The San Francisco Symphony Launches 2023–24 Chamber Music Series

The San Francisco Symphony’s 2023–24 Chamber Music Series presents 10 performances throughout the season at Davies Symphony Hall and the Gunn Theater at the Legion of Honor. The San Francisco Symphony’s Chamber Music Series is programmed and performed by Symphony musicians. 

Davies Symphony Hall Chamber Series Concerts 

The November 5 program at Davies Symphony Hall —part of the San Francisco Symphony’s California Festival programming—includes Johannes Brahms’s String Quartet No. 2, and three works written since 2017: Reena Esmail’s Saans (Breath), Samuel Adams’s Sundial, and Symphony violinist Sarn Oliver’s Self Portrait. On December 17, Symphony musicians perform a program featuring works by Arnold Bax, Johannes Brahms, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The January 28 concert includes pieces by Claude Debussy, Aleksey Igudesman, and Edgar Meyer, along with Bay Area-based musician and composer Shinji Eshima’s Hym for Her. 

Chamber music at Davies Symphony Hall continues on April 21 with Symphony musicians performing works by William Grant Still, San Francisco-based composer and musician Jason Hainsworth, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Ernst von Dohnányi. On May 26, Symphony musicians perform pieces by Bay Area composer Durwynne Hsieh, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The series wraps up on June 16 with a program including works by Eric Ewazen, Zoltán Kodály, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Musicians featured on each concert can be found in the calendar below.  

Chamber Music at Gunn Theatre at the Legion of Honor 

The 2023–24 Legion of Honor Chamber Series returns with four concerts featuring violinist SF Symphony Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik, cellist Peter Wyrick, and guest pianist Anton Nel. On October 8, the trio performs Johann Hummel’s Piano Trio in G major, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin Sonata in A major, K.305(293d), and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor. On December 3, the program includes Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonata No. 3 in E major for Violin and Keyboard. BWV 1016, Bach’s Sonata in G minor for Viola de Gamba (Cello) and Keyboard, BWV 1029, and Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio in B-flat major. The final two concerts of the year feature Franz Joseph Haydn’s Piano Trio in C major, J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, BWV 825, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor on January 28 and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Trio in E major, K.542, Richard Strauss’ Cello Sonata in F major, and Bedřich Smetana’s Piano Trio in G minor on June 2. 

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 21 years of San Francisco Symphony’s partnership with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.