The Berlin Philharmonic is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
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.
Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, and Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Sarah Chang is a Korean American classical violinist. Recognized as a child prodigy, she first played as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1989. She enrolled at Juilliard School to study music, graduated in 1999, and continued university studies. Especially during the 1990s and early to mid-2000s, Chang had major roles as a soloist with many of the world's major orchestras.
Eduardo Marturet is a Venezuelan conductor and composer represented by Tempo Primo. He is the Music Director and Conductor of The Miami Symphony Orchestra (MISO).
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it began regular performances at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda.
Julia Fischer is a German classical violinist and pianist. She teaches at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts and performs up to 60 times per year.
The San Francisco Symphony Chorus is the resident Chorus of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS).
Donato Cabrera is an American conductor with an active international career. He is the Music Director of the California Symphony and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and was the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2009-2016.
Vardan Mamikonian is an Armenian pianist, and also a naturalised French citizen.
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.
The Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie is a German symphony orchestra based in Herford. It was founded in 1950 and, along with Philharmonie Südwestfalen and Landesjugendorchester NRW, is one of the 'official' orchestras (Landesorchester) of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The orchestra has been shaped by conductors such as Wilhelm Schüchter, Hermann Scherchen and Andris Nelsons. They have regularly served several cities in northwest Germany, and toured internationally to halls such as Berliner Philharmonie, Tonhalle Zürich and Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg, also to the U.S. and Japan.
Benjamin Shwartz is an American-Israeli orchestral and opera conductor, and music director of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, Koblenz (Germany).. Formerly he held the position of music director of the Wrocław Philharmonic known for his interest in and commitment to new music. Born in Los Angeles and raised there and in Israel, he attended the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California before enrolling in the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied composition with James Primosch. He continued his composition studies in Germany with Karlheinz Stockhausen. As a conducting student at the Curtis Institute of Music, he studied with Otto-Werner Mueller and worked closely with Christoph Eschenbach and Ned Rorem. Shwartz won numerous awards including the Presser Award, and Third Prize in the 2007 International Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg, Germany.
The B-Sides is a symphony in five movements for electronica and orchestra by the American composer Mason Bates. The work was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, with support from the Ralph I. Dorfman Commissioning Fund. It was premiered May 20, 2009 at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, with Michael Tilson Thomas leading the San Francisco Symphony.
The Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (BPYO) is the youth orchestra of the Boston Philharmonic and is considered the premier youth orchestra in the Boston area. Created in 2012, the tuition-free orchestra consists of musicians between the ages of 12-21. The BPYO performs an annual concert series in Boston as well as international tours and has released two commercial recordings. The founder and current conductor of the orchestra is Benjamin Zander.
Diana Tishchenko is a Ukrainian born classical violinist and the winner of the International Long Thibaud Crespin Competition in Paris 2018. Named "Rising Star" by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) in 2020, she has performed at the leading concert halls of Europe.
The Piano Concerto No. 3 is a composition for solo piano and orchestra by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. The work was jointly commissioned by China National Centre for The Performing Arts, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonie de Paris - Orchestre de Paris, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, and the New York Philharmonic.
Unsuk Chin's Violin Concerto No. 1 was written in 2001 on a commission from the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, where she was then serving as composer-in-residence. It was given its world premiere by the violinist Viviane Hagner and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Kent Nagano at the Berliner Philharmonie on January 20, 2002. The piece was awarded the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 2004. Unsuk Chin later composed a second Violin Concerto, Scherben der Stille , in 2021.
Subito con forza is a short orchestral composition written in 2020 by the South Korean composer Unsuk Chin. The work was written on a joint commission from BBC Radio 3, the Kölner Philharmonie, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Its world premiere was given by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Klaus Mäkelä at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, on 24 September 2020. The score is inscribed, "On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth."
Robert Grove Hughes (1933–2022) was an American composer, conductor, bassoonist and music scholar based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was known for his wide-ranging artistic interests—extending to poetry, performance art and social commentary—and advocacy of contemporary, often experimental music. San Francisco Chronicle critic Joshua Kosman described Hughes as a visionary and "musical Zelig" who "played a key role in a vast range of ambitious and influential musical projects." In the 1960s, Hughes co-founded the long-running Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and co-founded and led the award-winning Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra. In subsequent decades he co-founded and led the Arch Ensemble for Experimental Music with baritone vocalist Thomas Buckner and co-directed the performance group MA FISH CO with his wife, artist Margaret Fisher.
