The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus (1972) are part of the organization. Michael Tilson Thomas became the orchestra's music director in 1995, and concluded his tenure in 2020 when Esa-Pekka Salonen took over the position.
Yiannis Chryssomallis, known professionally as Yanni, is a Greek composer, keyboardist, pianist, and music producer.
Kathleen Deanna Battle is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone. Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid-1970s. She made her opera debut in 1975. Battle expanded her repertoire into lyric soprano and coloratura soprano roles during the 1980s and early 1990s, until her eventual dismissal from the Metropolitan Opera in 1994. She later has focused on recording and the concert stage. After a 22-year absence from the Met, Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Metropolitan Opera House in November 2016, and again in May 2024.
Janina Fialkowska, is a Canadian classical pianist. A specialist of the Classic and Romantic repertoires, for more than thirty years she has appeared regularly with professional orchestras around the world, often performing the music of Chopin, and also contemporary Polish composers including Lutosławski and Panufnik. In 1990, she gave the world premier performance of the recently discovered Franz Liszt Third Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Bradley Joseph is an American composer, arranger, and producer of contemporary instrumental music. His compositions include works for orchestra, quartet and solo piano, while his musical style ranges from "quietly pensive mood music to a rich orchestration of classical depth and breadth".
In My Time is the ninth studio album by Greek keyboardist and composer Yanni, released on the Private Music label in 1993. This album is a gentler collection of piano-focused pieces. The album attained Platinum status and was the second Grammy nomination for Yanni. It peaked at #1 on "Billboard's "Top New Age Albums" chart and at #24 on the "Billboard 200" chart in the same year.
Out of Silence is the third studio album by Greek keyboardist and composer Yanni, released by Private Music in 1987. Its corresponding concert tour was the 1987 Concert Series.
Chameleon Days is the fourth studio album by Greek keyboardist and composer Yanni, released on the Private Music label in 1988. It peaked at #2 on Billboard's "Top New Age Albums" chart in the same year.
Reflections of Passion is the first compilation album and sixth album overall by Greek keyboardist and composer Yanni, released on May 15, 1990, by Private Music. It is a selection of tracks from his five previous studio albums, released between 1980 and 1989, plus three new compositions. Yanni was encouraged to release the album by his then partner, actress Linda Evans.
Charlie Adams is an American drummer, best known for playing in Yanni's touring band, after having played with Yanni in the early 1980s rock band Chameleon. Adams was born in Joliet, Illinois.
Henry Kimball Hadley was an American composer and conductor.
Karen Briggs, also known as the "Lady in Red", is an American violinist. Born in Manhattan to a family of musicians, Briggs took up the violin at age 12 and committed to playing professionally at age 15. Briggs joined the Virginia Symphony Orchestra while still in college, but grew discontented with performing classical music and left the orchestra after four years. Since then, she has performed predominantly in the jazz and contemporary instrumental genres.
Michelle Amato is an American vocalist.
Lindsay Ann Deutsch is an American violinist. A native of Houston, Texas, Deutsch moved to Los Angeles at age fifteen to pursue her music career.
The Peninsula Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in the San Francisco Peninsula, California. The orchestra consists of over 90 community musicians. In 1995, the Peninsula Symphony was featured in a PBS broadcast.
The New Century Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1992 by cellist Miriam Perkoff and violist Wieslaw Pogorzelski. The goal of the founders was to present classical music in a fresh and unique way in the San Francisco Bay Area. The music director chooses the programs and guides the artistic vision and leads the seventeen members of the orchestra as part of a conductorless orchestra. Musical decisions are made collaboratively, in the goal of enhancing the level of commitment on the part of the musicians and increasing the precision, passion and power of their playing.
Joyce DiDonato is an American opera singer and recitalist. A coloratura mezzo-soprano, she has performed operas and concert works spanning from the 19th-century Romantic era to those by Handel and Mozart.
Yoonjung "Yoonie" Han is a South Korean-born American classical pianist.
Yuja Wang is a Chinese pianist. Born in Beijing, she began learning piano there at age six, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Charlie Albright is an American pianist and composer. He is an official Steinway Artist, 2014 Avery Fisher Career Grant Recipient, 2010 Gilmore Young Artist (2010) and former Young Concert Artist. He graduated from Harvard College (AB) and the New England Conservatory (MM) as the first classical pianist in the schools' five-year AB/MM Joint Program, was named the Leverett House Artist in Residence for 2011–2012, and was one of the 15 Most Interesting Seniors of the Harvard College Class of 2011. He graduated from the Juilliard School of Music with his post-graduate Artist Diploma (AD) in 2014.
United States 