San Francisco Symphony

The San Francisco Symphony, led by Michael Tilson Thomas, celebrated its Centennial season in 2011-12. The SFS presents more than 220 concerts annually for nearly 600,000 in Davies Symphony Hall and on national and international tours. MTT and the SF Symphony have formed a musical partnership hailed as one of the most inspiring and successful in the country. In addition, the orchestra has been recognized as a leader in music education and the use of technology to make classical music available to as many people as possible. In its 2011-12 season, the orchestra reprised its American Mavericks Festival of music by pioneering modern American composers. In 2012-13 the SFS presents specially staged performances of Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, and the first concert performances by an orchestra of the complete music from Bernstein’s West Side Story. The Orchestra maintains a yearly touring schedule that takes them to Europe, Asia and around the U.S. They recently recorded works from the American Mavericks Festival by Cowell, Harrison, and Varèse, andJohn Adams’ Harmonielehre and Short Ride in a Fast Machine as well as Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 5, 7 and 9; the nine Mahler symphonies and the Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony. They created the Keeping Score PBS TV series and multimedia project to make classical music accessible to people of all backgrounds. The SFS also provides the most extensive education programs offered by any American orchestra.