The San Francisco Symphony Reveals Summer Programming

The San Francisco Symphony has announced programming for its summer season, running July 4-August 5 with concerts at Davies Symphony Hall and outdoor performances at Frost Amphitheater at Stanford University, Shoreline Amphitheatre, and Sigmund Stern Grove. The Symphony's summer season includes a wide range of programs, from concerts dedicated to classical masterworks to film performances, and special presentations featuring exciting guest artists.

CONCERTS AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL

The San Francisco Symphony performs 11 programs at Davies Symphony Hall this summer, including concerts with traditional concert repertoire, guest performances from noted artists, and unique film programs.

Classical programs

Guest conductors Edwin Outwater, Anna Rakitina, and Joshua Weilerstein lead classical programs at Davies Symphony Hall with performances by violinist Alexi Kenney, pianist Denis Kozhukhin, and cellist Sterling Elliott. The San Francisco Symphony will also bring each of these programs to Stanford University's Frost Amphitheater as part of the Stanford Live Arts Festival in July.

Anna Rakitina (Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) makes her debut with the San Francisco Symphony on July 13 in a program of works by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Edward Elgar. Rakitina is joined by pianist Denis Kozhukhin for Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 and the program also includes Elgar's Enigma Variations, a series of variations inspired by the composer's friends.

Edwin Outwater (Music Director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Music Director Laureate of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and former Director of Summer Concerts at the San Francisco Symphony) returns to the Symphony on July 22 to conduct selections from film scores, including Elmer Bernstein's Theme from The Magnificent Seven; Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront; music from Bernard Herrmann's Psycho and Vertigo; selections from Miklós Rózsa's Ben-Hur; and music from John Williams' Jaws and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. The program also features cellist Sterling Elliott performing Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Cello Concerto in C (from Deception) with Outwater and the Orchestra.

Joshua Weilerstein (Chief Conductor of the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra) leads the Orchestra in Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto featuring violinist Alexi Kenney on July 6. Weilerstein also conducts Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, From the New World, written during the composer's sojourn in the United States, and the first San Francisco Symphony performances of Pavel Haas' Study for Strings.

Special events and guest performances

On July 15, vocalist Aída Cuevas joins the Symphony for a performance conducted by Enrico Lopez-Yañez. Known as "The Queen of Mariachi," Cuevas became the first woman in the genre of mariachi to be awarded a Grammy when she won the award for Best Regional Mexican Music Album in 2018.

On July 16, the hills are alive as Sing-a-Long-a Sound of Music, the smash hit musical event, comes to Davies Symphony Hall in glorious Technicolor. For those not yet converted, this special The Sound of Music event features the classic 1965 film complete with subtitles so the whole audience can join in. Attendees can cheer Maria and boo the Nazi's as a live host leads the whole audience in a vocal warm-up and shows audiences members all the moves to Do-Re-Mi and how to use the free magic moment fun bags that are distributed as part of the show. (Not to forget the world-famous fancy-dress competition.) So, get those vocal chords warmed up, cut up those chintz curtains, and hurry down for the perfect night out. Please note this is a screening of the movie, not a live stage show, and the San Francisco Symphony does not appear in this presentation.

On July 19, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) performs music from Elton John's album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road as well as selections from The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz, and the musical Wicked. The concert, which marks the 50th anniversary of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, is SFGMC's second collaboration and performance with the Symphony.

On July 29, Steve Hackman conducts the San Francisco Symphony in his Tchaikovsky X Drake, a symphonic synthesis that blends the music of two composer-romanticists separated by almost a century. The program weaves 22 songs by Grammy-winning hip-hop artist Drake into Tchaikovsky's epic Fifth Symphony, as the lyrics of the former serve to advance the narrative program of the latter.

On August 4 & 5, soul and R&B star Maxwell joins forces with the Symphony for two performances conducted by Steven Reineke. A three-time Grammy winner, Maxwell has released five albums in addition to receiving the "Legend" award at the Soul Train Awards in 2021. The performances precede the highly anticipated arrival of his forthcoming album, blacksummers'NIGHT, the third installment in a musical trilogy he began in 2009.

Film concerts

The San Francisco Symphony's summer season includes several film presentations, featuring the Orchestra performing movie scores live while the films are projected onto a large screen above the stage. On July 8 & 9, Thiago Tiberio leads the Orchestra in Disney and Pixar's Ratatouille live-to-film, featuring a score by Oscar®-winning composer Michael Giacchino. On July 27, 28 & 30, Constantine Kitsopoulos conducts Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark, with music composed by John Williams. The July 28 performance will take place at Stanford Live's Frost Amphitheater. The final film performances of the summer feature Matt Reeves' 2022 film The Batman, with Joshua Gersen conducting Michael Giacchino's score, August 2 & 3.

FOUR PERFORMANCES AT STANFORD LIVE'S FROST AMPHITHEATER

The San Francisco Symphony performs four Friday evening concerts at Stanford Live's Frost Amphitheater, featuring programs also presented at Davies Symphony Hall. The concerts are part of the Stanford Live Arts Festival at Frost, a month-long series of outdoor performances presented in partnership with Bay Area partners. The 2023 edition of SF Symphony at Frost kicks off on July 7 with conductor Joshua Weilerstein and violinist Alexi Kenney, followed by a concert on July 14, featuring conductor Anna Rakitina and pianist Denis Kozhukhin. Conductor Edwin Outwater conducts a "Golden Age of Cinema" concert on July 21, with cellist Sterling Elliott as soloist. The final performance at Frost takes place on July 28, featuring Constantine Kitsopoulos conducting Raiders of the Lost Ark, live to film. This summer marks the fourth season of SF Symphony at Frost, presented by Stanford Live. The series was inaugurated in 2019 when the SF Symphony partnered with Stanford Live to present concerts annually in the newly renovated Frost Amphitheater.

Stanford Live presents a wide range of fine performances from around the world, fostering a vibrant learning community and providing distinctive experiences through the performing arts. From its home at Bing Concert Hall and Frost Amphitheater, Stanford Live functions simultaneously as a public square, a sanctuary and a lab, drawing from all Stanford University has to offer to connect performance to the most significant issues, ideas, and discoveries of our time.

FOURTH OF JULY FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR

Kicking off the summer season on July 4, Edwin Outwater leads the San Francisco Symphony in the annual Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. The program opens with John Stafford Smith's The Star-Spangled Banner and features works by John Williams, Aaron Copland, Ervin Rouse, and George Gershwin, among others. After intermission, vocalist Capathia Jenkins joins Outwater and the Orchestra for a tribute to Aretha Franklin, followed by a spectacular fireworks display.

STERN GROVE FESTIVAL

On July 23, conductors Christopher Dragon and Edwin Outwater lead the San Francisco Symphony in a concert at the 86th Stern Grove Festival-the admission-free performing arts series that takes place every summer in the natural outdoor amphitheater at Sigmund Stern Grove. In addition to giving annual performances at the Stern Grove Festival since the festival's formation in 1938, the San Francisco Symphony also played the very first concert in the Grove in 1932, a year after Rosalie M. Stern purchased Stern Grove and gave it as a gift to the City of San Francisco in memory of her husband Sigmund, a prominent civic leader. The program features funk band Lettuce in their SF Symphony debut. The members of Lettuce formed the band as teenagers during a summer program at the Berklee College of Music, and they have since released eight studio albums and received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album in 2020.

This concert is presented in partnership with the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Admission to the July 23 Stern Grove concert is free with advance reservations required. Reservations can be made online via sterngrove.org beginning June 23.