The San Francisco Symphony’s 115th season kicks off on Sept. 8, 2026, and today the orchestra announced a slate of multifaceted programming that includes several premieres and fresh collaborations.
Nov. 19–21, 2026, Alonzo King LINES Ballet debuts two new works set to Debussy’s Prélude à L’Après-midi d’un faune and Copland’s suite from Appalachian Spring, conducted by James Gaffigan.
June 3–5, 2027, the Symphony presents Janni Younge’s production of Stravinsky’s The Firebird with puppetry and South African dance. Photographer and video artist Deborah O’Grady adds visuals from California’s dramatic landscapes to The Dharma at Big Sur by Bay Area composer John Adams on June 17 and 18, 2027.
On Feb. 11–13, 2027 San Francisco Symphony premieres a new work by Kyle Rivera, the winner of the Emerging Black Composers Project. Rivera’s piece dramatizes how dead whales sustain hidden ecosystems of deep-sea organisms.
On April 22–24, 2027 former San Francisco Symphony Director Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to Davies Symphony Hall (he left in 2025 due to disagreements with the board about budget cuts and programming). For the 2026–27 season, Salonen conducts the world premiere of a new concerto for harp and percussion by composer Rene Orth, a San Francisco Symphony commission.
