Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
After months of closure, the San Francisco Symphony returned to delight the ears of its fans, since yesterday, May 6, Davies Symphony Hall hosted a small audience to start with live performances.
Thus, dozens of instrumentalists happily returned to a stage that was eagerly awaiting them after the San Francisco Symphony announced in March 2020 that it would cancel its concerts, at least until April 30, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Things didn't go as planned and the cancellations continued.
However, thanks to progress in vaccinating San Francisco residents, the drop in COVID-19 positive cases, and thus the city's turnaround to yellow, live concerts are back!
Just this past May 4, the San Francisco Symphony announced increased audience capacity for live concerts at Davies Symphony Hall during the fifth-sixth month of this year, following the City's approval of the Symphony's Health and Safety Plan.
While the majority of tickets for the May 6 and 7 concerts were reserved for health care professionals and community partners who have been on the front lines supporting the people of our city in critical ways during the pandemic, a limited number of additional tickets were available to San Francisco Symphony donors and subscribers.
Audience capacity for performances May 13 through June 25 will be increased to 35 percent of Davies Symphony Hall's full capacity.
There will be two seating areas: a vaccine-only area with limited social distance on the orchestra level and side boxes, which will require proof of vaccination, and a social distance area in the lobby, first level and second level for those who have not been vaccinated - but are COVID-19 negative - as well as vaccinated patrons who prefer to maintain social distance.
It should be noted that, since San Francisco has gone yellow, concert capacities are expected to increase to 50 percent of the venue's capacity.
Members of the general public may purchase tickets for the May 13 - June 25 concerts beginning May 6 at 10 am by calling the SF Symphony Box Office at 415-864-6000.
The programme is now available for all concerts in May and June.
The May 27-28 concerts, conducted by Ken-David Masur, include performances of Somei Satoh's Saga, Qigang Chen's L'Eloignement, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings.
Kicking off the month of June with concerts on June 3 and 4, Joseph Young leads Jessie Montgomery's San Francisco Symphony in Banner; Carlos Simon's An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave; and Rodion Shchedrin's arrangement of George Bizet's Carmen, a suite for string orchestra and percussion.
On June 10 and 11, Joshua Weilerstein conducts the orchestra in the Double Concerto for two string orchestras, piano and timpani, by Bohuslav Martin?; the movement Andante moderato from the string quartet in G majorby Florence Price, arranged for string orchestra; and Serenade for stringsby Antonín Dvo?ák.
Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to conduct the final two weeks of concerts in June, leading the orchestra in the U.S. premiere of Daniel Kidane's Be Still, Serenade by Leonard Bernstein and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3by Johann Sebastian Bach, with violinist Augustin Hadelich, on June 17th and 18th; and Adagiettoby Gustav Mahler from the Symphony number 5Strum by Jessie Montgomery; and Metamorphosenby Richard Strauss, from 24 to 25 June.
