the San Francisco Symphony has been led by some of the greatest conductors, musicians and guests singers. Many a renowned composer has also led the orchestra throughout the years. Held in San Franciscos Marine District, the orchestra was conducted by Saint Saens (1835-1921) at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

In 1928, Maurice ravel conducted the orchestra with some of his famous compositions. George Gershwin (1898-1937) conducted a piece from his opera Porgy and Bess in June 1937, and then was soloist in his Concerto in F with conductor, Pierre Monteux. A regular guest conductor was Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), who appeared from time to time from 1937 to 1967.

The orchestra was led by Aaron Copland(1900-1990) in 1966. Other famous conductors who have led the orchestra include Ernst von Dohn?nyi 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 was composer-in-residence from 1979-1985. He now also frequently conducts his own works with the orchestra.

Apart from these visiting conductors, some world famous legends have also led the orchestra including Artur Rodzinski, 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 Munch, Paul Paray, Rafael Kubel?k, Daniel Barenboim, Istv?n Kertesz, Karl Richter, Antal Dor?ti, Leonard Slatkin, Andrew Davis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Simon Rattle, Kurt Masur, Neeme J?rvi, Kiril Kondrashin, Eugene Ormandy, Georg Solti, Michael Kamen, and Christopher Hogwood.

Soloists who have performed with the orchestra include violinists violinists Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, Yehudi Menuhin, Midori, Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern and Efrem Zimbalist; and pianists Vladimir de Pachmann, Peter Serkin, Rudolf Serkin, and Andre Watts

Inclusive in the long history of recordings with the orchestra, the most worthy of note are those made with Pierre Monteux for RCA Victor, Herbert Blomstedt for Decca, and Michael Tilson Thomas for BMG and the orchestra's own label, SFS Media.

The orchestras recording heritage began in early 1925 with aural recordings for the Victor Talking Machine of Music by Auber and Richard Wagner, which was conducted by Alfred Hertz. On 19 January 1925, the first recording of Aubers advance to Fra Diavolo was made. Soon after, they switched to electrical recordings with Victor, and Hertz conducting.

This continued until 1930. These recordings were made on Victors plant in Oakland which opened in 1924. It is uncertain where these recordings were made on the plant, but it is believed that some were made in a large auditorium. An early complete set was of the ballet music from Le Cid by Jules Massenet.

From 1925 to 1930, hertz conducted music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Leo 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. These recordings have only been issued on 78 rpm discs and are highly appreciated by collectors for their outstanding devotion and rock-solid performances.

Recordings by Monteux were made in the War Memorial Opera House from 1941 to 1952. In the beginning, they used an innovative sound film process and then the magnetic tape; and there was also a stereo session for RCS with Monteux in January 1960.

His first major recording with the orchestra was of Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov; his last was of Siegfried Idyll by Wagner and Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss. It was an inspiring recording and some have been recorded on LPs and compact discs, particularly in France.

Several stereo recordings were made by Enrique Jorda for RCA in 1957 and 1958, along with an album for CRI in 1962. Despite major editing, Jorda's recording of Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto, with pianist Alexander Brailowsky was in the catalogue for many years.

In June 1962, the commercial recordings continued with Seiji Ozawa for Deutsche Grammophon in the Flint Center at De Anza College in Cupertino, California. Ozawa recorded Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E-flat and Dvorak's Carnival Overture and Symphony No. 9 in E Minor for Philips in may 1975.

Also published by Philips were digital recordings of the SFS under the leadership of Edo de Waart, which included recordings, made in Davies Symphony Hall. One of his sets of digital readings was committed to the four piano concertos of Sergei Rachmaninoff, featuring pianist Zolt?n Kocsis.

Ozawa and the orchestra recorded William Russo's Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony Orchestra with the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band for Deutsche Grammophon and Bernstein's Orchestral Dances from West Side Story. Some memorable solo performances were also featured on these recordings such as from hornist David Krehbiel, concertmaster Stuart Canin, trumpeter Don Reimberg, and violist Detlev Olshausen.

The SFS entered a contract with British label Decca, shortly after the arrival of Herbert Blomstedt. This resulted in 29 CDs release under the London label. Many of these recordings won international awards. Complete symphonies of Nielsen and Sibelius were amongst these recording assignments.

Also included were choral works of Brahms, and orchestral works of Richard Strauss and Hindemith. These recordings helped to erect the orchestra's worldwide status as one of the best in the United States.

When Michael Tilson Thomas became music director, the orchestra went back to RCA Victor. Extended excerpts from Prokofievs Romeo and Juliet were the first recordings to be made after the new contract was made. Special tributes to two American composers were also made; Charles Ives and Aaron Copland.

The RCA label decided not to produce new classical recordings. Thus the SFS made its own label, SFS media and production of its ongoing Mahler symphony cycle. Collaborated with Thomas, the San Francisco Symphony has produced several Grammy Award-winning recordings.