San Francisco Symphony

San Francisco Symphony Biography

Founded in 1911, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) ( www.sfsymphony.org ) is widely considered to be among the country’s most artistically adventurous and innovative arts institutions. Under Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT), the SFS presents more than 220 concerts and presentations annually for an audience of nearly 600,000 in its home of Davies Symphony Hall, in other Bay Area venues, and through an active national and international touring program. In 1996, Tilson Thomas led the Orchestra on the first of their thirteen national tours together, and they have continued a yearly touring schedule that has taken them to Europe, Asia and throughout the United States.Since 2001, Tilson Thomas and the Orchestra have recorded all nine of Mahler’s symphonies and the Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony, and the composer’s works for voices, chorus, and orchestra for SFS Media. In November 2008, MTT and the SFS recorded Mahler’s sweeping Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand, released with the Adagio from Mahler’s unfinished Symphony No. 10 in August 2009. The recording won three Grammys, for Best Classical Album, Best Choral Performance, and Best Engineered Classical Album. The San Francisco Symphony has also recorded scenes from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, a collection of Stravinsky ballets, a Gershwin collection, and Charles Ives: An American Journey, among others. In fall 2006, Tilson Thomas and the SFS launched the national Keeping Score PBS television series and multimedia project. Keeping Score is the San Francisco Symphony’s national program designed to make classical music more accessible to people of all ages and musical backgrounds. The project is anchored by a national PBS television series that debuted in 2006, and includes a website, www.keepingscore.org, to explore and learn about music; a national radio series; documentary and live performance DVDs; and an education program for K-12 schools to further teaching through the arts by integrating classical music into core subjects.