Courtesy: San Francisco Symphony. The San Francisco Symphony will return to Davies Symphony Hall for in-person concerts next month, starting with shows specifically for medical professionals and community partners, the organization announced on Monday. Concerts will take place every Thursday and Friday, beginning May 6. They will be about…

Megan Thee Stallion performs during the 2021 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on March 14, 2021. Courtesy. While the main pre-show distraction centered on snubs and the lack of diversity at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards, the tone changed with a plethora of memorable and historic moments from this…

San Francisco Symphony Chinese New Year Virtual Celebration: Year of the Ox. For the first time in 21 years, the San Francisco Symphony‘s annual Lunar New Year concert will not be held in front of an audience at Davies Symphony Hall. Instead, the program, which will be hosted by…

Among the shows we most regret were canceled or postponed: BTS, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Nathaniel Rateliff, The Killers, Mew, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, BottleRock Napa Valley, Bad Religion, Rage Against the Machine, My Chemical Romance, Bob Dylan, Outside Lands, Kraftwerk, Supergrass, Roger Waters, Tame Impala, The Airborne Toxic…

New San Francisco Symphony Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen. Courtesy: Andrew Eccles. Queen Elizabeth II awarded an honorary knighthood to San Francisco Symphony Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen earlier this week. Salonen received his commendation for his services to music and United Kingdom-Finland relations. The Finnish-born conductor and composer made his international…

Czech composer Hans Krása, courtesy Wikipedia Commons. The string trio we played was born of suffering, written in turbulent times. The man who wrote it had just lost his home and was forced to live in crowded, unsafe conditions while witnessing people around him become ill and die as…

Esperanza Spalding performs in “Throughline: San Francisco Symphony—From Hall to Home.” Other artists highlighted include Bryce Dessner of The National and violinist Pekka Kuusisto. Courtesy: SF Symphony. After Esa-Pekka Salonen was named to fill the shoes of Michael Tilson Thomas as music director of the San Francisco Symphony in…

Kev Choice in SF Symphony’s ‘From Scratch,’ Courtesy: Kim Huynh. The San Francisco Symphony, not able to play any concerts since March, has pivoted to alternative programming over the last couple of months, including video and podcast series CURRENTS, illustrating the connection between classical music and the music of…

The Emerging Black Composers Project, Courtesy: SF Symphony. The San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music have launched a new grant-based project that will award $15,000 each to Black composers, as well as workshops, performances and mentorship from Bay Area music directors Michael Morgan, Edwin Outwater and…

Courtesy: Classical Tahoe. Two San Francisco Symphony musicians are among the performers at Classical Tahoe’s annual summer music festival at Incline Village, Nevada. The festival, which has presented top-caliber orchestra shows for three weeks each summer since 2012, is switching formats to chamber orchestra performances that will be played…