Jory Fankuchen, Principal Conductor

Trevor Weston
”Aqua”  - World Premiere with Emerging Black Composer Project and the NEA

Ottorino Respighi
Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550

Jory Fankuchen, Principal Conductor

Trevor Weston
”Aqua”  - World Premiere with Emerging Black Composer Project and the NEA

Ottorino Respighi
Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550

Jory Fankuchen, Principal Conductor

Trevor Weston
”Aqua”  - World Premiere with Emerging Black Composer Project and the NEA

Ottorino Respighi
Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550

PROGRAM

Hosted by Principal Conductor, Jory Fankuchen

Antonín Dvořák
String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op 77

Jennifer Higdon
Autumn Music for wind quintet

Alfredo Casella
Three Movements from Six Studies,
Op. 70, arr. P. Lemberg

Poulenc
Sextet for Wind Quintet and Piano

Sergei Prokofiev
Overture on Hebrew Themes
String Quartet, Clarinet and Piano

PROGRAM

Hosted by Principal Conductor,
Jory Fankuchen

Antonín Dvořák
String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op 77

Jennifer Higdon
Autumn Music for wind quintet

Alfredo Casella
Three Movements from Six Studies,
Op. 70, arr. P. Lemberg

Poulenc
Sextet for Wind Quintet and Piano

Sergei Prokofiev
Overture on Hebrew Themes
String Quartet, Clarinet and Piano

PROGRAM

Hosted by Principal Conductor, Jory Fankuchen

Antonín Dvořák
String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op 77

Jennifer Higdon
Autumn Music for wind quintet

Alfredo Casella
Three Movements from Six Studies,
Op. 70, arr. P. Lemberg

Poulenc
Sextet for Wind Quintet and Piano

Sergei Prokofiev
Overture on Hebrew Themes
String Quartet, Clarinet and Piano

Jory Fankuchen, Conductor
Sara Flexer, Cello Soloist

Sumi Tonooka
Sketch at Seven
World Premiere with support from Emerging Black Composers Project and the NEA

Robert Schumann
Cello Concerto in a minor, Op 129
Sara Flexer, soloist and Debut Artist

Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944 “The Great”

______________________

The inspiration for the world premiere of Sumi Tonooka’s “Sketch at Seven” is “a sketch book of drawings and musical journals that I made when I was very young that was sent back to me after some forty years…..When I opened the sketchbook it was like a doorway into the past and future, mysterious and profound.”  Following a brand new piece is our brand new Debut Artist, Sara Flexer performing Schumann’s masterful Cello Concerto in a minor.  And then on to “The Great.”  Why the Great? For “the brilliance and novelty of the instrumentation, the breadth and expanse of the form, the striking changes of mood, the whole new world into which we are transported…”

Jory Fankuchen, Conductor
Sara Flexer, Cello Soloist

Sumi Tonooka
Sketch at Seven
World Premiere with support from Emerging Black Composers Project and the NEA

Robert Schumann
Cello Concerto in a minor, Op 129
Sara Flexer, soloist and Debut Artist

Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944 “The Great”
______________________

The inspiration for the world premiere of Sumi Tonooka’s “Sketch at Seven” is “a sketch book of drawings and musical journals that I made when I was very young that was sent back to me after some forty years…..When I opened the sketchbook it was like a doorway into the past and future, mysterious and profound.”  Following a brand new piece is our brand new Debut Artist, Sara Flexer performing Schumann’s masterful Cello Concerto in a minor.  And then on to “The Great.”  Why the Great? For “the brilliance and novelty of the instrumentation, the breadth and expanse of the form, the striking changes of mood, the whole new world into which we are transported…”

Jory Fankuchen, Conductor
Sara Flexer, Cello Soloist

Sumi Tonooka
Sketch at Seven
World Premiere with support from Emerging Black Composers Project and the NEA

Robert Schumann
Cello Concerto in a minor, Op 129
Sara Flexer, soloist and Debut Artist

Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944 “The Great”
______________________

The inspiration for the world premiere of Sumi Tonooka’s “Sketch at Seven” is “a sketch book of drawings and musical journals that I made when I was very young that was sent back to me after some forty years…..When I opened the sketchbook it was like a doorway into the past and future, mysterious and profound.”  Following a brand new piece is our brand new Debut Artist, Sara Flexer performing Schumann’s masterful Cello Concerto in a minor.  And then on to “The Great.”  Why the Great? For “the brilliance and novelty of the instrumentation, the breadth and expanse of the form, the striking changes of mood, the whole new world into which we are transported…”

Jory Fankuchen, Conductor

This Concert is Dedicated to the
Memory of Constance Bernstein

Florence Price
Andante Moderato for String Orchestra (1929)

Dmitri Shostakovich
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110, arranged for String Orchestra

Felix Mendelssohn
Symphony No. 3, Op. 56 “Scottish”

Jory Fankuchen, Conductor

This Concert is Dedicated to the
Memory of Constance Bernstein

Florence Price
Andante Moderato for String Orchestra (1929)

Dmitri Shostakovich
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110, arranged for String Orchestra

Felix Mendelssohn
Symphony No. 3, Op. 56 “Scottish”

Jory Fankuchen, Conductor

This Concert is Dedicated to the
Memory of Constance Bernstein

Florence Price
Andante Moderato for String Orchestra (1929)

Dmitri Shostakovich
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110, arranged for String Orchestra

Felix Mendelssohn
Symphony No. 3, Op. 56 “Scottish”

From Ben Simon:

My final MainStage program goes from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again. Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony (he died too soon to finish it) is paired with the wacky musical humor of PDQ Bach’s (the last and oddest of JS Bach’s twenty-odd children) Unbegun Symphony, for which he was born too late to start! My chosen soloist for this final program is the remarkable Amaryn Olmeda, a 14-year old virtuso who is already making her mark on the classical music scene. Amaryn is a tremendous talent with unlimited potential, and will performing one of my favorite violin concerti. Felix Mendelssohn’s famous Violin Concerto E minor.

We finish this concert with the very apt Farewell Symphony by Franz Josef Haydn, in which the players leave the stage one by one during the final movement. Composed as a humorous reminder to his employer Prince Esterhazy that his musicians all wished to return from his summer estate to their homes in Vienna, it’s a brilliant piece of musical theater and seems a fitting close to my twenty-one wonderful years leading this amazing orchestra. I am leaving my heart with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra!

Program:

Franz Schubert Symphony No. 8
”Unfinished Symphony”

PDQ Bach Unbegun Symphony

Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in e minor
Amaryn Olmeda, violin

Franz Josef Haydn Symphony No. 45 in f# minor
“The Farewell Symphony”

From Ben Simon:

My final MainStage program goes from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again. Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony (he died too soon to finish it) is paired with the wacky musical humor of PDQ Bach’s (the last and oddest of JS Bach’s twenty-odd children) Unbegun Symphony, for which he was born too late to start! My chosen soloist for this final program is the remarkable Amaryn Olmeda, a 14-year old virtuso who is already making her mark on the classical music scene. Amaryn is a tremendous talent with unlimited potential, and will performing one of my favorite violin concerti. Felix Mendelssohn’s famous Violin Concerto E minor.

We finish this concert with the very apt Farewell Symphony by Franz Josef Haydn, in which the players leave the stage one by one during the final movement. Composed as a humorous reminder to his employer Prince Esterhazy that his musicians all wished to return from his summer estate to their homes in Vienna, it’s a brilliant piece of musical theater and seems a fitting close to my twenty-one wonderful years leading this amazing orchestra. I am leaving my heart with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra!

Program:

Franz Schubert Symphony No. 8
”Unfinished Symphony”

PDQ Bach Unbegun Symphony

Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in e minor
Amaryn Olmeda, violin

Franz Josef Haydn
Symphony No. 45 in f# minor
“The Farewell Symphony”

From Ben Simon:

My final MainStage program goes from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again. Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony (he died too soon to finish it) is paired with the wacky musical humor of PDQ Bach’s (the last and oddest of JS Bach’s twenty-odd children) Unbegun Symphony, for which he was born too late to start! My chosen soloist for this final program is the remarkable Amaryn Olmeda, a 14-year old virtuso who is already making her mark on the classical music scene. Amaryn is a tremendous talent with unlimited potential, and will performing one of my favorite violin concerti. Felix Mendelssohn’s famous Violin Concerto E minor.

We finish this concert with the very apt Farewell Symphony by Franz Josef Haydn, in which the players leave the stage one by one during the final movement. Composed as a humorous reminder to his employer Prince Esterhazy that his musicians all wished to return from his summer estate to their homes in Vienna, it’s a brilliant piece of musical theater and seems a fitting close to my twenty-one wonderful years leading this amazing orchestra. I am leaving my heart with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra!

Program:

Franz Schubert Symphony No. 8
”Unfinished Symphony”

PDQ Bach Unbegun Symphony

Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in e minor
Amaryn Olmeda, violin

Franz Josef Haydn
Symphony No. 45 in f# minor
“The Farewell Symphony”

Welcome Back! Notes from Ben Simon, MD.

For my penultimate program as Music Director of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, I’ve chosen three true chamber orchestra works close to my heart. Aaron Copland’s own chamber arrangement of his famous Appalachian Spring suite is a lovely distillation of the large orchestral version and an iconic classic of American music. Samuel Barber’s beautiful Knoxville: Summer of 1915 , featuring wonderful Bay Area soprano Ann Moss, is a nostalgic look back at a simpler time in our history and another well-loved bit of Americana.

Igor Stravinsky’s earth- shattering Rite of Spring, causing the audience to a riot at its Paris premiere in 1913, is a powerful shot across the bow of classical music by the 31 year old Russian composer. Written for a huge symphony orchestra, this amazing chamber orchestra version was commissioned by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra in 2011 as the first of our Incredible Shrinking Orchestra Projet under the direction of Gabriela Lena Frank, working with six graduate composers at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. It’s a work I’ve always wanted a second chance to perform and it’s freshness and power remains in our “Rite Lite” version.

Program:

Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring

Samuel Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Ann Moss, soprano

INTERMISSION

Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Arranged for Chamber Orchestra

Welcome Back! Notes from Ben Simon, MD.

For my penultimate program as Music Director of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, I’ve chosen three true chamber orchestra works close to my heart. Aaron Copland’s own chamber arrangement of his famous Appalachian Spring suite is a lovely distillation of the large orchestral version and an iconic classic of American music. Samuel Barber’s beautiful Knoxville: Summer of 1915 , featuring wonderful Bay Area soprano Ann Moss, is a nostalgic look back at a simpler time in our history and another well-loved bit of Americana.

Igor Stravinsky’s earth- shattering Rite of Spring, causing the audience to a riot at its Paris premiere in 1913, is a powerful shot across the bow of classical music by the 31 year old Russian composer. Written for a huge symphony orchestra, this amazing chamber orchestra version was commissioned by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra in 2011 as the first of our Incredible Shrinking Orchestra Projet under the direction of Gabriela Lena Frank, working with six graduate composers at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. It’s a work I’ve always wanted a second chance to perform and it’s freshness and power remains in our “Rite Lite” version.

Program:

Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring

Samuel Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Ann Moss, soprano

INTERMISSION

Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Arranged for Chamber Orchestra

Welcome Back! Notes from Ben Simon, MD.

For my penultimate program as Music Director of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, I’ve chosen three true chamber orchestra works close to my heart. Aaron Copland’s own chamber arrangement of his famous Appalachian Spring suite is a lovely distillation of the large orchestral version and an iconic classic of American music. Samuel Barber’s beautiful Knoxville: Summer of 1915 , featuring wonderful Bay Area soprano Ann Moss, is a nostalgic look back at a simpler time in our history and another well-loved bit of Americana.

Igor Stravinsky’s earth- shattering Rite of Spring, causing the audience to a riot at its Paris premiere in 1913, is a powerful shot across the bow of classical music by the 31 year old Russian composer. Written for a huge symphony orchestra, this amazing chamber orchestra version was commissioned by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra in 2011 as the first of our Incredible Shrinking Orchestra Projet under the direction of Gabriela Lena Frank, working with six graduate composers at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. It’s a work I’ve always wanted a second chance to perform and it’s freshness and power remains in our “Rite Lite” version.

Program:

Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring

Samuel Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Ann Moss, soprano

INTERMISSION

Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Arranged for Chamber Orchestra

Happy Summer Solstice!

Get ready for summer with great music as only the SFCO does it!  The program kicks off with Fanny Mendehlssohn-Hensel’s Overture in C Major. Composed in the 1820’s it was rediscovered and finally published in 1994.

Following this charming gem, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra tackles his least-performed symphony, Beethoven’s Fourth.  Robert Schumann called it “a slender Grecian maiden between two Nordic giants,” but it is still a masterpiece by any measure.

And then we celebrate the return of outstanding young pianist Hilda Huang with her performances of Beethoven’s outstanding Fourth Piano Concerto. 

Hilda Huang’s playing glimmers with “alluring extroversion” (New York Concert Review) and plumbs “philosophical depths” (West-Allgemeine Zeitung).  

Program:

Fanny Mendelssohn-Hansel Overture in C Major

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 4

INTERMISSION

Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
Hilda Huang, piano

Happy Summer Solstice!

Get ready for Summer with great music as only the SFCO does it!  The program kicks off with Fanny Mendehlssohn-Hensel’s Overture in C Major. Composed in the 1820’s it was rediscovered and finally published in 1994.

Following this charming gem, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra tackles his least-performed symphony, Beethoven’s Fourth.  Robert Schumann called it “a slender Grecian maiden between two Nordic giants,” but it is still a masterpiece by any measure.

And then we celebrate the return of outstanding young pianist Hilda Huang with her performances of Beethoven’s outstanding Fourth Piano Concerto. 

Hilda Huang’s playing glimmers with “alluring extroversion” (New York Concert Review) and plumbs “philosophical depths” (West-Allgemeine Zeitung).  

Program:

Fanny Mendelssohn-Hansel Overture in C Major

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 4

INTERMISSION

Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
Hilda Huang, piano

Happy Summer Solstice!

Get ready for Summer with great music as only the SFCO does it!  The program kicks off with Fanny Mendehlssohn-Hensel’s Overture in C Major. Composed in the 1820’s it was rediscovered and finally published in 1994.

Following this charming gem, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra tackles his least-performed symphony, Beethoven’s Fourth.  Robert Schumann called it “a slender Grecian maiden between two Nordic giants,” but it is still a masterpiece by any measure.

And then we celebrate the return of outstanding young pianist Hilda Huang with her performances of Beethoven’s outstanding Fourth Piano Concerto. 

Hilda Huang’s playing glimmers with “alluring extroversion” (New York Concert Review) and plumbs “philosophical depths” (West-Allgemeine Zeitung).  

Program:

Fanny Mendelssohn-Hansel Overture in C Major

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 4

INTERMISSION

Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
Hilda Huang, piano

Join the SFCO and two acclaimed choirs, San Francisco’s stellar Volti and the amazing young singers of the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir for the world premiere of Michael Gilbertson’s final commission as our BMI Composer-in-Residence.  Denial, set to both ancient and contemporary texts, is a powerful meditation on climate change and our current political deadlock.  Opening our program is Vaughan-Williams rapturous and beautiful The Lark Ascending, featuring our illustrious concertmaster Robin Sharp.  And closing the program, and our season, is Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, one of his most popular and exciting works. 

Program:

Ralph Vaughan-Williams The Lark Ascending
Robin Sharp, violin

Diana Woolner The Fire Cycle
Volti

Michael Gilbertson Denial; 2019 commission and
World Premiere
Volti & Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir

Frank Ticheli Earth Song
Volti

 Ludwig van Beethoven   Symphony No. 7

Join the SFCO and two acclaimed choirs, San Francisco’s stellar Volti and the amazing young singers of the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir for the world premiere of Michael Gilbertson’s final commission as our BMI Composer-in-Residence.  Denial, set to both ancient and contemporary texts, is a powerful meditation on climate change and our current political deadlock.  Opening our program is Vaughan-Williams rapturous and beautiful The Lark Ascending, featuring our illustrious concertmaster Robin Sharp.  And closing the program, and our season, is Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, one of his most popular and exciting works. 

Program:

Ralph Vaughan-Williams The Lark Ascending
Robin Sharp, violin

Diana Woolner The Fire Cycle
Volti

Michael Gilbertson Denial; 2019 commission and
World Premiere
Volti & Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir

Frank Ticheli Earth Song
Volti

 Ludwig van Beethoven   Symphony No. 7

Join the SFCO and two acclaimed choirs, San Francisco’s stellar Volti and the amazing young singers of the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir for the world premiere of Michael Gilbertson’s final commission as our BMI Composer-in-Residence.  Denial, set to both ancient and contemporary texts, is a powerful meditation on climate change and our current political deadlock.  Opening our program is Vaughan-Williams rapturous and beautiful The Lark Ascending, featuring our illustrious concertmaster Robin Sharp.  And closing the program, and our season, is Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, one of his most popular and exciting works. 

Program:

Ralph Vaughan-Williams The Lark Ascending
Robin Sharp, violin

Diana Woolner The Fire Cycle
Volti

Michael Gilbertson Denial; 2019 commission and
World Premiere
Volti & Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir

Frank Ticheli Earth Song
Volti

 Ludwig van Beethoven   Symphony No. 7

We continue our Beethoven cycle with his charming Eighth Symphony, another infrequently heard masterpiece sandwiched between two towering and extremely popular symphonies.  Plus exciting new works from Jessica Hunt and Carlos Simon, commissioned by Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, an amazing incubator for talent founded by the prize-winning composer on her Boonville, CA farm. 

Program:

Carlos Simon - Breathe
World Premiere for Chamber Orchestra

Jessica Hunt - Heat
World Premiere for Chamber Orchestra

Ludwig Van Beethoven
Symphony No. 8

We continue our Beethoven cycle with his charming Eighth Symphony, another infrequently heard masterpiece sandwiched between two towering and extremely popular symphonies.  Plus exciting new works from Jessica Hunt and Carlos Simon, commissioned by Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, an amazing incubator for talent founded by the prize-winning composer on her Boonville, CA farm. 

Program:

Carlos Simon - Breathe
World Premiere for Chamber Orchestra

Jessica Hunt -Heat
World Premiere for Chamber Orchestra

Ludwig Van Beethoven
Symphony No. 8

We continue our Beethoven cycle with his charming Eighth Symphony, another infrequently heard masterpiece sandwiched between two towering and extremely popular symphonies.  Plus exciting new works from Jessica Hunt and Carlos Simon, commissioned by Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, an amazing incubator for talent founded by the prize-winning composer on her Boonville, CA farm. 

Program:

Carlos Simon - Breathe
World Premiere for Chamber Orchestra

Jessica Hunt -Heat
World Premiere for Chamber Orchestra

Ludwig Van Beethoven
Symphony No. 8

Welcome Back!

We launch our season with two orchestral masterpieces from Beethoven’s middle period, the darkly dramatic Coriolan Overture and the symphony which broke all the classical molds: his amazing Third Symphony, nicknamed “Eroica” and originally dedicated to Napoleon.  Composer and bass clarinetist Jonathan Russell brings a chamber orchestra version of his haunting and beautiful Double Concerto (2014), featuring SFCO All-Stars Jeff Anderle (clarinet) and Hannah Addario-Berry (cello). 

Welcome Back!

We launch our season with two orchestral masterpieces from Beethoven’s middle period, the darkly dramatic Coriolan Overture and the symphony which broke all the classical molds: his amazing Third Symphony, nicknamed “Eroica” and originally dedicated to Napoleon.  Composer and bass clarinetist Jonathan Russell brings a chamber orchestra version of his haunting and beautiful Double Concerto (2014), featuring SFCO All-Stars Jeff Anderle (clarinet) and Hannah Addario-Berry (cello). 

Welcome Back!

We launch our season with two orchestral masterpieces from Beethoven’s middle period, the darkly dramatic Coriolan Overture and the symphony which broke all the classical molds: his amazing Third Symphony, nicknamed “Eroica” and originally dedicated to Napoleon.  Composer and bass clarinetist Jonathan Russell brings a chamber orchestra version of his haunting and beautiful Double Concerto (2014), featuring SFCO All-Stars Jeff Anderle (clarinet) and Hannah Addario-Berry (cello).