Join us Saturday, June 14 at 7:30pm at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for our Pride program led by guest conductor Martha Stoddard and featuring percussionist Jimmy Chan.
As always, we are proud to highlight a diverse array of works on our program. Read on to learn more – then please join us for the concert and purchase your tickets today!
Grażyna Bacewicz – Overture
A prolific Polish composer, violinist, and pianist, Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) studied with Nadia Boulanger and Carl Fleisch and served as concertmaster of the Polish Radio Orchestra. Her Overture (1943) is a six-minute burst of energy in sonata form, written during WWII and premiered after the liberation of Poland in 1945.
Gustav Mahler / arr. Benjamin Britten – What the Wildflowers Tell Me
The second movement of Mahler’s third symphony – “What the Wildflowers Tell Me” – encapsulates many hallmarks of Mahler’s style, from the pastoral to the sometimes frenetic. Originally written for a very large orchestra, Britten streamlined the orchestration in 1941 at the suggestion of his publisher in order to draw more attention to his (Britten’s) work. While the forces are slightly reduced to that of a more standard orchestra, the avid Mahler fan will find nothing amiss.
Juan Sebastian Cardona Ospina – Timpani Concerto (U.S. Premiere)
Juan Sebastián Cardona Ospina is a Colombian-born composer now based in Emeryville. While timpani are an essential part of the orchestra that audiences know well, this concerto brings a fresh opportunity to hear them in a new light. The energy of this concerto also aligns with the Bacewicz overture.
Jean Sibelius – Symphony No. 3
Composed between 1904 and 1907, this symphony marks a shift in Sibelius’s style toward more classical restraint. However, it’s still unmistakably his. Listen for hemiolas in the second movement, irregularly timed accents in the hymnlike finale, and especially beautiful cello and viola section writing.
Date and venue
Saturday, June 14, 2025 – 7:30 PM
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA 94102