United States Various: Hilary Hahn (violin), San Francisco Symphony / Giancarlo Guerrero (conductor). Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 24.9.2026. (HS)
John Adams – ‘The Chairman Dances’ from Nixon in China
Mendelssohn – Violin Concerto in E minor
Rimsky-Korsakov – Capriccio espagnol
Encore: J.S. Bach – Gigue from Violin Partita No.3 in E major
San Francisco Symphony’s opening gala usually gives us a glimpse of what to expect as the orchestra launches a new season. This month, though, it had already played concerts behind jazz artist Samara Joy and indie rocker Gregory Alan Isakov that backed showings of The Return of the Jedi film and a weekend of concerts featuring Garrick Ohlsson in Brahms’s Piano Concerto No.1, all in Davies Symphony Hall.
These activities may account for the strikingly robust sound that greeted a near-capacity audience for the official opener. Guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero energetically led a short program of familiar pieces, opening with a rousing, full-speed-ahead reading of John Adams’s ‘The Chairman Dances’ and practically dancing while finishing off the program with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnole.
In contrast, guest violinist Hilary Hahn delivered the finesse that might have been missing in Guerrero’s approach to the other pieces. Her fresh traversal of Mendelssohn’s popular Violin Concerto in E minor mixed moments of delicacy with expressive expansiveness and pinpoint precision. Tempos were speedy, but Hahn managed to find delicious details along the way, bringing sleek simplicity to the opening melody in the first movement and then weaving ravishing flourishes over to the orchestra with the rest.
The slow movement, with its song-like flow in a major key to contrast with the light melancholy of the first movement, found Hahn floating the tone with a wistful touch. The transition to the finale – one of several innovations this now-familiar piece introduced to concertos by tying together the movements instead of stopping between them – mused on the previous tune and gave a refreshing, gallant feel to the Allegro molto vivace finale. It took off at speed, but Hahn’s fairy-like upward sweep on the opening flourish couldn’t have been sweeter.
If the flutes never quite caught up with Hahn’s crisp pace, the rhythm still popped, and the finale’s breathless race to the finish ended an enchanting performance. Her encore, the Gigue from Bach’s Violin Partita No.3, brought even more smiles.
With no intermission (only a fairly quick re-set of the orchestra’s chairs), Capriccio espagnol burst out of the gate with intensity and hardly let up. It made a perfect finale for an opening gala as one principal musician after another got solos. All of them were smashing. Alexander Barantschik’s lovely violin tune came first, but the give-and-take between flutist Yubeen Kim and clarinetist Carey Bell, each distinctive as they took turns in the final section, were my favorites. Oboist Eugene Izotov’s insinuating solo and harpist Katherine Siochi’s sweeping glissandos were also standouts.
Guerrero, who was music director of the Nashville Symphony for the past 16 years, let the orchestra stomp unimpeded for much of the Capriccio, favoring power over any subtleties. In the concert’s opener, the saucy excerpt from Adams’s 1985 opera Nixon in China showed plenty of gumption as the rhythms shifted from chugging minimalism to dance-band swaying, underpinned by excellent playing from an extended percussion section led by principal Jacob Nissly’s work on brushed snare drum, hi-hat and wood block, the heartbeat of the Adams rhythms.
There were parties before and after the concert: guests in the lobby were munching on shrimp and pastries before, and a DJ kept the late crowd jumping after. The main event was just as lively, but things will get more serious quickly. As the calendar turns to October, upcoming concerts include Renée Fleming singing Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs and a special all-star tribute to the late Michael Tilson Thomas.
And, oh yes, music director designate Elim Chan added two extra concerts to her 2026-2027 calendar in San Francisco – one in January and one in June to close the season. Optimism is in the air.
Harvey Steiman