San Francisco Symphony Reveals 2026–27 Season, Featuring 26 Guest Conductors and More

The San Francisco Symphony has revealed details of the Orchestra’s 115th season, taking place September 8, 2026–June 27, 2027. The 2026–27 season features 26 guest conductors, including five making their Orchestral Series debuts, alongside a star-studded lineup of returning and debuting guest artists and Symphony musicians taking center stage. The upcoming season highlights a diverse range of programming, spanning works that explore the quiet contours of our inner worlds—faith, myth, imagination, and our transcendent connection to music—to those that reflect the urgent state of the natural world, tracing a compelling arc between our internal and external lives.

The season kicks off in September with a Gala performance featuring violinist Hilary Hahn alongside conductor Giancarlo Guerrero, followed by the Symphony’s annual All San Francisco Concert. Throughout 2026–27, the Symphony showcases its artistic community, including the return of former Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen for a program highlighting the artistry of two principal musicians, percussionist Jacob Nissly and harpist Katherine Siochi in a world premiere; a second solo turn for Principal Cello Rainer Eudeikis (Philip S. Boone Chair); and a program celebrating the centenary of Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt. Composer Gabriella Smith—a staunch environmentalist in all facets of her life and art, and a familiar face in Davies Symphony Hall—joins the Symphony as Creative Partner this season, bringing environmentally inspired works, including a new violin concerto featuring Alexi Kenney, as well as rich collaborations and hands-on experiences to Symphony audiences. Additional season highlights include collaborations with Alonzo King LINES Ballet and artist Deborah O’Grady; Janni Younge’s unique staged production of Stravinsky’s The Firebird, featuring larger-than-life puppets; the first San Francisco Symphony performances of three of Bay Area composer John Adams’s works in celebration of his 80th birthday year; a new Concerto for Orchestra by Joe Hisaishi, conducted by the composer; the continuation of the Symphony’s three-year Beethoven symphony cycle with Jaap van Zweden with Symphonies Nos. 5, 6, and 8; a special conversation between soprano Renée Fleming and UCSF’s Dr. Charles Limb about music’s profound impact on our health in tandem with her performances of Strauss’s Four Last Songs; and Ernest Bloch’s Sacred Service, performed in partnership with Congregation Emanu-El and featuring Cantor Arik Luck. In April, the Symphony, along with conductor Donald Runnicles and pianist Francesco Piemontesi, embarks on a three-concert Southern California tour to Palm Desert, Costa Mesa, and Santa Barbara.

Season opening performances

Opening Gala with Hilary Hahn

Three-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn joins conductor Giancarlo Guerrero and the San Francisco Symphony to celebrate the start of the 2026–27 season with the Opening Gala on Thursday, September 24. Hahn performs Felix Mendelssohn’s beloved Violin Concerto, and the rest of the program will be announced at a later date.

Patrons can reserve a VIP sponsorship, which includes an exclusive preconcert cocktail reception and a postconcert seated dinner experience. Proceeds from the event benefit the Symphony’s education and community programs. For more information on Gala packages, please email gala@sfsymphony.org.

All San Francisco Concert

The annual All San Francisco Concert, taking place this year on September 25, will be led by conductor Giancarlo Guerrero and features a program to be announced at a later date. Now in its 47th year, the All San Francisco Concert honors local social service and neighborhood organizations that work to make the Bay Area a more just and equitable place. A special San Francisco Symphony program is offered at a subsidized ticket price of $12 for employees of Bay Area nonprofits, social services, and grassroots organizations. Previous concert attendees include community members, volunteers, and employees from a broad range of local organizations. Founded by native San Franciscan, veteran philanthropist, patron of the arts, and San Francisco Symphony Life Governor Ellen Magnin Newman, and led by an advisory committee of nonprofit and community leaders, the All San Francisco Concert is an important pillar of the San Francisco Symphony’s ongoing work to make the Symphony an accessible, welcoming space for all Bay Area residents, regardless of income.

In honor of its founder, the All San Francisco Concert also includes the presentation of the Ellen Magnin Newman Award, which includes a grant, in recognition of an outstanding community-based arts organization that serves those most in need. Local organizations interested in receiving an invitation to the concert are encouraged to email allsf@sfsymphony.org.

Connections and collaborations

Gabriella Smith joins SF Symphony as Creative Partner for 2026–27

Composer Gabriella Smith, a Berkeley native, has been a regular collaborator with the San Francisco Symphony in recent seasons, and for 2026–27, she joins the Orchestra as Creative Partner. During the upcoming season, her collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony is rooted in her passion for climate action and conservation, highlighted by performances of several of her works, including How to Be a Bird, a new Symphony commission performed by violinist Alexi Kenney (March 18–20), and her Point Reyes-inspired tone poem, Tumblebird Contrails (June 17–18); a special day of service for the SF Symphony community focused on ecological restoration; and a partnership with the Gardens of Golden Gate Park. Smith will also work with Radu Paponiu and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra as a coach during rehearsals of Tidalwave Kitchen, which the SFSYO will perform next spring. Additional activities and performances will be announced at a later date.

“I’m looking forward to collaborating more with the wonderful musicians of the San Francisco Symphony,” said Smith. “Growing up in the Bay Area, this orchestra has always meant a lot to me. I’m excited to spend more time with these incredible artists and can’t wait to hear their take on some of my favorite pieces, both old and new.”

Smith’s recent collaborations with the San Francisco Symphony include the Orchestra’s November 2023 performance of Breathing Forests and the 2025 Symphony commission and world premiere of Rewilding. In April 2026, she curates SoundBox: Urban Forest, a vivid musical topography marked by the sounds of forests, cliffs, desert plants, and found objects.

Renée Fleming: Examining Music & Wellness with Dr. Charles Limb

In October, soprano Renée Fleming joins the San Francisco Symphony and conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali to sing Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, written late in the composer’s life and bidding farewell to his life in music. In connection with her performance, the Symphony will present Music and the Mind, an evening of discussion between Fleming and Dr. Charles Limb, a San Francisco-based neuroscientist and surgeon at UCSF, about the powerful connections between music, health, and neuroscience.

Cross-disciplinary collaborations highlighting dance, puppetry, and videography

Three programs in 2026–27 feature visually rich cross-disciplinary collaborations highlighting dance, puppetry, and videography.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet in Debussy and Copland

November 19–21, San Francisco-based dance company Alonzo King LINES Ballet joins the Orchestra and conductor James Gaffigan, with LINES Artistic Director Alonzo King choreographing two world premiere works set to orchestral favorites—Claude Debussy’s symphonic poem Prélude à L’Après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun) and the suite from Aaron Copland’s quintessentially American ballet Appalachian Spring. This is the Orchestra’s fifth collaboration with Alonzo King LINES Ballet since 2020 and their third mainstage performance with the Symphony since the Symphony’s Re-Opening Night concert in 2021.

“Returning to collaborate with the San Francisco Symphony feels both like a homecoming and an evolution of a shared artistic language,” said Alonzo King. “Creating world premiere works with these extraordinary artists—reimagining the expansive Americana of Copland’s Appalachian Spring and the evocative, impressionistic textures of Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faun—is an invitation to explore how movement and sound breathe together in real time. When dancers and musicians meet in this way, something larger than either form emerges: a living architecture of emotion, memory, and the human spirit.”

Previous collaborations between the San Francisco Symphony and Alonzo King LINES Ballet include the 2021 opening week performances of Alberto Ginastera’s Estancia Suite, the June 2024 performances of Maurice Ravel’s complete Ma mère l’Oye (Mother Goose), a 2021 digital SoundBox performance of Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel featuring dancers Adji Cissoko and Shuaib Elhassan, and Cissoko’s improvised performance in the 2022 digital concert film Stravinsky: The Soldier’s Tale.

Stravinsky’s Firebird staged

Staged June 3–5, director Janni Younge and choreographer Jay Pather bring The Firebird to the San Francisco Symphony. Set to Stravinsky’s original score, the production follows the Seeker, a young woman on a quest to claim her creative power, realized through larger-than-life puppets and contemporary African dance. Drawing on figures from Russian folklore, the work’s striking visual language combines monumental puppet creatures with fluid, expressive choreography, creating an expansive theatrical landscape that is both mythic and resonant. The program, conducted by Cristian Măcelaru, opens with two additional Stravinsky works—the dramatic Symphony of Psalms, featuring the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and The Song of the Nightingale, adapted from his 1914 opera The Nightingale.

“Working with puppets, we are constantly engaged in an act of lifting and animating matter, simultaneously defying gravity and building imagined life,” said Janni Younge. “As human beings, even within conflict and difficulty, we carry within us the capacity to rise. Through imagination and connection, our creative impulse can ignite transformation, resonance, and even joy.”

Deborah O’Grady envisions John Adams’s Dharma at Big Sur

June 17–18, acclaimed Bay Area artist Deborah O’Grady brings together visions of California’s mystical landscapes in a video set to composer John Adams’s The Dharma at Big Sur. The piece—a concerto for electric violin performed by violinist Tracy Silverman in his Orchestral Series debut—honors two West Coast composers with whom Adams forged close friendships: Lou Harrison and Terry Riley. The program, conducted by Ryan Bancroft, also features Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, The Inextinguishable, written by the composer during World War I, and Gabriella Smith’s Tumblebird Contrails, inspired by a backpacking trip in Point Reyes. Smith met Adams as a teenager through his Young Composers Program in Berkeley, and Adams has continued to mentor her and champion her music throughout her career.

“Big Sur is the place that drew me to California from my home in Michigan in 1971,” said O’Grady. “Perhaps it was the book Not Man Apart with poetry by Robinson Jeffers and photographs by Ansel Adams that inspired this longing. ‘I will live there one day,’ I thought. And indeed, I spent a month in the forest along the Big Sur River during that first summer in California, camping, walking, meditating. What is the magic of this place that inspires such profound spiritual yearnings? ... The Sierra Nevada inspires similar intense responses. John Adams’s The Dharma at Big Sur invokes the mood of both of these extraordinary California landscapes with music of intense color and emotion. This music draws me back to these places after many years, feeling reinspired and reenergized. Image, color, and light will bring this sense of nature into the concert hall, conjured directly by the music.”

Spotlighting John Adams in his 80th birthday year

The San Francisco Symphony will perform three of composer John Adams’s works for the first time during the 2026–27 season in celebration of his 80th birthday in 2027: Doctor Atomic Symphony with conductor Elim Chan; the West Coast premiere of The Rock You Stand On with Marin Alsop, whom the piece was written for; and The Dharma at Big Sur with violinist Tracy Silverman and conductor Ryan Bancroft. The San Francisco Symphony has had a long relationship with John Adams, beginning with his 1978 appointment as the Symphony’s new music adviser. Through this multi-decade relationship, the Symphony has commissioned nine works by Adams and given world, United States, or West Coast premieres of 14 of his works.

San Francisco Symphony ties

Several programs this season highlight San Francisco Symphony ties, including return appearances by former Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt, as well as solo turns for SF Symphony musicians Rainer Eudeikis, Jacob Nissly, and Katherine Siochi.

Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jacob Nissly, and Katherine Siochi in a Rene Orth world premiere

April 22–24, former Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen returns for the first time since concluding his tenure in June 2025 to conduct the world premiere of a new concerto for harp and percussion by Rene Orth, a San Francisco Symphony commission featuring SF Symphony Principal Percussion Jacob Nissly and Principal Harp Katherine Siochi. The program also features Berlioz’s revolutionary Symphonie fantastique, which Salonen and the Orchestra recorded and released via Apple Music Classical in 2024.

“For me, this is the ultimate opportunity to collaborate with two amazing artists,” said Nissly. “I am hopeful that I will be able to bring Rene’s writing to life. I have never played a duo concerto and couldn’t be luckier to collaborate with my soon-to-be wife, Katherine. I am particularly excited to see what creative ways Rene chooses to balance the myriad possibilities of percussion with the harp. She has been greatly collaborative with us from Spain as we share ideas and help narrow down some of the possibilities. Lastly, we’re very fortunate to have Esa-Pekka with us to help guide the premiere of this work. This project would never have started without him, so we couldn’t be happier to have him conducting this piece.”

“I am thrilled for this opportunity to work with a dream combination of an amazing composer, incredible conductor, and my fiancé,” said Siochi. “The harp and percussion are such a limitless combination, and we are so excited to be able to work together with Rene during the composition process. Audiences will get to hear a different side of the harp as Rene combines amplification and effects pedals to explore innovative sound possibilities. And I can't think of anyone more meaningful than Esa-Pekka to lead this work—he is essentially the reason Jake and I met, as he hired me for the Principal Harp position at the Symphony. Jake and I are so grateful!”

Rainer Eudeikis in Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante

November 19–21, Principal Cello Rainer Eudeikis (Philip S. Boone Chair) performs Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante on a program also featuring frequent collaborators Alonzo King LINES Ballet performing Debussy’s Prélude à L’Après-midi d’un faune and Copland’s Suite from Appalachian Spring. “Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante might well be the most demanding and energetic cello concerto in the repertoire,” said Eudeikis. “It has everything: technique-bending virtuosity, melodies that move you, and masterful writing that showcases the soloist and the orchestra. For me, it’s a musical Mount Everest that I’m thrilled to climb alongside my colleagues in the San Francisco Symphony.”

This marks Rainer Eudeikis’s second appearance as soloist with the Orchestra, following his performances of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto in October 2024. The piece was released on SFS Media as a live-concert recording in August 2025.

Celebrating Herbert Blomstedt’s 100th birthday year

On January 14–16, the San Francisco Symphony celebrates the centenary of Herbert Blomstedt, the Orchestra’s longtime Conductor Laureate and former Music Director from 1985–95. Blomstedt, who turns 100 on July 11, 2027, conducts Schubert’s Symphony No. 3 and Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony—a favorite composer of Blomstedt’s throughout his accomplished career. The Symphony will celebrate in style with tributes spanning his long association with the Orchestra.

Bay Area artists and collaborations

The 2026–27 season spotlights several artists and organizations with deep roots in the Bay Area. In November, Alonzo King LINES Ballet joins the Symphony for a program featuring new choreography set to Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and Copland’s Appalachian Spring. In May, in collaboration with Congregation Emanu-El, Bay Area native Teddy Abrams conducts the Symphony and Chorus in Ernest Bloch’s Sacred Service, featuring Cantor Arik Luck. Composer and Bay Area native Gabriella Smith joins the Symphony as Creative Partner throughout the season, and the Symphony honors Berkeley-based composer John Adams in recognition of his 80th birthday with performances of three of his works. In June, artist Deborah O’Grady brings together visions of California’s landscape in a video set to one of those works—The Dharma at Big Sur—conducted by Ryan Bancroft.

In addition, the season includes performances by San Francisco-based musicians Garrick Ohlsson (Johannes Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1) and Alexi Kenney (Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto and Gabriella Smith’s How to Be a Bird); conductors Sarah Hicks (live-to-picture film performances of The Ring, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Hook, and Avatar Live in Concert) and Edwin Outwater (SoundBox); a special collaboration with Oakland native and multi-Grammy Award winner Fantastic Negrito; and longstanding collaborations with curator Martha Rodríguez-Salazar and artistic collaborators Casa Círculo Cultural as part of the Symphony’s Día de los Muertos concert.

A musical exploration of the influences shaping our inner and outer worlds

Throughout the 2026–27 season, numerous Orchestral Series programs examine how inner and outer influences shape the human experience—from faith, reflection, myth, and storytelling, to our physical being through the energy of movement and dance, and the visceral immediacy of the natural world.

Works like Strauss’s Four Last Songs, Brahms’s Nänie, and John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony offer deep reflections on the human experience. Debussy’s Prélude à L’Après-midi d'un faune, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, Gabriella Smith’s How to Be a Bird and Tumblebird Contrails, and John Adams’s The Dharma at Big Sur highlight the beauty of our world’s landscapes and Earth’s wildlife. Cross-disciplinary performances with Alonzo King LINES Ballet and Janni Younge’s production of The Firebird explore movement and dance with music. Vincent d’Indy’s Istar, Ravel’s Shéhérazade, Strauss’s Symphonic Fantasy from Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow), Stravinsky’s The Song of the Nightingale, Augusta Holmès’s Andromède, and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet use myth and storytelling to help us understand the world. Other pieces, such as Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat, Haydn’s The Creation, Respighi’s Concerto gregoriano, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Violin Concerto No. 2, The Prophets, and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms draw inspiration from faith and religion.

The Symphony also explores these themes further through partnerships and special events throughout the season. Ernest Bloch’s Sacred Service, a special event presented in partnership with San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El, is a deeply spiritual work that gestures toward the universal, transcending all theological constraints. Renée Fleming’s Music and the Mind, presented in connection with her performance of Strauss’s Four Last Songs, will feature UCSF’s Dr. Charles Limb, MD, and Fleming in discussion about the powerful connections between music, health, and neuroscience. Additional programming and events with composer and 2026–27 Creative Partner Gabriella Smith, whose work reflects her commitment to climate action, will highlight how we as individuals can make an impact on the world around us.

Three-concert Southern California tour, April 15, 16 & 17, 2027

In April 2027, conductor Donald Runnicles and pianist Francesco Piemontesi join the San Francisco Symphony for a three-concert Southern California tour with performances at Palm Desert’s McCallum Theatre at the College of the Desert on April 15, Costa Mesa’s Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts on April 16, and Santa Barbara’s Granada Theatre Santa Barbara on April 17. The program includes Ralph Vaughan Williams’s uplifting Symphony No. 5 and Johannes Brahms’s monumental, four-movement Piano Concerto No. 2. Symphony musicians will also engage in educational activities in Palm Desert during the tour.

“I am delighted to be returning to the San Francisco Symphony, an orchestra and city with which I share a deep affinity,” said Donald Runnicles. “The opportunity to bring these wonderful musicians on tour to Southern California makes this experience all the more special, and I look forward to making memorable music with this remarkable orchestra.”

Premieres and commissions

The San Francisco Symphony’s 2026–27 season features 14 works new to the Orchestra, including two world premieres, two West Coast premieres, five commissions, and 10 works receiving their first San Francisco Symphony performances.

World premieres

February 11–13, conductor Juraj Valčuha and the Orchestra present the world premiere of a new work by Kyle Rivera, winner of the 2025 Emerging Black Composers Project. “I am incredibly honored and excited to compose a new work for the San Francisco Symphony,” said Rivera. “Inspired by the deaths of whales, my piece reimagines the sounds far beneath the reach of sunlight, where whale fall rains onto the shrouded world of the ocean floor. I am exploring what stories might be told by the marine descendants of tiny colonizers who built communities through the decomposition of massive whale corpses.”

April 22–24, former SF Symphony Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to the podium to conduct the world premiere of a new concerto for harp and percussion by composer Rene Orth, a San Francisco Symphony commission, featuring Principal Harp Katherine Siochi and Principal Percussion Jacob Nissly. “Jake and Katherine are two of the best players in the world,” said Orth. “To write for them and the incredible San Francisco Symphony, and with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting, is an absolute dream come true. This piece is inspired by joy and the fullness of life, and more specifically, by the actions of my three young children—playing, fighting, sleeping, cuddling, and dancing.”

West Coast premieres

October 22–24, Joe Hisaishi conducts the West Coast premiere of his own Concerto for Orchestra, a San Francisco Symphony commission, which receives its world premiere in May 2026 with the National Symphony Orchestra.

January 22–24, Marin Alsop and the San Francisco Symphony perform the West Coast premiere of John Adams’s The Rock You Stand On, which the composer wrote as a gift for Alsop, a close friend. “There is a certain ‘big band’ quality to the ensemble writing with the full orchestra at times executing irregular, bouncing figurations that are driven by an underlying jazz-inflected pulse,” says Adams in his composer’s note. “The title, The Rock You Stand On, is non-specific and is not meant to suggest anything other than perhaps hinting at the qualities—loyalty, determination, devotion—that make Marin Alsop so very special to me.”

Additional SF Symphony commissions

Two additional San Francisco Symphony commissions will be performed during the season. March 18–20, Alexi Kenney joins Dima Slobodeniouk and the Symphony for the first SF Symphony performances of Gabriella Smith’s violin concerto How to Be a Bird, which receives its United States premiere in January 2027 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. “As a teenager, I volunteered on a songbird research project in Point Reyes, an experience that shaped my life in so many ways,” said Smith. “When envisioning the role of a solo violinist in a concerto with orchestra, bird behavior seemed particularly apt. How to Be a Bird is a playful musical guide to soaring, swooping, flocking, diving, perching, fledging, singing, molting, migrating, and more.”

As part of the Great Performers Series, violinist Hilary Hahn and baritone Matthias Goerne will perform a new work by Reena Esmail, also a San Francisco Symphony commission.

First San Francisco Symphony performances

The San Francisco Symphony will present eight additional works for the first time this season, including John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony and The Dharma at Big Sur; Ernest Bloch’s Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service) with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Cantor Arik Luck; Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Violin Concerto No. 2, The Prophets, with soloist Francesca Dego; Claude Debussy’s “Le jet d'eau” from Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire, with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard; Augusta Holmès’s Andromède; Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus; Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus; Manfred Honeck’s orchestral arrangement of Erwin Schulhoff’s Five Pieces; Richard Strauss’s Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten; and Gabriella Smith’s How to Be a Bird with violinist Alexi Kenney.

Special concerts

In the 2026–27 season, the San Francisco Symphony performs special one-night-only concerts with Samara Joy, Gregory Alan Isakov, Fantastic Negrito, and Ludovico Einaudi. Composer and conductor Joe Hisaishi also leads the San Francisco Symphony in a program of his own music.

On September 8, jazz singer Samara Joy performs with conductor Anthony Parnther and the Orchestra. Joy began exploring jazz singing in her teens and released her self-titled debut on the Whirlwind label in 2021, the same year she graduated from college. She followed her debut with Linger Awhile, and at the Grammy Awards in 2023, she won the Best New Artist Award.

On September 15, Gregory Alan Isakov performs with conductor Christopher Dragon and the SF Symphony. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and now calling Colorado home, musician and horticulturist Isakov has cast an impressive presence on the indie-rock and folk worlds with six full-length studio albums. He tours internationally with his band and has performed with several national symphony orchestras across the United States.

September 26, Oakland native and multi-Grammy Award-winning artist Fantastic Negrito joins the San Francisco Symphony and conductor Jonathan Taylor Rush for a striking collaboration that brings his bold, genre-defying sound into a symphonic setting. Drawing from blues, soul, rock, and deeply personal storytelling, his music balances grit and grace, joy, and resilience. The performance also marks the 10-year anniversary of Fantastic Negrito’s breakout Tiny Desk Concerts appearance, the moment that introduced his voice to a global audience. Reimagined with a full orchestra, his songs expand in color and dimension, intimate yet powerful, grounded yet expansive.

On October 12, Another Planet Entertainment and the San Francisco Symphony present a special concert featuring world-renowned pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi performing solo piano works. Born in Turin, Italy, Einaudi is well known for not only his classical compositions but also his film and TV scores. His latest album, The Summer Portraits, released in January 2025 via Universal Records, broke the classical chart records by reaching the top of the Official UK Classical Album Chart in its first week after the release.

October 22–24, Joe Hisaishi conducts the SF Symphony-commissioned West Coast premiere of his Concerto for Orchestra, as well as additional contemporary works to be announced. Hisaishi, a composer, conductor, and pianist, has established himself as a formidable force in contemporary music for his delicately crafted symphonic and solo works, as well as his globally successful film music. His credits include 12 enchanting, animated Studio Ghibli films, including Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning works, as well as being the Composer-in-Association of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Composer in Focus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Composer in Residence for the Philadelphia Orchestra. These performances mark Hisaishi’s return to the San Francisco Symphony following four sold-out performances of his music in September 2024.

On May 22, the San Francisco Symphony partners with Congregation Emanu-El for the Symphony’s first performance of Ernest Bloch’s monumental Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service), a five-part choral-orchestral setting of the Hebrew Sabbath morning liturgy. Although he originally intended it as a “great Jewish oratorio,” the deeply spiritual work gestures toward the universal, transcending all theological constraints. The performance is conducted by Teddy Abrams and features Cantor Arik Luck of Congregation Emanu-El alongside the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. “In 1927, Ernest Bloch was commissioned by Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco to compose a sacred service for their baritone cantor, Reuben Rinder,” said Arik Luck. “One hundred years later, it will be my tremendous honor to collaborate with the San Francisco Symphony and guest conductor Teddy Abrams on Sacred Service, now widely regarded as the greatest piece of classical Jewish music of the 20th century.”

Conducting debuts

Five conductors make their Orchestral Series debut with the San Francisco Symphony during the 2026–27 season.

October 1 & 3–4, Santtu-Matias Rouvali (Principal Conductor of Philharmonia Orchestra and Honorary Conductor of Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra) conducts Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs with soprano Renée Fleming and Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben.

Marie Jacquot (Chief Conductor of the Royal Danish Theatre Copenhagen, Principal Guest Conductor of the Vienna Symphony, and Chief Conductor Designate of the WDR Symphony Orchestra) makes her debut November 13–15 conducting selections from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. The program also includes the first San Francisco Symphony performances of Augusta Holmès’s Andromède, as well as Ottorino Respighi’s Concerto gregoriano featuring soloist Sayaka Shoji.

Ruben Valenzuela (Founder and Artistic Director of Bach Collegium San Diego) joins the SF Symphony December 4–5 to conduct George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, featuring soprano Lauren Snouffer, countertenor Reginald Mobley in his Orchestral Series debut, tenor Zachary Wilder, bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca in his Orchestral Series debut, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.

January 29–31, Antonello Manacorda (Honorary Conductor of the Kammerakademie Potsdam) conducts a program featuring Anton Webern’s orchestration of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Ricercare from The Musical Offering; Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Seong-Jin Cho as soloist; and Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 4.

May 6–8, Tomáš Netopil (Chief Conductor of FOK-Prague Symphony Orchestra) leads the SF Symphony in Antonín Dvořák’s Carnival Overture, Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto featuring soloist Ray Chen, and music from Bedřich Smetana’s Má Vlast.

San Francisco Symphony returning conductors

In addition to this season’s conducting debuts, 2026–27 features a dynamic lineup of returning guest conductors, each bringing bold and distinctive perspectives to the podium.

Returning guest conductors include:

Marin Alsop (Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra), conducting the West Coast premiere of John Adams’s The Rock You Stand On, Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto featuring Nemanja Radulović in his Orchestral Series debut, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 (January 22 & 24 at Davies Symphony Hall; January 23 at UC Davis’s Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts)

David Afkham (Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus), who conducts Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza, Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, and Johannes Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Garrick Ohlsson (September 18–19)

Ryan Bancroft (Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales), conducting Gabriella Smith’s Tumblebird Contrails; the first San Francisco Symphony performances of John Adams’s The Dharma at Big Sur with violinist Tracy Silverman in his Orchestral Series debut, featuring videography by artist Deborah O’Grady; and Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, The Inextinguishable (June 17–18)

Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt, conducting Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 3 and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, Romantic (January 14–16)

Karina Canellakis (Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra), who conducts Victoria Borisova-Ollas’s The Kingdom of Silence, Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with Nicola Benedetti, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances (October 9–11)

Elim Chan (Former Principal Conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Former Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra), conducting Johannes Brahms’s Nänie with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Renaud Capuçon, the first San Francisco Symphony performances of Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and the first San Francisco Symphony performances of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony (October 29–31)

Fabien Gabel (Chief Conductor of the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich), who conducts Vincent d’Indy’s Istar, Maurice Ravel’s Shéhérazade with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, the first San Francisco Symphony performances of Claude Debussy’s “Le jet d'eau” from Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire with Leonard, and the first San Francisco Symphony performances of Richard Strauss’s Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten (November 6 & 8)

James Gaffigan (Music Director Designate of Houston Grand Opera and General Music Director of Komische Oper Berlin), conducting Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante with Principal Cello Rainer Eudeikis (Philip S. Boone Chair), Debussy’s Prélude à L’Après-midi d’un faune with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and Copland’s Suite from Appalachian Spring with Alonzo King LINES Ballet (November 19–21)

Gustavo Gimeno (Music Director of Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of Teatro Real), conducting Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor featuring the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Yefim Bronfman, and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 (June 25–27)

Jane Glover (Music Director of Music of the Baroque and Principal Guest Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony), conducting Haydn’s The Creation with soprano Joélle Harvey, tenor Miles Mykkanen in his Orchestral Series debut, bass-baritone Michael Sumuel, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus (April 3–4)

Manfred Honeck (Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Honorary Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra), who conducts the first San Francisco Symphony performances of his arrangement of Erwin Schulhoff’s Five Pieces; Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto with Alexi Kenney; and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, Pathétique (March 5–7)

Fabio Luisi (Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Conductor of Tokyo’s NHK Orchestra), conducting Arnold Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto with Kirill Gerstein and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 (April 29–May 1)

Cristian Măcelaru (Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of Orchestre National de France), conducting Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, The Song of the Nightingale, and The Firebird with stage director Janni Younge and choreographer Jay Pather making their Orchestral Series debuts (June 3–5)

Rafael Payare (Music Director of Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Music Director of the San Diego Symphony), who conducts Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari, Aram Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra (June 11–13)

Donald Runnicles (Chief Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic, Music Director of Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra), conducting Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No. 5, Edward Elgar’s Cockaigne (In London Town) Overture, and Johannes Brahms’s Violin Concerto with Augustin Hadelich (March 12–14)

Daniele Rustioni (Music Director of Opéra National de Lyon and Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera), who conducts Luigi Boccherini and Luciano Berio’s Four Original Versions of Ritirata nottura di Madrid, the first San Francisco Symphony performances of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Violin Concerto No. 2, The Prophets with Francesca Dego in her Orchestral Series debut, and Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony (May 27–29)

Former San Francisco Symphony Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen (Creative Director Designate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Principal Conductor Designate of Orchestre de Paris), who conducts the world premiere of a new concerto for harp and percussion by Rene Orth with Principal Percussion Jacob Nissly and Principal Harp Katherine Siochi in her Orchestral Series debut, and Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique (April 22–24)

Dima Slobodeniouk (Former Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia), conducting the first San Francisco Symphony performances of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus, the first San Francisco Symphony performances of Gabriella Smith’s How to Be a Bird, with violinist Alexi Kenney, and Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 (March 18–20)

Juraj Valčuha (Music Director of the Houston Symphony and Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra), conducting the world premiere of a new composition by Emerging Black Composers Project winner Kyle Rivera, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Benjamin Grosvenor, and Alexander Zemlinsky’s Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid) (February 11–13)

Jaap van Zweden (Music Director of the Seoul Philharmonic, Music Director Designate of Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France), conducting Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 and Symphony No. 5 (February 18–20) as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, and Violin Concerto with Joshua Bell (February 25–27) as part of his three-season Beethoven symphony cycle with the San Francisco Symphony

Xian Zhang (Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony and Music Director of the Seattle Symphony), who conducts Zoltán Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with cellist Pablo Ferrández, and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 (October 16–18)

Guest artists perform with the San Francisco Symphony

Guest artists making their San Francisco Symphony Orchestral Series debuts include countertenor Reginald Mobley; tenor Miles Mykkanen; bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca; violinists Francesca Dego, Nemanja Radulović, and Tracy Silverman; stage director Janni Younge; choreographer Jay Pather; and videographer and director Deborah O’Grady.

Returning instrumental soloists include pianists Yefim Bronfman, Seong-Jin Cho, Kirill Gerstein, Benjamin Grosvenor, Garrick Ohlsson, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet; cellist Pablo Ferrández; and violinists Joshua Bell, Nicola Benedetti, Renaud Capuçon, Ray Chen, Augustin Hadelich, Alexi Kenney, and Sayaka Shoji.

Vocal soloists returning to perform with the San Francisco Symphony include sopranos Renée Fleming, Joélle Harvey, and Lauren Snouffer; mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, tenor Zachary Wilder, and bass-baritone Michael Sumuel.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet also returns to perform Claude Debussy’s Prélude à L’Après-midi d’un faune and Aaron Copland’s Suite from Appalachian Spring in November.

This year, three members of the San Francisco Symphony appear as soloists: Principal Cello Rainer Eudeikis (Philip S. Boone Chair), performing Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante, and Principal Percussion Jacob Nissly and Principal Harp Katherine Siochi, in her Orchestral Series debut, performing a new concerto for harp and percussion.

San Francisco Symphony Chorus performances

The 2026–27 season features the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, under the direction of Chorus Director Jenny Wong, in five Orchestral Series programs.

October 29–31, Elim Chan is joined by the San Francisco Symphony Chorus for Johannes Brahms’s Nänie and the first San Francisco Symphony Chorus performances of Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat. The program also includes Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Renaud Capuçon and the first San Francisco Symphony performances of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony.

December 4–5, Ruben Valenzuela makes his Orchestral Series debut conducting the Symphony’s annual holiday performances of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah featuring the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and a cast of vocal soloists including soprano Lauren Snouffer, countertenor Reginald Mobley in his Orchestral Series debut, tenor Zachary Wilder, and bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca in his Orchestral Series debut.

April 3–4, Jane Glover conducts Haydn’s The Creation, featuring the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, soprano Joélle Harvey, tenor Miles Mykkanen in his Orchestral Series debut, and bass-baritone Michael Sumuel.

On June 3–5, Cristian Măcelaru is joined by the San Francisco Symphony Chorus for Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms. The program also features Stravinsky’s The Song of the Nightingale and a staged version of The Firebird.

On June 25–27, Gustavo Gimeno conducts the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus in Alexander Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor. He also leads the Orchestra in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5.

The Chorus performs in the film series program Avatar with a score composed by James Horner on January 8–9, as well as a May 22 program featuring Ernest Bloch’s Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service).

The Chorus also appears in a March 4 program at Cal Performances at UC Berkeley, performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Vienna Philharmonic, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, soprano Christiane Karg, and mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča as part of the 2027 Maria Manetti Shrem and Elizabeth Segerstrom California Orchestra Residency.

SoundBox

The San Francisco Symphony’s groundbreaking SoundBox series returns for a 13th season with programs curated by violinist Vijay Gupta (January 29–30) and conductor Edwin Outwater (April 1–2), who celebrates the 25th anniversary of his close association with the San Francisco Symphony this season. SoundBox features performances by guest artists and members of the San Francisco Symphony, accompanied by unique video projections and lighting design. Launched in 2014 as an experimental, late-night concert series for culturally curious audiences, SoundBox is known for continuously pushing the envelope with adventurous programming, innovative design, and multimedia elements. SoundBox performances take place in a warehouse-like rehearsal space adjacent to Davies Symphony Hall, enhanced by a Meyer Constellation Sound System, which can alter the space’s acoustics to accommodate a variety of musical styles and ensembles, providing ultimate versatility.

Lead support for SoundBox is provided by the Barbro and Bernard Osher SoundBox Fund.

Great Performers Series and Shenson Spotlight Series

The 2026–27 Great Performers Series includes an orchestral presentation with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with conductor Rafael Payare and violinist Leonidas Kavakos; a trio recital with violinist Lisa Batiashvili, cellist Gautier Capuçon, and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet; and a program with violinist Hilary Hahn, baritone Matthias Goerne, and pianist Yekwon Sunwoo featuring the premiere of a new work by Reena Esmail.

Artists presenting solo recitals in the series include pianists Emanuel Ax, Seong-Jin Cho, Hélène Grimaud, Evgeny Kissin, and Yuja Wang. The series will also feature a duo program with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan, and An Evening with Itzhak Perlman interweaves storytelling by the legendary violinist alongside photos, video clips, and music with his longtime pianist and friend Rohan De Silva.

The San Francisco Symphony’s Shenson Spotlight Series, now in its sixth season, features ascendant artists in their Davies Symphony Hall debuts. Soloists presented in this series include double bassist Kebra-Seyoun Charles, joined by pianist Umi Garrett; cellist Zlatomir Fung, with pianist Chaeyoung Park; pianist Eva Gevorgyan; and pianist Dmitry Shishkin.

Films with Live Orchestra

San Francisco Symphony film programs feature the Orchestra performing live accompaniment to iconic films as they are projected on a large screen above the stage. In 2026–27, the Film Series begins with Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, conducted by Anthony Parnther on September 10 & 12, featuring an iconic score by John Williams. The series continues with Gore Verbinski’s The Ring, featuring music by Hans Zimmer, conducted by Sarah Hicks, October 20; the fantastical Disney tale Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, with music by Danny Elfman, conducted by Sarah Hicks, November 24; and Steven Spielberg’s Hook, featuring music by John Williams and conducted by Sarah Hicks, November 27–28. Additional film performances in the 2026–27 season include Avatar Live in Concert, directed by James Cameron with a score by James Horner, conducted by Sarah Hicks and featuring vocal soloist Eleanor Grant, ethnic flute and whistles soloist Eric Rigler, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus on January 8–9; Damien Chazelle’s La La Land in Concert, April 9–10; and Disney and Pixar’s UP: In Concert with music by Michael Giacchino and conducted by Brett Mitchell on May 21. On April 8, Anthony Parnther conducts the Orchestra in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, which marks its centenary in 2027. The silent film tells a dystopian tale of class struggle and is accompanied by a new performance version featuring music by Alban Berg, Edvard Grieg, and Arnold Schoenberg.

Signature Events

Día de los Muertos Celebration

On November 7, the San Francisco Symphony presents its 19th annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration, including a concert program of traditional and contemporary Latin American music conducted by José Luis Gómez, and featuring longtime artistic collaborators Casa Círculo Cultural. The concert is preceded by a festive array of family-friendly activities and altars designed by local artists and organizations. Curated by Martha Rodríguez-Salazar, these installations aim to commemorate the Day of the Dead. Beginning in mid-October, altars and artwork will appear in and around Davies Symphony Hall, available to peruse before or after any Symphony concert.

Deck the Hall

Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, the San Francisco Symphony’s Resident Conductor of Engagement and Education, conducts the annual Deck the Hall matinee concerts on December 6. Deck the Hall is the Symphony’s annual holiday children’s concert and celebration featuring a lively array of musical performances by Symphony musicians and special guests. The concert ends with a holiday sing-along complete with costumed characters. To make the experience even more memorable, guests can purchase tickets to the Deck the Hall Signature Fundraiser, which will include preconcert lobby activities, a visit from Santa, holiday-themed food and beverage, and festive performances. Proceeds from this event support Deck the Hall Community Day, which takes place on December 7 and invites 3,000 children from public programs to this holiday concert free of charge, providing many of them with their first opportunity to visit a concert hall and hear a live orchestral performance. Proceeds provide additional support for the Symphony’s many artistic, educational, and community programs.

Lunar New Year Celebration

On February 6, Naomi Woo conducts the San Francisco Symphony’s 27th annual Lunar New Year Concert, celebrating the Year of the Goat. The performance highlights vibrant Asian traditions through Eastern and Western repertoire and multimedia presentations. Patrons can also purchase an elevated Lunar New Year experience, which includes special festivities, a preconcert reception, and a celebratory banquet dinner. Proceeds from Lunar New Year benefit the Symphony’s artistic, educational, and community programs.

These concerts are presented in partnership with the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Music for Families and Teen Day

The San Francisco Symphony offers unique opportunities for children, families, and young adults to engage with classical music through programs such as Music for Families and Teen Day.

Music for Families

The Music for Families series is designed to bring children together with their families to engage with classical music through interactive themed performances. In 2026–27, the SF Symphony’s Resident Conductor of Engagement and Education, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, conducts concerts on October 24 and May 15.

Teen Day

On March 2, Resident Conductor of Engagement and Education Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser leads the San Francisco Symphony in its sixth annual teen-focused concert. A weekday matinee well suited for school groups, Teen Day features an eclectic program of music, interactive elements like games and trivia, and prizes. This concert is designed for ages 13 and up.

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra

Led by Wattis Foundation Music Director Radu Paponiu, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra opens its season on November 22, followed by its annual holiday performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf on December 13. Additional SFSYO performances will take place on February 28 and May 23. As part of composer Gabriella Smith’s creative partnership with the SF Symphony in 2026–27, Smith will work with Radu Paponiu and the SFSYO as a coach during rehearsals of Tidalwave Kitchen, which the Orchestra will perform next spring. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra provides a tuition-free, preprofessional orchestral training experience to talented young musicians from the greater Bay Area, with weekly rehearsals led by Paponiu. Youth Orchestra members benefit from weekly coachings by San Francisco Symphony musicians and enjoy the opportunity to work with world-renowned artists and conductors performing with the San Francisco Symphony.

Concert extras

Inside Music preconcert and postconcert talks return to all Orchestral Series concerts this season, providing fascinating insights into the repertoire through engaging discussions with guest speakers, SF Symphony musicians, and guest artists. To complement the music on stage, the Symphony also curates thought-provoking lobby exhibitions to explore the themes of the season’s programming. And to round out the experience, handcrafted specialty cocktails are available at select performances, allowing audience members to enjoy a themed drink for an immersive concert experience.

Free and low-cost opportunities to see the San Francisco Symphony

Community Ticket Program

The San Francisco Symphony believes in equitable access to our concerts. The Community Ticket Program is designed to provide San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit, social services, healthcare, arts, community, and other frontline workers and constituents with free tickets to see Symphony concerts year-round. Since its launch in 2021, the Community Ticket Program has provided over 50,000 free Symphony tickets to Bay Area nonprofits and the constituents they serve. Organizations can request information about the Community Ticket Program here. The Community Ticket Program is supported by Bank of America.

Community Chamber Concerts

Small ensembles from the San Francisco Symphony regularly present Community Chamber Concerts at San Francisco Public Library branches, at Flower Piano in Gardens of Golden Gate Park, and at other community hubs. These concerts are an opportunity to get to know SF Symphony musicians and see them perform in an intimate setting. All Community Chamber Concerts are free, and information about upcoming concerts can be found here.

Discover and Go

Tickets to select Symphony concerts are available for free or at a discount through Discover & Go. San Francisco library card holders can access Discover & Go here, and Bay Area library card holders can access Discover & Go via their public library’s website.

Student Rush

College students are eligible for discounted $25 tickets to select Symphony concerts. To qualify, students must provide a photo of their student ID and a school email address ending in “.edu.” Interested students can register to receive discounts here.

Teacher Rush

Teachers are eligible for discounted $25 tickets to select Symphony concerts. To qualify, teachers must provide a photo of their teacher ID and a school email address. Interested teachers can register to receive discounts here.

School Groups

School groups are eligible for discounted tickets. Interested schools can complete a Group Inquiry Form here.

Veterans

Veterans are eligible for discounted tickets for select Symphony concerts through Vet Tix. Interested veterans can register for Vet Tix here.

Classical California San Francisco Symphony radio broadcasts

Classical California broadcasts San Francisco Symphony concerts on “NorCal Sunday Nights” throughout the year on Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. “NorCal Sunday Nights” is Classical California’s local concert broadcast series highlighting live performances from the Symphony and other Northern California classical music organizations. Hosted by Classical California music programmer and host Rik Malone, the Sunday evening broadcasts air statewide across the Classical California network, including San Francisco (90.3 FM), Silicon Valley (104.9 FM), Napa Wine Country/Livermore (89.9 FM), Ukiah/Lakeport (92.5 FM), and Monterey/Carmel (103.9 FM) in Northern California, as well as in Los Angeles (91.5 FM), Thousand Oaks (91.1 FM), Santa Barbara (93.7 FM), San Luis Obispo (99.7 FM), and Palm Springs (88.5 FM) in Southern California. Programs also stream live at classicalcalifornia.org, where each broadcast is available for on-demand listening for 21 days following the original air date. Visit classicalcalifornia.org for the full broadcast schedule.

On Sale Dates

Subscription packages for the San Francisco Symphony’s 2026–27 season go on sale Thursday, March 26, at 10:00 a.m. PT and can be purchased online at sfsymphony.org/subscribe or by phone at 415.864.6000.

For a limited time, patrons have the option to get one additional Orchestral Series concert free when buying a Davies Symphony Hall four-concert or more subscription package; four additional Orchestral Series concerts free when buying an eight-concert or more package; six additional Orchestral Series concerts free when buying a 12-concert or more package; or eight additional Orchestral Series concerts, an additional seat upgrade, and two complimentary beverage vouchers when subscribing to 18 or more concerts. Offer applies to all subscriptions totaling four or more concerts. Add-ons and special events do not count towards the total. Offer expires on May 1, 2026.

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