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Arts & Culture

San Francisco Symphony Announces 2025–26 Season of ‘Just Play the Hits’

Gabe Meline
The season, heavy on well-loved classics, is the first since director Esa-Pekka Salonen's departure.
The San Francisco Symphony Chorus joins the orchestra, with soloists Will Liverman and Susanna Phillips seated, for a performace of Carl Orff's 'Carmina Burana' at Davies Symphony Hall on Jan. 16, 2025. (Brandon Patoc/San Francisco Symphony)

The San Francisco Symphony announced its 2025–26 season Thursday, with a lineup of programs heavy on well-known, well-loved classics.

Among the pieces in the season: Beethoven’s Fifth. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Holst’s The Planets. Mozart’s Requiem. Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Dvořák’s New World symphony. Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Respighi’s Pines of Rome.

The season comes during a precarious time financially for the Symphony, which is looking to turn things around as it announces a season of tried-and-true favorites seemingly curated from a Reader’s Digest box set of Classical Music’s Greatest Hits. It also marks the first season since the departure of Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, known for his advocacy for more modern works and cross-disciplinary collaborations.

To be clear, the season includes world premieres (by the Symphony’s Principal Trombone Timothy Higgins, and Tyler Taylor, winner of the Emerging Black Composers Project), and lesser-performed composers like Jimmy López, Outi Tarkiainen and Olli Mustonen. The Symphony’s adventurous Soundbox programming — scaled back in 2024 — will be curated by Alexi Kenney and Gabriella Smith.

But the overall tone of the season appears to be: play the hits and sell tickets.

In Salonen’s absence, 23 guest conductors will take the podium, including Jaap van Zweden, who conducts a total of four programs, including the Symphony’s opening gala with Yuja Wang on Sept. 12. He also kicks off a three-season cycle of Beethoven’s nine symphonies. Other guest conductors include James Gaffigan, Donald Runnicles and Simone Young.

As for a new Music Director, whose programming vision shapes a season’s themes and musical arc, the Symphony formed a search committee last summer. The process of hiring a Music Director for a major symphony orchestra can take years, and occurs in private; the eventual successor is often the subject of much speculation and rumor.

“Most importantly, we’re looking for someone with exceptional talent and a strong artistic vision who will inspire our musicians, audiences and community,” Symphony CEO Matt Spivey told KQED on Wednesday. “We can’t share more specifics while the search is underway, but we’re looking forward to sharing more when we’re ready to make an official announcement.”

Among the season’s roster of guest artists are Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Nicola Benedetti, Joshua Bell, Hélène Grimaud and Emmanuel Ax. Five programs will feature principal musicians with the Symphony, including Timothy Higgins (trombone), Mark Inouye (trumpet) and Yubeen Kim (flute).

Annual standbys like Handel’s Messiah, Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and a film series all make their return as well.

Find the full 2025–26 San Francisco Symphony season here.

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