SF Musicians for LA

The San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Conservatory of Music will present a special concert on March 8 with proceeds going to help people affected by the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.

SFCM Music Director and frequent SF Symphony guest conductor Edwin Outwater will lead the “SF Musicians for LA” benefit at Davies Symphony Hall. It will include performances by the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and renowned pianist and SFCM faculty member Garrick Ohlsson.

Money raised from all ticket sales will be split evenly between the Entertainment Community Fund (supporting affected performing arts and entertainment professionals) and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles’s long-term fire relief fund.

In a news release, Outwater said his earliest childhood memories are of Pacific Palisades, where he first went to school. Much of that community was destroyed in January’s fires.

The program will include Aaron Copland’s “The Promise of Living,” from the opera “The Tender Land,” which celebrates community and thanksgiving, performed by the San Francisco Symphony and chorus. Ohlsson will perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and Outwater, the orchestra and SFCM musicians will close the concert with Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”

Tickets are priced $50 to $200 and are on sale now online, by phone at 415-864-6000 and at the Davies Symphony Hall box office in San Francisco. Reduced $25 student tickets are available by registering for the San Francisco Symphony Student Rush program.

“It has been heartbreaking to witness the ongoing devastation in Los Angeles caused by the wildfires across the region,” San Francisco Symphony Chief Executive Officer Matthew Spivey said in a news release. “Many of us have friends, family, and colleagues in the area who have been deeply affected, and we recognize the magnitude of the challenge ahead as they seek to heal and rebuild. … We look forward to gathering with our San Francisco community on March 8 to send a strong message of support to our friends and colleagues in Los Angeles through musical performance.”